2019-05-11: Geocaching Counties in SE North Carolina Finding Some Creative Caches and an Abandoned Amphitheater

Welcome back friends, geocachers, road trippers, and fellow backroad explorers. If you remember back from last weeks blog post, I had arrived in North Carolina to start building a new solar farm here in Beaufort County near the town of Wilkinson. After working all week, now it's the weekend and time to go geocaching and exploring! And time to fill in some of those empty spaces on my North Carolina County map! 

My first stop was at a Bojangles for breakfast and also a quick geocache (GC381EA) in the parking lot to claim Pamlico County. Further down the road another quick parking lot geocache (GC7BY75) in Craven County. Then down in the town of Maysville in Jones County, there was small library with my next geocache (GC6WW4B). My next geocache was in Carteret County at the Hadnot Creek (GC1NEZK). Over in Onslow County by the White Oak River was the Bridge to Stella geocache (GC7R2VB).

Still in Onslow just a few miles away are my next three geocaches. Placed on Riggs Road, by a cacher named RiggsNC, the first was at the Riggs Family Cemetery" (GC6CFJP). And this really cool "Riggs Farm - TB Bed and Breakfast" cache (GC6JB0Z).

A travel bug hotel cache is large enough to hold lots of swag and and trackables. This one is themed like a farm. It very creative and well done. It had a lot of favorite points. (Unfortunately this cache has been archived since I had found it. The Riggs have moved away and since this was on their property, it went with them to be relocated as well.)

Then there was the "Meet Me at the Corner" cache (GC6F5BJ). Another creative cache by RiggsNC. Now if a photo is worth a thousand words, then I guess it's best if I describe this cache with a short video clip:

Driving south on US-17 on the way to the next county, I stopped in Holly Ridge for a bite to eat. While eating I was looking up the geocaches close by. Then I saw this puzzle cache called "Elite Bling Series #7 Geocaching Daily News" (GC74AGJ) with some favorite points. I don't usually do puzzle caches because most of the time I can't figure them out. But this one had potential. First the coordinates take you to a war memorial where you had to answer questions for clues...

Then drive over to the final location where you'll find this:

Moving on next door to Pender County, I make a quick stop for a virtual cache called "I See the Light" (GCEFA7) at the Topsoil Baptist Church. I gathered the information I needed for the lighthouse and continued on my way.

It was a short drive to the next roadside attraction. This next geocache was called Hooper's Tale (GC24PPT), perhaps in reference to a 70's movie. It was located near this giant shark. Not too scary as it didn't have much for teeth. Unless maybe you're afraid of it gumming you to death.

Moving along into New Hanover County, I make a quick stop for another roadside geocache (GC1TZ41).

Driving north on up to the town of Kenansville in Duplin County are my next four geocaches. The first was a virtual cache called Cowan Museum (GC9BBC). The Cowan Museum of History and Science was founded in 1981 within this historic 1800's house. Also on the grounds is a historical park which includes many buildings and a botanical garden. The buildings include a general store, blacksmith shop, log cabin, smokehouse, schoolhouse, and a tobacco barn.

The 19th century general store and Natural Wells Post Office was once operated by James C Boone, who was postmaster from 1892-1903. The structure was located about four miles west of Rose Hill. The building was renovated in 2018.

This schoolhouse building was originally a corn crib from the 19th century. Now used as an example of an 1800's one room schoolhouse, it is made of hand-hewed timbers chinked together. 

A few blocks away is the "Kenansville Spring Earthcache" (GC178NW) and "The Spring" virtual cache (GC9BBE). According to tradition, a sea captain by the name of Capt. Benjamin Beverett had arrived in the area in the 1740's with his wife Barbara Gastor Beverett and son Jacob. He settled his family near present-day Kenansville, returned to sea, and never returned. The legend continues that Barbara was walking with downcast eyes when she saw a goldpiece. Hoping for buried treasure, she began hurriedly scratching the earth with her bare hands, and she uncovered the spring.

