Milam County Courthouse (Texas No. 67)

Constructed:  1892
Material:  Cream-colored limestone
Architectural Style:  Renaissance Revival
Interesting Fact:  Because of its limestone construction, the courthouse is considered to be 60 percent fireproof.

Ben Milam Statue on the Courthouse Grounds

Milam County is named for Ben Milam, the legendary Texas hero who gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom in San Antonion early in Texas' battle for independence.  His fateful words of "Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio" rallied volunteer troops from a bedraggled army who was tired and hungry and cold to continue rather than withdraw from the Siege of Bexar San Antonio on December 5, 1835.  By today's standards Ben Milam was still a young man but in 1835 many were considered very old by the time they reached the age of 47, Milam's age at the time of his death.  

The old Milam County Jail across the street from the courthouse was built in 1895 and today is the Milam County Historical Museum.

Cameron, a small town of 5,700, is the county seat of Milam County and is located 140 miles northwest of Houston, 145 miles south of Dallas, and 185 miles southwest of my home in Garrison.

From Crockett to Carnegie Hall

One day while rambling around Crockett, Texas, I stumbled upon this somewhat rustic sculpture in a small park in Crockett, a little town of 7,000 people about 75 miles from where I live.  The plaque on the pedestal concerned one Lightnin' Hopkins, a name unknown to me but I assumed he must be an important figure to deserve a special place in a park, and I also was drawn to other items in the area.

As it turns out, "Lightnin'" Hopkins was just one of a significant number of blues artists who passed through this area during the 1940s performing at the Camp Street Cafe.  In his early years I've heard that Hopkins lived in Crockett and played at the cafe and also performed for tips at a local barber shop.

Working primarily in bars and honkytonks in the Houston area, Hopkins made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1960 alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger.  His statue faces the Camp Street Cafe, where all these music legends gathered to perform throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s.  The cafe remains a happenin' place to this day with performances scheduled in the next two months by Mikki Daniel, Nicholas David, and Pipp Gillette and will host the World Championship Fiddlers Festival next month.  I'm unfamiliar with all these artists, as I was the mid-century blues artists, but they're all confirmed on that great resource we call the Internet.

And best of all, there's a mural commemorating the famous blues artists that performed on Camp Street.  But what is the most amazing is that this gorgeous mural was painted by a high school senior, Robert Morrison, as part of a community project to earn his Eagle Scout status in 2013.  I wanted to find the owner of that car and tell them I need them to please move that vehicle for a few minutes so it wouldn't block my view, but ...

The artists pictured on the mural, from left to right, are Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Frankie Lee Sims, "Blind" Lemon Jefferson, Sam John "Lightnin'" Hopkins, "Texas" Johnny Brown, "Big Mama Thornton," and "T-Bone" Walker.

The young Mr. Morrison had plans of entering Baylor University in the fall of 2013 and pursue a career in medicine.

*****

I'm back from my road trip and let me tell you, if it could, it happened!  I got some great photos but I earned every one of them.  It will take me a few days to start processing and posting them so in the meantime I'll be showing you some courthouses and murals and other things that have marked my life here in Texas for the last five years.

Nature's Colors

Another lengthy hiatus for me.  The problem this time has simply been an abundance of work - you know that old feast or famine cycle.   For those of you who don't know I work as a proofreader for several court reporters  and I read deposition transcripts.  Most of them are boring but I think it keeps my brain stimulated.  Labor Day weekend I read 900 pages and this past weekend another 700 and there were a couple of smaller things in the days between.  I actually find it to be a fun job.  I have a quote taped above my desk by H.G. Wells:  No compulsion in the world is stronger than the urge to edit someone else's document.  

I had planned to leave this morning on another extended courthouse trip through South Texas but I had to delay that for a couple of days.  That's assuming I can get my itinerary complete, reservations made, oil changed, GPS reprogrammed, laundry done, pay the bills, and all those things that are entailed in taking a week-long trip.

So I'll make a huge effort to visit all of you before I leave but I'm not planning to take the time to schedule posts for while I'm gone.  So keep the blogging fires burning and I'll be back in about a week with more courthouses, hopefully another painted church, some post office murals, and we must always leave room for pleasant surprises along the road!

