Sunrise on a Red-Roofed Barn

Near Kennard, Texas

Grimes County Courthouse (Texas No. 37)

One of the most visually pleasing courthouses in Texas is the Grimes County Courthouse in Anderson.  This was my first stop on my road trip a few weeks ago into Central Texas and I was definitely not disappointed. This gorgeous old building was constructed in either 1891 or 1893 - there seems to be some dispute among the authorities.  Of Italianate design it is built of hand-molded brick with native stone trim.  It includes the original vault which survived the first two courthouses in the county.  Renovated in 2002, it has withstood two fires and was host to a trial of a member of the Clyde Barrow-Bonnie Parker gang back in the 1930s who vowed he would see the court in infernal regions!

There is no designated parking around the courthouse.  In fact, the county judge is the sole official to have a reserved parking space and that happens to be located across the street at a small office building.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Anderson is it is most likely the smallest county seat in the Texas.  In 2009 its population was counted as a mere 280!  No wonder the place was dead on the Saturday morning that I buzzed through.  The only other living, breathing thing I encountered in town was the little dog in the photo below who seemed to be the town mascot, patroling the street (that's singular, mind you).  The courthouse sits on a small knoll at the end of the only city block.

I parked and walked through the town and admired some of the antiques sitting outside an antique shop, including this Norge wringer washing machine.  I remember when my grandmother got her first washer.  It looked similar to this one - without the rust, of course - and my grandpa had enclosed a portion of the back porch to accommodate the washing machine and to also build a bathroom, complete with a toilet and tub.  There was no sink.  They simply used an old wooden dresser with a ceramic pitcher and bowl for hand washing!  Of course, the bathroom and the space for the washing machine took the place of the two-seater swing that had sat for years on the porch.  With each modernization comes a certain loss of the past.

This Land Is Your Land

"The Gulf Stream Waters"

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York island

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

Chorus from This  Land Is Your Land

By Woody Guthrie

Elgin Charm

Another delightful little city I encountered on my road trip through central Texas was Elgin.  Only 19 miles from Austin, it has a population of 8,000, although I wouldn't have thought it could top 2,000.  It is part of the Austin metro complex, and the most popular bumper sticker in town reads "Enjoy Austin, live in Elgin."

The Texas legislature named Elgin as the Sausage Capital of Texas and four sausage companies still call Elgin home.  It also has the moniker of Brick Capitol of the Southwest due to the presence of three brickyards during the mid-20th century, two of which are still in operation.  The wide brick streets welcome its many visitors.

The Nofsinger House, now Elgin's City hall, was built in 1906 by Dr. I.B. Nofsinger and his wife Mary of red brick from one of the local kilns.  Mary, a pharmacist, designed the Queen Anne style home.

The Elgin Post Office houses a lovely WPA mural painted in 1940 by artist Julius Woeltz.  The post office is so tiny I had to stand at one end and look up to even focus my camera on this mural entitled "Texas Farm."  It reminds me very much of the works of Depression-era artist Thomas Hart Benton.

The entry door to the Post Office is this stylized metal-fabricated eagle.

Bastrop County Courthouse (Texas No. 36)

The Bastrop County Courthouse in Bastrop, Texas, was built in 1883, although it certainly doesn't look like most 1890's courthouses in Texas.  The building was modernized in 1923 and the original red brick and stone structure was covered with plaster and the dome was shortened.

It was a rather gray morning in Bastrop and I got caught in a rain shower while trying to get a good photo.  All those pecan trees, which are very prevalent around Texas courthouses, tend to hide the building.  When the rain came I took refuge under one of those giant trees and tried to wait it out until the shower subsided, but eventually thunder erupted and I figured I wasn't very safe under a tree out in the open, so I made a run for it.  It's been a long time since I ran anywhere!

A copper cap was added to the dome on the clock tower during the 1923 remodel.

Adjacent to the courthouse and now connected by a second-floor walkway is the old Bastrop County Jail.  Constructed in 1891 the jail is now a museum.

Bastrop, the county and the city, are named for Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop.  He was actually a commoner named Philip Hendrik Nering Bogel who was wanted for embezzlement in his native country of the Netherlands.  An early Dutch settler, Baron de Bastrop assisted Stephen F. Austin in obtaining land grants in Texas.

The city of Bastrop is about 30 miles southeast of Austin and is part of the greater Austin metropolitan area.  Its population has almost doubled in the last 40 years. Residents now number over 7,000.