Over time the spring was walled in with brick. Concrete steps and an approach area was installed in 1909. Then once again refinished in brick in 1971. Even though the water became contaminated in 1994, the county turned the surrounding area into a small park and gave the spring enclosure a facelift. The water still flows from its original location, but it is no longer drinkable.

Probably my most favorite location of the day is the "Amp It Up" cache (GC29FE2). Constructed in 1976, The abandoned William Rand Kenan Jr Memorial Amphitheater was once said to be the finest amphitheater in the state. Music reviews and musical dramas were presented July through August and at Christmas by the Duplin Outdoor Drama Society. Long abandoned, it is now in the process of being reclaimed by nature. Sitting there in the peaceful quiet of emptiness, you have to wonder why it didn't have a very long life. The photo below is from the stage area looking up. The first photo at the top of the blog page is from the top looking at the ticket window and entry.

Moving on up to Wayne County, I make a quick cache stops at the Pineview Cemetery (GC5DWAR) which dates back to 1900 and the Grady Family Cemetery (GC5JDB7) that dates back to 1911. Continuing on my way back, next up is Lenoir County and another quick roadside geocache (GC1ADD8). And finally one last stop in Greene County (GC3Y888).

Well that was it for Saturday. Eleven counties and a little bit of history later and I make it back to the rental house in Blounts Creek. Join me back here again tomorrow for a Sunday county caching run. See you soon.

Discovering the Ghost Town of Oakville Texas and Researching Its History

Hello Friends, Travelers, and Geocachers. Welcome to another day in our AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventures. Today I want to invite you along this roadtrip as I stop to explore a South Texas ghost town called Oakville.

It started out as my usual 360+ mile Sunday drive from Killeen, Texas down to Roma in the Rio Grande Valley. I was driving down I-37 and exited off the highway to get two geocaches in the Oakville Cemetery (GC2KPBH, GC78PKP) on the west side of the Interstate. From the historical marker at the Oakville Cemetery: "Donated in 1857 by Thomas Wilson, who also gave land for Main Town Square. The property was originally part of the 1831 McMullen McGloin land grant from Mexico. Among graves are those of J.T. James, the founder of Oakville; early pioneers; and organizers of Live Oak County."

As I was driving up the onramp heading south, I noticed out the corner of my eye across the east side of the highway all the old buildings of the town. That really sparked my interest so I continued driving down the Interstate six miles to the next exit. Then got off and made a u-turn another six miles back to Oakville.

Arriving in the Coastal Bend of Texas in the early 1800’s, Irish immigrants became the first settlers of a region that includes what is now known as the town of Oakville. At that time the community was referred to as "on the Sulphur" because it was on Sulphur Creek. It was also called Puenta de la Piedra ("Rock Bridge") by Spanish gold seekers, because two miles east on the Nueces River the San Antonio-Brownsville road crossed a natural rock bridge. After the Texas Revolution, Oakville was a station on the stage line from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. It had become a bustling place of commerce because it was the crossroads of ox-cart caravans and mule trains that crawled the muddy roads of Texas between the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and Brownsville to San Antonio. Oakville was the half-way point and merchants & travelers used it as a rest stop on such long, hazardous journeys of the day.

Oakville became county seat after Thomas Wilson offered 640 acres for a townsite; residents accepted the location on September 8, 1856. The name was taken by the court from a newspaper advertisement of business lots. Oakville had the county's first post office, established in 1857, and the first courthouse was built. The Oakville Baptist Church, constructed in 1856, had 128 members by 1857.

During the Civil War and for some years afterwards, Oakville and the surrounding region became a "hotbed of lawlessness." Looking through old newspapers, I found this article from the "Austin Weekly Statesman" October 5, 1876: "The state of society about Oakville, a frontier village, has been simply terrible. The people are divided into two classes; one, permanent, cattle-growing farmers; the other, horse and cattle thieves. They have shot and killed one another until honest men feared to tell the truth, and to punish red-handed villainy was impossible."