White Picket Fence - J.P. Randle House, Gonzales, Texas

For those of you who know me, you are well aware that I'm obsessed with  19th century architecture, especially that associated with historic buildings here in Texas.  The white picket fence in front of a beautiful home  has been a wish of many people for many years.

The same wish might have been held by James Polk Randle of Gonzales, Texas, when he built this lovely home for his family.  I  traveled through Gonzales (550 miles round trip from my home) for the second time this summer and had enough to time to photograph about six of the some 80 historical homes in this city which played a pivotal role in the independence of Texas from Mexico.

The Randle house is currently receiving a new paint job.  Most recently it had pink and blue accents.   The pink-turned columns on the second floor balcony are visible in the first photograph as well as the blue finial on a pink foundation on the fence.

Randle, who actually was born in Gonzales in 1845, built this home for his family in 1898.  After being a traveling salesman he was the owner of a successful dry goods store, in addition to organizing a local bank.

Linking to Teresa's GOOD FENCES

Classic or Reinvented?

There seems to be a lot of interest in classic cars these days here in rural East Texas.  Almost every local festival or holiday celebration has a few,  Here's one I photographed back on July 4 at the Timpson Frontier Days.

For some reason I didn't take a photo of the entire vehicle but let me tell you it is a pickup truck, although you can't see the bed.  But if I'm not mistaken, this front portion is a typical 1960s VW Bug. VW has produced a few Beetle pickups in the past but they seem to be more flat-nosed than this one so I think this car has been reinvented rather than being a classic.

The owner, the fellow in the yellow, was super excited about his vehicle.  He wanted to tell me how much he'd put into this project and how much he was going to sell it for.  I think both figures were tall tales.

I think this is a reinvention.  The color is all wrong, Cup holders didn't come along for many, many years (and I don't recall seeing a three-space cup holder ever), and the stitching on the upholstery looks a little amateurish.  Ladies of my age group, remember the dyed-to-match shoes we used to get to go with our prom dresses?  I think that's where he got those seat belts.

Classic or Reinvented?  What do you think?

Small Town Progress

The little town of Garrison, Texas, population 895, seven miles from where I live is the closest community which has a post office, a school, three gas stations, a small cafe, a hardware store, a couple of beauty parlors, no barber shops, a nursing home, a dollar store built just in the past year (we're really getting big-time), four churches within the city limits, about a hundred in a 10-mile radius, and TWO banks.

I was surprised when I came here almost five years ago to discover that my bank, the one that's been here for almost a hundred years, didn't have an ATM machine.  The other bank has one I'm told, but I go to the one the old timers used, including my parents and grandparents, not that new one further down the only highway that runs through town.  Many years ago a double-lane drive-through window was added and things continued on as they do in small towns.  But some four months back I noticed that the lane closest to the window was blocked with orange cones.  I frankly don't like to use the other one where you have to put your transaction in a pneumatic tube which is then whooshed through an unseen tunnel and arrives somewhere inside the bank and you have to speak to the teller through a microphone system which is only somewhat better than most of those at fast-food places where you place your order for a cheeseburger with no onions or special sauce with mustard and tater tots and a small Coke, only to hear back some kind of cackling and static similar to a ham radio that sounds something like "Thankie mush, that'll be **** burgas with yumyums **** and screechie **** wunchie, no pickles, sclhskche fries with extra keshup,and a meejum Pepsi."

I figured my days at the bank drive-through might be limited because when I go to that window when I'm in the car I'm too low to comfortably reach the tube and when I'm in the truck I'm too high.  When I asked the teller why the other lane was closed she excitedly told me we were getting an ATM machine and it would be placed in that lane closest to the bank where it would be in full light during the nighttime hours and one would not have to leave their vehicle to access the machine.  That sounded pretty good.  An ATM coming to Garrison.  Wow!  Then about two months later a camera was installed along with a newer microphone system so that you can actually see the teller you're speaking with and understand them perfectly.

But where's the ATM machine that was supposed to go in next to the window?  The bank tells me they haven't heard any more about it, so once again, progress seems to be somewhat stalled here in the tiny little town of Garrison.