Antique horse trails aren't the only discovery options for historic routes in Texas. We've got the Bankhead Highway and Route 66 among others, all automobile ready.
El Camino Real De Los Tejas: The King’s Highway
El Camino Real de los Tejas, or Texas' Royal Highway, served the territory once dominated by colonial Spain, stretching from…
Route 66
Although much of the original route has been physically displaced, the spirit of Route 66 stills survives along the original…
Bankhead Highway
The birth of auto trails meant the birth of the road trip.
Traveling the brick highways of the 1920s or stopping at roadside diners and motorcourts of the 1940s and '50s follows the early auto routes that inspired the family road trip phenomenon. You'll be glad you skipped the monotonous interstate to get long gone to a bygone era full of downtowns, diners, and diversions.
And don't forget the railroads. You can still ride the rails in the comforts of your own sleeper or traverse some of the railroad byways on foot thanks to Rails-to-Trails, a program that converts historic and abandoned rail routes into multi-use trails for hiking, biking, and equestrian traffic. So you can still travel from town to town in places across Texas at your own pace...or your horse's. Just don't stay in the saddle too long.
Want to know one of the great advantages of traveling the historic trails and highways of Texas in modern times (other than the fact that it takes a day, not a week, to traverse the Texas segments)? You can make the trek today without getting saddle sore! The daunting task of tackling the Old Spanish Trail or the Oregon-California Trail on horseback a hundred years ago boggles the mind-its excruciating incremental pace, no DVD screen in the back seat, no...web surfing?!
Read more about highway development in the Handbook of Texas Online.
Roadside Heritage
Our roadside heritage covers a lot of territory-both in mileage and subject matter. Perhaps our best examples are the many…
Scenic Drives
Road Trip! Texans love to get in their cars and just drive – as long as it’s not during rush hour! The state is fortunate in that it offers dozens of leisurely…