Historian Walter Prescott Webb described Oakville as "a hard country where civil authorities were helpless and took no notice of any outrage." As the county seat, Oakville grew into a thriving town that shipped cattle, horses, cotton, and wool, with a dozen or more stores, two hotels, a livery stable, a steam gristmill and cotton gin, a school, and two churches. However, with this boom of activity, the thought of the Wild Wild West that TV shows and movies were made of come to mind.

Growing to over 400 in population, there were 7 saloons in Oakville to provide the cattle crews plenty to drink and entertainment. Many stories of drunken cowboys, a lot of liquor flowed and many thrown in jail to sober up. Some of this spilled over into frontier violence in the form of horse thievery, cattle rustling and murder.

It took Texas Ranger Captain McNelley to clean up the lawless element in the 1870's. The Texas Rangers cleared out the outlaws in the region and brought them to the Live Oak County Jail in the county seat of Oakville, for justice. The standing historic jail was the third jail used in Oakville, the first two proving inadequate. The first one was a mud structure and the second of wood; both of one story construction. It was decided that something had to be done - for one, angry citizens could shoot the prisoners dead thru the jail bars in the absence of the Sheriff whilst he was away handling business.

The stone jail became a source of community pride. It was the latest design, the state-of-the-art in incarceration at the time of its construction. At two stories tall, it provided for safe lock-up in the upstairs cells until the judge arrived and provided formal offices for the Sheriff downstairs in which to conduct business. It also allowed for the sheriff's or jailer's family to reside on the first floor should they elect to do so. This important building served as the county’s jail from 1887-1919. The jail was constructed of hard native 22” sandstone, rough-hewn blocks, hauled by ox-cart from a nearby quarry.

For the burgeoning community, a jail of this stature was literally an advertisement and enticement to incoming settlers that Oakville would be a success in that it promoted civility and safety for it’s residents. The "modern" stone Oakville Jail of the 1880’s symbolized the arrival of the law to Oakville and to frontier Texas where previously only the six-shooter, rifle and the Texas Rangers administered justice to the wild and woolly lawless. Many a badman came to lament the day he entered the Oakville Jail. It is told that over 40 men hanged in the notorious sprawling live oak “Hanging Tree” outside on the Town Square.

Law and order once again established, Oakville's location as the halfway point between San Antonio and the Gulf Coast continued to create a boom of activity and business. The county's first free school building was established in 1881, and in 1899 Oakville established the county's first independent school district. The Oakville First National Bank, opened in 1905 by Dudley Blair and Lee Hinton, was also the county's first. The population of Oakville reached 400 in 1885, fell to 320 in 1892, then rose to a maximum of 450 in 1914.

Oakville's demise came just as many a ghost towns did in the west.  About 10 miles to the south, George West had plotted and named a town after himself. He courted the San Antonio, Uvalde, and Gulf Railroad to lay their tracks through his town and succeeded in 1913. The residents of Oakville began relocating to George West. And in 1919, George West became the county seat when its founder offered $75,000 to build a new courthouse there. State highway maps of 1936 showed a cemetery, two churches, a school, and several businesses and residences at the site. In 1940 the community reported a population of 350. By the 1970's only the Baptist church, the post office, three service stations, and scattered dwellings remained.

The State of Texas designated the town of Oakville a historic landmark in 1936 and placed a granite marker there. In 2004, the Oakville Jail was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Since the 1970's when Albert and Mari Davila first spotted the two-story stone jailhouse rising up out of the surrounding live oak and cactus. Over the following years, every time they'd pass by on their way down to Padre Island, they would stop for another look and exploring what appeared to be an abandoned town square. They eventually fell in love with the jailhouse and wanted to turn it into their vacation retreat house. They found the owners and purchased the Oakville Jail along with the abandoned town square in 2005.

With no windows or doors, they discovered many critters now calling it home as well. It was a slow process clearing up and cleaning out, but in 2007 restoration of the jail was completed. Locals had been admiring the work and inquiries into renting the jailhouse for special events and overnight stays began coming in. One by one the Davila's have been restoring old structures and adding to their number of rooms to rent. You can find more information about the restoration and photos at their website oakvillejail.com.