The Bastrop Fire

As I drove through Bastrop County during my recent trip to Central Texas, evidence of the most destructive wildfire in Texas history is still very much evident.  Hundreds of acres of loblolly pines paint a black and white portrait around Bastrop as a result of three separate fires which started September 4, 2011, from the tropical storm Lee and then merged into one monstrous blaze which was not contained until October 10 and finally extinguished on October 29.  Permanent repercussions from the fire include the endangered Houston toad which is believed to have lost the vast majority of its habitat, and the Lost Pines Forest, a population of loblolly pine trees thought to have originated in or before the Pleistocene era, was heavily affected by the blaze.  Although over 34,000 acres were burned and 1,691 homes were destroyed, as you drive through the devastated forests you can see random buildings which remain.  If you enlarge the above photo you will perhaps be able to see, slightly to the right of the fence post, a small red building, maybe a barn, still standing amidst the ruin.  But as nature would have it, the undergrowth is lush and green and the forest will eventually regrow, although it may be decades before all the remnants of a massive natural disaster disappears. 

Oak Hill Cemetery - Smithville, Texas

Just a few miles south of Smithville is the Oak Hill Cemetery.  I'm fascinated by angel statuary and happened one day to stumble onto a photographer's website featuring photos of angels in various cemeteries in Central Texas.  One of the "good" ones was in Oak Hill so I made to note to try to find the cemetery when I visited that sweet little town.  I was not disappointed.

This gorgeous angel graces the grave of Edna May, daughter of W.T. and E.\M. Flint.  Born in 1880, she was just a few days over 30 years of age when she died in 1910.

Although not an angel with wings, this beautiful statue marking the grave of Theresa Esterak, wife of C.O. Leshikar, appears to have been recently cleaned.  Theresa was born in 1882 and died in 1914.

Smithville Murals

If you read yesterday's post you no doubt know that I fell absolutely in love with the little town of Smithville in Central Texas.  Another charming fact is the existence of two absolutely great murals.  The one above is painted on an exterior wall of the police station/fire department.  It is signed in the lower right corner by one Jo Watts and is dated 2012.  Can you see the Dalmatian peeking out the door on the right?

A much older mural can be found in Smithville's current (and previous) post office.  It was painted in 1940 by Minnie Teichmueller and is entitled "The Law - Texas Rangers."  The lobby of this old post office, replete with beautiful woodwork, is only about eight feet deep (of course, I'm horrible at estimating distances so I could be way off!) and the mural takes up the complete wall.  The Texas Rangers, the state's premier law enforcement agency, was created by Stephen F. Austin who is known as the Father of Texas in a call to arms written in 1823.  Two closeups of the mural are below.

Tomorrow:  Oak Hill Cemetery

To answer Jo's question on yesterday's post:  Yes, Jo, Smithville has a library, although I don't believe I saw it.  In doing a little bit of research after I visited, like other Smithville institutions I take it the library is quite unique.  For an interesting three short paragraphs on the library, check out the link HERE and scroll to the end to "Smithville Library."

Smithville, TX

A few weekends ago I took a three-day road trip to Central Texas to explore the region's historic courthouses, small towns, and the back roads.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll take you on my journey, although it won't be in any chronological order.

One of the most charming little towns I visited was Smithville, located about 40 miles southeast of Austin.  It was my first stop that day so I arrived in town quite early after a morning shower.  Since it was a Sunday, the streets were pretty much deserted so I got my own personal tour of the place.  As I drove through downtown and some of the residential area, I thought to myself:  This is one little city (population 4,000) I could live in.  It has many Victorian homes amid tree-lined streets, a cute park, a railroad museum, antique shops, a post office with an artistic mural and real wood doors and trim, and plenty of ghost signs.

Who wouldn't want to live in a quiet little town where antique store proprietors can leave some of their wares out on the sidewalk overnight on a Saturday!

The old Firestone sign has just about faded into oblivion.

This corner building has a variety of ghost signs.  I think I even see a Coca-Cola sign peeking through there.

Have you ever heard of the Star Biscuit Company?  I'll bet you haven't because this sign was painted in the late 1990s as a prop for the movie Hope Floats starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr.  Smithville has been chosen for several movie productions.

Even though the old Victorian homes were spectacular, this little cottage caught my eye.  Who can resist the bright yellow paint with the two red doors (perhaps it's a duplex) with the white picket fence, lions' heads on the gate, and a garden of sunflowers.

Tomorrow:  Murals

Misplaced Apostrophes (not Apostrophe's)

Meyersville, Texas, Burger, Biker, BBQ shack.  When will sign painters ever take a grammar course and learn the difference  between plurals and possessives!  I see the place is for sale so maybe the new owners will have studied fifth grade grammar.

Lonely Wildflower

Hello Blogger Friends:

I apologize for my absence over the last two and a half months.  It has a been a trying time with a three-week illness for me, followed by a life-threatening illness for my 91-year-old mother.  She was hospitalized on May 4 with a bacterial infection called C. diff (Clostridium difficile), an illness which is generally caused by the good bacteria in the intestinal system being wiped out by an ingestion of antibiotics.  C. diff can be fatal if it gets a foothold in the colon.  We've all been warned about the overuse of antibiotics, and the result can be what happened to my mom.  Two weeks before developing uncontrollable diarrhea, she received a course of Cipro antibiotic for an eye infection, which evidently killed all her good bacteria and allowed the bad stuff to run rampant.  She was in the hospital for two weeks and then released to a skilled nursing facility because she was too weak to stand up.  After two days in the rehab center, she was rehospitalized for a week due to being in a near-comatose state.  As of yesterday she has returned home and is able to maneuver with a walker or a cane but will continue to be treated with physical and occupational therapy by a home health agency.  C. diff kills over 40,000 people each year in the United States, most of whom are elderly or infants.

I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me with your concerns over my absence.  I hope to be back to blogging as of now, although it probably will not be on a daily basis since my mom needs round-the-clock care.  Her mental capacity has dropped tremendously in the past few weeks and she is incapable of handling the most rudimentary tasks.  I hope to visit your blogs within the next couple of days.  Thanks for being such great friends!

Caption This - Week 10

 From the blog archives:  I've not been out and about lately and my supply of photos is running short.  I found this one from a few years back.  This fellow was actually a vendor at a regional flea market here in Texas.  His wife happened to be on hand to monitor their booth.  Otherwise, he might have lost an important sale.  Give me your best caption for this photo and come back next week to see all the fun captions.

Last week's photo was one of this series' favorites with my blog friends.  Here are just a few of the outstanding captions:

1.  "I'm telling ya, the Donald Trump comb-over wins every time" - by TexWisGirl at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report

2.  "Wrinkle cream, anyone have some?" - by Randy at Santa Fe Daily Photo

3.  "Don't forget to get your roots done dahling.  Only your hair dresser knows for sure" - by Jeanne of In Search Of

4.  "Cover Girl" - by Daniel at The Pixel Collective

5.  "I'm Beauty.  You should see Beaat" - by EG CameraGirl at East Gwillumbury CameraGirl

Caption This - Week 9

This week's Caption This subject is a former winner in the Miss Warthog Beauty Pageant.  So come on, Bloggers, and put on your creative thinking hats and submit a caption of what advice this beauty queen has for contestants in the upcoming pageant!

Last week's favorites:

1.  "Don 't mess with Texas cuz I'm not in the mood" from TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report

2.  "Do I look like Dennis Weaver?" from Randy at Santa Fe Daily Photo

Inside Chimp Haven

Some of you indicated you would like to see more of the photos from my recent visit to Chimp Haven.  Here you go!

Chimp Haven is located in the middle of a dense pine forest near Shreveport, Louisiana.  It is a sanctuary primarily for retired chimpanzees from medical research facilities.  One resident is a former pet and a few are from the entertainment industry.  From the above photo you can see that visitors get a pretty good view of the chimps who live on an island surrounded by a small lake; however a camera with a good zoom lens is a plus.  Chimps cannot swim due to their high percentage of muscle mass as opposed to fat.  They simply sink when they are in water.  As a result many of them have a natural fear of water.  These prohibitions provide a natural barrier for the primates, allowing them to live without being contained by cages or bars.

Chimp Haven is open to the public only six mornings a year and visitors are treated with being able to watch the chimps participate in a fruit roundup twice during the morning visit.  It is absolutely delightful to watch them gathering up the tossed-out apples, bananas, and oranges.  

It is also fun to see if you can identify any of the residents by comparing their photos which are placed on these large bulletin boards throughout the facility.   A visit to Chimp Haven carries no charge.

The chimps have plenty of toys and are given constant stimulation to help keep them happy and busy.  A group of them can spend hours attempting to pry fruit particles from a bucket of of frozen water.

Meet Pierre.  He looks like a gruff old guy but supposedly he's a sweetheart and will stand by the lake as long as someone is there to watch him.  Pierre recently arrived at Chimp Haven from the New Iberia, Louisiana, research center where 110 chimps have been retired from medical research.  Chimp Haven agreed to take these animals and provide them a place to live for the remainder of their lives.  Pierre was infected with HIV during his stay in the government medical research laboratory.  Chimp Haven is one of the few sanctuaries in the United States which is qualified to care for hepatitis B and HIV-infected animals.  These infected animals are separated from the noninfected population.

Dr. Raven Jackson, the on-site veternarian, tells Pierre's story to a group of Chimp Haven visitors.

For more information on this wonderful sanctuary, visit chimphaven.org