So that's it for another edition of my blog. I really enjoy finding these once forgotten treasures like the Oakville, Texas ghost town and sharing them with you. I'm also glad to see that someone has taken an interest and begun to restore the town square into what a typical pioneer town square might have looked like back in the 1800's.

For some reason, the closing theme song of the Beverly Hillbilly's TV show is running through my head. Yeah I know it's got nothing to do with Texas. But I'll leave it with you as anyway, though slightly modified: 

"Well now it's time to say good bye to You and all your kin.

And I would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.

You're all invited back next week to this blog of mine,

To have a heapin'helpin of these words that come to mind.

Geocaching it is. Explore a spell, Put the hiking boots on.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?"

2018-06-10: Geocaching Through History From Central to West Texas

Welcome back to another of my 360+ mile Sunday drives from Killeen in Central Texas to Fort Stockton in West Texas. Along this weekly drive, I explore the backroads and small towns, cemeteries and ghost towns, and anything of interest along the way. Most of the places I discover are thanks to the game of Geocaching. We got a long way to go, so let's get started.

Now most of the time during this drive, I start finding geocaches early along a route. Then I get side tracked, start heading to this cache and that cache, and next thing I know it's the middle of the afternoon and I still have 300 miles to drive. Today I was determined to make it past Llano before making my first stop. And that I did.

To encourage settlement of the new frontier in the 1830's and 40's, the Republic of Texas granted large portions of land to prospective impresarios. Among the more notable was the one issued to Francis Fisher, Buchard Miller, and Joseph Baker. Comprising some three million acres of land between the Llano and Colorado Rivers, it became known as the Fisher and Miller Colony.

Going westbound on Highway 29, I turned south towards Castell. In 1847 on Fisher-Miller land grants, 3 settlements were begun by German emigration company under commissioner general John O. Meusebach. There was Bettina, the first communal settlement in Texas. It was abandoned in less than a year when supplies ran out. Leiningen three miles to the east, but non-existent today. Castell was the first and only permanent Llano County settlement. It was led by Count Emil von Kriewitz. The towns namesake was Count Carl Frederick Castell-Castell, business manager of the Adelsverein.

The German Lutherans in this area were served by circuit-riding lay minister Dietrich Rode as early as 1870. A congregation was organized in 1893 on the north side of the Llano River in the Leiningen settlement about three miles east. A second church, known as Leiningen Two or Zion, was built on the south side of the river in 1907. The two congregations merged as St Johannes Evangelische Gemeinde in 1926, and a new sanctuary was built. Worship services were conducted in German until the 1950's, and the name was changed to St. Johns Lutheran Church.

Next to the church is the Cemetery and geocache (GC1NVGG). The congregation of St John Lutheren Church had been meeting in its new sanctuary for some four years when the death of one of its members, Anna Charlotte Lillie (Kowierschke) Bauer (1905-1930), led to the purchase of this half acre for use as the church cemetery. Her in-laws J. W. Bauer (1874-1932) and Bertha (Flint) Bauer (1872-1956) are buried nearby in the same plot. The older grave of Christian Schneider (1838-1920) was moved here from an endangered location near the Llano River.

There was a second geocache in town closer to the river, but I didn't find it (GC1NVGB).

Arriving in the town of Mason, Texas, there were two geocaches there that I still hadn't looked for yet. The first was at a historical marker entering the town (GC6E7PP). Created January 22, 1858 and organized August 2, 1858, Mason County was named for its most important settlement, Fort Mason. Garrisoned intermittently from July 6, 1851, to March 23, 1869, Fort Mason was named for Lt. G.T. Mason of the United States 2nd Dragoons, killed in Mexican War action on April 25, 1846 near Brownsville. Fort Mason was one of a chain of posts situated a day's horseback ride apart, from Red River to the Rio Grande, for protecting frontier from Apaches, Comanches, and other Indians.

Exiting the west end of town I stopped for another historical marker and another geocache (GC6E82Z). A native of Kentucky, Thomas S. Milligan (1810-1860) moved to this area in 1855 and operated a change station for the stage line. He was also a rancher and supplied beef to the soldiers at Fort Mason. Shortly after Mason County was organized in 1858 he became the first elected sheriff. Two years later he was killed by hostile indians near his home 1.6 miles NW. His grandson Allen Thomas Murray (1880-1929) became county sheriff in 1924 and like his grandfather, also died in the line of fire. He was killed by a bootlegger in 1929.

When arriving in the ghost town of Grit, Texas, I turned south onto US-377 to head down towards Junction and I-10. I then made a quick roadside geocache stop (GC3PV6R).

A couple of more miles down the road and I arrived at the Long Mountain Cemetery and two more geocaches (GC6EVX0, GC3PV5Q). Long Mountain probably gets its name from a nearby summit, also called Long Mountain. The area, which had been settled for some time by scattered ranchers, began to develop into a community in 1915. There are 240 burials here dating back to a Samuel Silas Jackson in January 1867. The second photo below is that of Dan (d.1900) and Sarah (d.1928) Martin's headstone which has their portraits on it. I'm sure it was placed by a more recent family member.

The next few miles provided just some ordinary roadside geocaches for some quick stops (GC3PV4T, GC58AJJ, and a DNF at GCKNF4). There was another roadside cache that had some history in the location, but nothing left there to see. The ghost town of Erna (GC1JR4C) is said to have been settled shortly after the Civil War, in part by German immigrants. J. N. Andrews operated the only store in the community in 1890. A post office was established there in 1915 with Amos Brewer as postmaster. The office was discontinued in 1919, and mail for the community was sent to Streeter in Mason County. Only a few scattered houses marked Erna on county highway maps in the 1940's. From the mid-1940's through the mid-1960's the population was reported at fifty. By the 1980's only the place name appeared on county maps.

An old farmhouse along one of the rural dirt roads.

The next geocache and ghost town down the road at the Saline and Little Saline Cemetery (GC1M4JK). A few settlers arrived in the area in the 1860's, but the threat of Indian raids kept many people away until the 1870's or 1880's. Shortly after 1900 the Saline school had eighty-four students and two teachers. The school and a church marked the community on county highway maps in the late 1930's. The school closed in 1947, and students were sent to the London school in Kimble County.

The family of Henry Parks settled here in the early 1860's, having found abundant grazing for their cattle. A band of Comanche Indians descended upon the pioneer family. Henry and Nancy Parks and their young grandson, Billy, were slain, their home burned and the cattle driven away. The Parks family were laid to rest where they had been slain. The three bodies, all in one grave, became the first burial in Little Saline cemetery.

The photo below is on the headstone of Marvin Harrison Hight who died December 1917 at age 22. I couldn't find any specific information on him, but I suspect he may have died in battle during World War I.

Continuing south on to my next cache (GC11951), I arrived in London. No not in England, but in Texas. London, aka London Town materialized sometime in the late 1870's or early 1880's when former Union Army officer Len L. Lewis moved into the area to trade horses. Lewis married locally and with holdings of a half-section of land, he planned the future town. Ed, Tom, and Robert Stevenson opened a store there in 1881 and the town was platted to include a square and forty town lots. A post office opened in the Stevenson store in 1892 under the name London and it was used to denote the town as well. London is famous locally for its dance hall located on the main street. The London Cemetery (GC6EG0K) has just over 400 burials dating back to 1908.

Jumping on to I-10 westbound, I continue on down to Copperas Cemetery (GC1M4H9). A deed for this cemetery was executed by D.P. Cowsert to E.S. Alley, County Judge, on May 30, 1890, donating one acre of land out of E.S. Haines Survey #55. First grave was that of William A. Cowsert on February 1, 1888. Residents of the Copperas community tend to cemetery. David Cowsert, who died during World War I, was returned home and buried here in the land of his ancestors. At least eight Civil War veterans , including Colonel John Griffith, were interred in the Copperas Cemetery. Veterans from other wars are among the dead in this beautiful little cemetery in the Copperas and Bois d" Arc valleys. An official historical law officers's marker denotes the burial spot of Ranger Captain Gully Cowsert.

Next door to the cemetery is what remains of the Copperas Methodist Church (GC1M4HA). Organized in 1881 by circuit rider, Andrew Jackson Potter, who helped firmly establish the Methodist church in West Texas. Before construction of church on this site in 1917, services were held in schoolhouse or under brush arbor 3/4 mi. SW on west bank, Copperas Creek. Building site was donated by J. A. Cowsert. Lumber was hauled here by wagon from Menard. Labor was donated by members and other local residents.

Five miles further down I-10 westbound is Roosevelt, Texas. Exiting off the Interstate, I first arrive at a historical marker and my next geocache (GC1M4GR). "From nearby Fort Terrett, this road in 1852 led south to Fort Clark and north to Fort McKavett. Selected mainly because it had water available, it served as the route for freight and mail in 1868, when the forts were reactivated. Over this route went troops, supplies, immigrants and pioneers. It was noted also for the passage of forays of Col. Ranald MacKenzie against hostile Indians to the northwest. After the forts were abandoned in 1883, ranchers drove cattle to market over parts of the road.

Near the historical marker was this old church. It was the Roosevelt Presbyterian Church. A plaque on the wall says the church was organized in 1933 and the building erected in 1947. The building looked to be in decent shape although the sign out by the road was pretty faded. With a population of about 150, I imagine it is still in use today.

Roosevelt, Texas was established with a post office in 1898 and was named by its founder, W. B. Wagoner, for Theodore Roosevelt, who reportedly visited the area with the First United States Volunteer Cavalry (the Rough Riders). It served as a shipping point for feed and supplies for local sheep and goat ranchers. The Patterson and Riek Ranch, established in 1897, imported Angora goats from South Africa in 1925.

In the 1920's the community hosted polo matches, as local ranchers bred polo ponies for national markets as well as horses for the United States Cavalry. Hill Country tourism also added to the local economy in that decade with the establishment of several businesses, including the Luthringer Hotel.

The population of Roosevelt, estimated at twenty-five in 1925, averaged 100 from 1941 through the middle 1980's. In 1990 it was ninety-eight. The population dropped to fourteen in 2000.

The old general store (GC1M4GB) in Roosevelt known as Simon Bros Mercantile opened in the early 1900's and is still in operation. The Back Door Cafe is located behind the store and contains a beautiful mahogany bar that languished for many years in a local barn. The remains of the school and the memorial church are located east of town.The post office is located inside the store and is one of the two smallest still operating in Texas (the other is at Telegraph).

Well it has been a busy day with 18 geocaches and a lot to see. From Roosevelt I still had 180 miles to go and was planning to drive all the way through to Fort Stockton. But after about an hour, I-10 was getting pretty boring! About halfway I was approaching a rest area. I opened up the app and saw that there was a cache there (GC2K4XW). Well that's a no-brainer. I quickly pull in, stretch my legs and grab a cache.

Now on to Fort Stockton to relax for the night and get rested for work tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by. If you've enjoyed my stories, please send me a note in the comments, or through Facebook and Twitter.

2018-05-28: Ghost Towns, Old Schoolhouses, Cemeteries, Geocaching Through West Texas

Welcome back everyone. On today's drive from Killeen to Fort Stockton, Texas, my Geocaching adventure takes me to a few ghost towns, abandoned school buildings, some cemeteries, and a cool abandoned outdoor stadium. So let's get started...

Heading west on US-190, I drove through to Brady before turning north on US-283. My first stop was a quick roadside geocache (GC2ED5W).

A few more miles up the road is the small town of Lohn, Texas. The first settlers in the area were the William F. Lohn family in 1879. In 1881 they were joined by other German families. Boi Albert Cornils immigrated as a young adult to this area in 1884 wed another young immigrant, Bertha Lembke. The couple settled on ranchland east of Lohn and reared five children.

Morgan Stacy built a store at the community site and ran the post office when it was granted in 1890. In 1892 the community had a flour mill and gin, a general store, and a Baptist church. The first school was a one-room structure built in 1893. In 1896, the Cornils deeded five acres for a free public school adjacent to a community burial ground on their property. Several unmarked graves predate the first recorded burial, that of Heinrich Rudolph (d. 1883).

Separated about a mile apart, there are two cemeteries; the Lohn Family Cemetery (GC7QD68) and the Lohn (Community) Cemetery (GC7QD61). There weren't any geocaches hidden in either cemetery. So of course I had to remedy that situation.

New businesses were built from around 1910 through the 1920's, and the number of residents increased from seventy-five in 1914 to a high of 360 in 1931. The Lohn population was 250 in the 1940's and 1950's, but it fell to 100 in the mid-1960's. In 1988 two businesses and 149 residents were reported there; the population of Lohn was still estimated at 149 in 2000. The first photo below is an abandoned gas station followed by one of the abandoned houses.

A few miles west down Ranch Road 504 is Pear Valley, Texas and my next few geocaches. It began about 1908 as a widely scattered settlement called Saddle Creek. When the post office opened in 1910, the name was changed to Pear Valley. The population remained stable at forty-five from the 1930's to the 1960's. In 1964 it fell to twenty. Two churches and two businesses appeared on the 1987 county highway map, and the town reported thirty-seven residents in 1990. The remains of the school, built in 1935 (GC48A5, GC11BB1), General Store building, and the cemetery (GC5ADBJ) are about all that remain.

My next stop and geocache (GC11BB2) was in the ghost town of Salt Gap, Texas. Located at the intersection of County FM 503 and FM 504, it had a population of just 25 in 1990. Named for the local creek of the same name, the town had a post office in operation from 1905 to 1913 - the year it closed. It reopened in the 1920's and closed for good several years later. The population high-water mark was 60 people in the late 1930's. The town never developed past the store and school stage, but it remained a viable community in 2006 and still appears on the county map. Not much to see here but the signs announcing its existence and a few buildings at the intersection.

A few miles around the corner from there was another ghost town that really had my interest. The early settlers of Doole, Texas (GC11BAX) wanted to name their town in honor of a prominent family in the area, the Gansel Family, therefore this farming and ranching community was originally known as Gansel, Texas. Residents decided to establish a post office in approximately 1911 and ask the postmaster at Brady, Texas for advice. The postal service in Washington D.C. said that the name Gansel was unacceptable, so the settlers named their post office and town after David Doole, Jr., the postmaster at Brady. These are just a few of the many photos I took in Doole.

The Old Doole Baptist Church

Gray's Machine Shop which handled all the auto and tractor repairs, welding, and blacksmith.

Old House with Porch Swing

This was to me the most fascinating part. A lot of towns have old buildings. But how about the school sports stadium where the bleachers were built into the side of the hill! Kinda like ones I saw of the ancient ruins in Athens, Greece. Even had the old ticket booth standing and still in decent shape. There's even an old rusty 1957 Plymouth sitting in the mesquite where the parking lot probably was. Darned if I forgot to take a photo of it though. This ghost town is definitely one of the must see on a roadtrip through Central/West Texas!

Continuing slowly westbound, I arrive in Millersview in Concho County and my next two geocaches (GC11BBB, GC5ADC4). Named for Edward D. Miller, who co-founded the town with one Henry Barr. Previous settlement had been scattered along Mustang Creek - some seven miles NE of present day Millersview. The town was granted a post office in 1903.

In 1914 the town had a population of 160. From 300 people in 1931, it was reduced by two thirds by 1933 but somehow managed to rise to 250 as the Depression was winding down. The Millersview school had eight teachers in 1940 to teach both elementary and high school grades. High school classes were suspended in 1958 although elementary classes continued until the school closed sometime before 1989. The population was 175 in 1963, declining thereafter to 70 by 1970 - an estimate that stayed in place for thirty years. Students from Millersville now attend classes in Eden. The school itself is now degrading, but the people have restored the gymnasium (built in 1939) and continue to use it as a community center.

The community is reportedly the only town in the United States using the name Millersview.

Also in Millersview is the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. They have erected a monument and marker in 1998 honoring the Mission San Clemente. The mission was established in 1684 by Spanish missionaries for the purpose of sharing the Catholic faith with Indians in the area. In 1984 mass was celebrated at this location to commemorate the founding of the mission 300 years ago. A congregation of more than 3,000 joined many of the Texas Bishops in the Liturgy.

My next geocache was a roadside cache on FM 765 on the way to the ghost town of Eola, Texas. The Eola Museum cache (GC10V2A) is at the corner of a dirt road leading to the Barrow Ranch. Earnest and Dorthy Barrow founded the Museum in 1976 to house their extensive collection of memorabilia from the early days of Concho County. It has since grown to include items from all over the world, collected by the Barrows and many other donors. As a gift in perpetuity to the public, the Museum is owned and operated as a non-profit foundation by a Board of Directors.

Four large buildings house the collections that range from delicate crystal to a magnificent pipe organ. Visitors can step back into history as they view many different antiques. Some of the largest collections contain thousands of cat figurines, hundreds of Hummel and Goebel figurines as well as thousands of arrowheads and other Indian artifacts. There are also gems, minerals, cars, farm equipment, medical and dental equipment, windmills, and seashells of all types.

I didn't have the time to drive down the road to see the museum. Maybe another day I just might.

Another side road so that I don't have to backtrack, and I arrive at Henderson Chapel, Texas (GC1DZFX). Henderson Chapel, also known as Hendersons Chapel and as Henderson, was near a tributary of Kickapoo Creek. In 1936 Henderson Chapel had a business and a school. In 1940 its school, which encompassed grades one through seven, had an average daily attendance of twenty. By 1955 the community's school had been consolidated with the Eola school district. The 1963 county highway map named the community, but showed no buildings at the site. The only thing I saw was this building which is barely standing and overtaken by trees.

Finally reaching Eola, Texas, the area was originally called Jordan. However it changed its name in 1902 when the first store was built and the town only had four families. Eola was created during a land boom when county school lands were put up for sale at fifty cents an acre in the 1890's. The sale attracted many Europeans – primarily Czechs.

A two-story schoolhouse was built in 1906. By 1914 Eola had a population of twenty-five which grew to 240 by 1931. In 1940 Eola had a population of 250 and was thriving. It reached its zenith in ’47 when 350 Eolans called the town home. Nine teachers taught elementary and high school classes.

Recently a carpenter from Washington moved in and has been restoring the old school building a little at a time. He also opened up a steak house on one end and is only open Friday and Saturday to help raise money for the restoration project. I thought I had taken a photo of the school, but I guess I didn't.

A few miles north of Eola is the Mereta-Eola Cemetery (GC1DZGE). Not a whole lot of history other than it serving the towns of Mereta to the west and Eola to the south. Still in use today with just under 100 burials listed, it dates back to the late 1800's.

My last two geocaches for the day are in Mereta, Texas (GC1ABHM, GC10V2C). Mereta, also known as Fisherville and as Lipan, was named by its postmaster in 1902 for twin sisters Meta and Reta Burns, had a gin, two stores, and a school in 1904, when a town plat was made. Its population fell from seventy-five in 1914 to thirty in 1925. In 1931 Mereta had three businesses and a school with three teachers; by 1934 the community's population was reported as ten, with four businesses. The 1936 county highway map showed two churches, two factories, a post office, a school, and scattered dwellings at the town site. By 1939 a store was operating at the local community center. The population of Mereta was estimated at seventy-five from the early 1940’s through the early 1990’s. The 1984 county highway map showed a church, a business, and a park.

That was it for today. Spent enough time on these little backroads and ghost towns. I still had 180 miles of driving before reaching Fort Stockton. Gotta get moving. Thanks for riding along and be sure to either Follow Me via the button on the right (if you're on you computer), and on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates.