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?"

2018-06-03: A Couple of FTF's, Cemeteries and an Old School in Central Texas

On this day, another Sunday and another 360 mile drive from Killeen to Fort Stockton, Texas, I found seven geocaches and visited a couple cemeteries, an old schoolhouse, and a ghost town.

I had to make a stop in Odessa also which would normally have me on a more northerly route up through San Angelo and began to head that way. Then I remembered a new cache publishing along my route to the south in Burnet. I checked the phone and yes it was still available. So I made a u-turn.

Wallace Riddell served as Burnet County Sheriff longer than any other county sheriff in Texas. I’m wondering if maybe it was longer than any sheriff anywhere? He ranched, and also won rodeo championships for roping. The really remarkable thing about him is that he didn’t carry a gun! Yep. After a bad incident with a gun in his first year as sheriff, he vowed never to go armed. But he did have deputies to do that, if the need arose.

The geocache (GC7QGF9) was located in a city park named after him. Arrived at geocache to find a blank log sheet and stamped my name on the top at 10:55 AM! WOHOO a First to Find!

Continuing west on Highway 29 over to Llano, turning northwest on Highway 71 to the Salem Cemetery (GC35JNM). William Leggett Lewis, a physician and ordained Methodist minister who served in the Civil War, came to Texas with his family in 1878. Lewis' land was probably used for a family and community burial ground before 1884, when Rebecca Ann Stevenson, the daughter of Joseph and Eliza Stevenson, was interred in the earliest marked grave on this site. Dr. Lewis' son, M Dee Lewis, was interred here a month later.

Dr. Lewis and his wife deeded 100 square yards of land for use as a cemetery to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888. Of more than 200 known graves in the Salem Cemetery, 61 are unmarked and a few have initials scratched on rocks. Twelve graves are those of civil war veterans. Others served in World War 1, World War II, and the Korean War.

Several miles up the road was the ghost town of Valley Spring, Texas and my next three geocaches. The first stop was at the Valley Spring Volunteer Fire Department building (GC57E1T).

The next geocache (GC1NVGN) was at the old school building built in 1938. This area was originally settled by the O. C. J. Phillips family in 1854 and was known as Phillips Ranch in the early years. The Phillips's were soon followed by several other families, including that of Davie Owen. Phillips's son, W. O. Phillips, established a cotton gin and sawmill on the ranch in 1860, known as Whistleville because of the steam whistle that announced the opening of his business day.

A rival mill and gin were built by Davie Owen less than a mile away and were facetiously referred to as Bugscuffle. When a post office was established for the community in 1878, it was located at the Bugscuffle establishment, which was thereupon renamed for the numerous springs in the area. The stage route from Llano to Brady was changed in 1882, and Owen built a store on the new route, at the site of present Valley Spring. From a population of 100 and several businesses in the 1930s and 1940s, Valley Spring had declined by 1968 to fifty people, a post office, and a store. The population through 2000 was still reported as fifty.

The old school building below is used as a community center today.

The last one in this community is at the Valley Spring Cemetery (GC1NVNQ). This hilltop cemetery has served the local community since 1867 when Martha Epperson Eaker and Hattie Phillips, daughters of the pioneer settlers, were buried here. Burials continued, and in 1877 the Epperson family donated land for the "benefit and convenience of San Fernando Valley." Cemetery trustees acquired another acre in 1889, the deed referring to the "old graveyard west of the Valley Springs."

Renowned pioneer physician, Dr. W. Y. Fowler (1860-1935), who began his 46 year Llano County practice in Valley Spring in 1889, acquired the surrounding ranch in 1897 and provided additional land for the cemetery. More than 100 graves in this cemetery are marked with a rock or unlettered stone. The grave below is that of David Owen (1791-1873), the father of Davie Owen mentioned above, who was also a veteran of the War of 1812 and a Texas Ranger.

Now that it is getting so late in the afternoon and I still got a long way to go, I drove non-stop into Odessa. I made a quick geocaching find after stopping for gas (GC7N73E). Then standing in line at Walgreens, I checked on another new cache that was published about 30 miles west off I-20. Yep, still unfound!

"Welcome to Thorntonville" (GC7Q9PH) is for a small town just outside of Monahans. I arrived and quickly find the cache and a blank log sheet. I happily stamp the top of the log sheet at 5:19 PM for another First-to-Find! WOHOO!

That's all for caching. Another hour drive down to Fort Stockton and that put's me over the 400 miles for today with the detours. I'm ready for this day to be over!

2018-05-13: More Geocaches, a Bridge With a Swing, Ghost Towns, Cemeteries, and Texas History

On today's 360+ mile drive in my new GeoJeep, I find a swing on a bridge, some old cemeteries, an abandoned ranch house, a missing motel, and much more. There's a lot to see in Texas, so let's get started.

My first stop after leaving Killeen is the Bear Creek Cemetery in Bertram and my first two geocaches (GC7DVVQ, GC442E2). Established in 1865, this cemetery has over 1500 permanent residents here. This one in particular is Texas Ranger Millard S. Moreland who died in 1891 at age 35.

Continuing westbound on Hwy 29, I arrive at the Colorado River and the Old Inks Lake Bridge. Built by the Austin Bridge Company in the mid-1930's, this truss bridge is now a pedestrian bridge after the new bridge was built along side. I parked at the east end to grab that first cache (GCMQ7H) near the entrance.

I started to walk down towards the other geocache on the bridge, but it was almost to the other side. Plus the last few cachers had logged DNF's. Having second thoughts, I was about to turn around back to the GeoJeep. But then I figured I'd walk across and get some good photos from the middle. Well it was a good thing I did. I've been on plenty of old bridges. But this was the first time I ever saw a swing on one! (See the first pick up top.) Now that's what you call a swinging bridge! Took some more pictures, then looked and looked and found the missing geocache (GC52MVG).

Moving along down the road, I exit from Hwy 29 onto US-377 in the community of Grit, Texas. A few miles down from there I stopped for a quick roadside geocache called Weird Rock Ranch (GCZMJT).

A couple of miles later there was another roadside geocache for a Texas ghost town called Streeter (GC11953). The first settlers were Irish (1855) and within a few years they were joined by German immigrants. Settlement was first along Big and Little creeks and Honey Creek and the town was first known as either Bluff Creek Community or Honey Creek Community.

In September, 1890, a post office was established and the submitted name was Streeter after early settler Samuel T, Streeter. In 1870 a Baptist church formed and the town had a cotton gin and a flour mill. There had been a school, earlier, on Honey Creek, but Streeter didn't have a school of their own until 1900. Streeter was quarantined for smallpox in 1903 and telephone service began in 1917. The post office closed its doors in 1970. The population of Streeter which had been reported as 100 people from 1925 dropped to only 60 by 1964. Streeter has since rebounded to about 100 people.

Nothing to see except the old house near the cache which was buried deep in the trees and overgrown brush. Supposed to be a cemetery there too but not exactly sure where.

I did find Gamel Cemetery to the southwest. There wasn't a geocache hidden there and unfortunately all of my geocache supplies were back in the GeoPrius in Fort Stockton. But I did look around a little bit at the headstones and hiding places. I'll talk a little more about this cemetery when I return to hide a geocache soon.

Continuing southwest on US-377 towards I-10, I got off the main road to get to my next geocache. On the corner was this old abandoned house engulfed by nature. It would have been cool to go in and explore, but being on private property that's not such a good idea.

I made it to Red Creek Cemetery (GC1JR4E). Red Creek Cemetery is located in Kimble County. There is no sign identifying the cemetery.There is no historical marker. The land for Red Creek Cemetery was donated to the Community by Frank Latta on 23 May 1896, to be used "for general burial purposes." The first marked grave is that of T. Roy Black (31 August 1897). Frank Latta was laid to rest here 23 March, 1902.

Three young men who made the supreme sacrifice for their country repose here in final rest. Thomas St. Clair lost his life in World War I in Europe; a memorial stone in tribute to Lloyd G. Ivy was placed here following his courageous death in World War II; and John Wilbur Gentry (World War II) rests here. The latter's brother, Lawrence Gentry, lost his life while serving as a military mechanic during the second World conflict. At least eleven veterans of the Civil War - one who served the Union Army and ten who fought for the Confederate cause - are among early settlers buried in Red Creek cemetery.

Continuing south on Ranch Road 385 for a couple of miles, I arrived at my next geocache at the ghost town of Yates, Texas (GC1M4K5). Yates, also known as Yates Crossing, is twelve miles northeast of Junction in eastern Kimble County. It was named by Joseph A. Yates, who opened a post office in June 1907 on his land near a ford of the Llano River on the road from London to Fredericksburg.

Camp meetings were held by early settlers under the live oaks near Yates. Tully J. Lange became Yates's second and final postmaster in June 1909. By the 1920's Yates was the center of a farming community in the Llano River valley. Throughout the decade Yates had a post office, a general store, a gas station, and a population that reached at least fifty-one. The area was advertised as a vacation spot for tourists and campers.

The post office closed in March 1930, and though Yates continues to be shown on maps, its last reported population was ten in 1958. Aside from a few scattered houses, the only thing business related that I saw was this old Kimble Motel sign.

Through Yates on this same spot on the Llano River is the Old Beef Trail Crossing. This Llano River crossing became a main line of the Spring cattle drives from 1867 to the 1880's. Capt C. A. Schreiner and his partners herded cattle on their way to Abilene and Dodge City on the Western Trail; many area cowboys rode with them. Preceded by a trail boss and chuck wagon, as many as 2,000 cattle per herd took half a day to cross. With the air full of dust, local ranchers sat on their own horses watching their own cattle closely to ensure that none of their own herd joined the trail drive. This site later became a vehicle crossing.

Back on US-377 south, I caught this old truck parked by this broken windmill and had to turn around for a photo.

Just down the road was my next roadside geocache near a historical marker (GC1M4J3). Teacup Mountain was named for its peculiar formation. Probably used as a lookout post by both whites and Indians in pioneer days. Near here occurred the Indian killing of pioneer James Bradbury Sr., 1872; and the capture of a wanted man by Lt N.O. Reynolds and four fellow Texas Rangers in 1878.

Named for the soaring Teacup “Mountain” to the west of the site, not much is known of this community other than there were 10 inhabitants at one time and they were served by a single store. The post office “may” have been located in the general store according to The Handbook of Texas. 1947 was the last year anyone bothered to count the number of residents and now there’s no one left to ask.

My last geocache of this trip was at Gentry Creek Cemetery (GC1M4HX). Raleigh Gentry was one of the first settlers in Kimble County, coming to the county in the early 1850's, when he settled on Bear Creek, some five miles with its junction with the North Llano. Here he built a home, erected stables, corrals, outhouses, cleared land and had an ideal paradise from a material standpoint. He prospered, farmed enough land to produce grain for use of his family and his stock, raised cattle, and enough hogs for his family use. In the early 1860's the war clouds gathered and became darker and darker, and finally the able bodied men had to go to war or join the frontier defense. Raleigh Gentry had six stalwart sons; Alan, Lee, Guliford, William, George, and Jack.

His son William married Nancy Frazier, but he answered the call of the Southland and joined the Confederate forces. He left his wife and son John at home, never to return.

In 1862, Raleigh Gentry sold his holdings on Bear Creek and moved some fifteen miles northeast and made a new location, now known as Gentry Creek, but here trouble awaited them. The Indians taking advantage of the lonely situation and the further fact that many of the men folks had gone to fight with the South made repeated raids on Gentry Creek, stealing horses and killing anyone that got in their way. On one occasion, two of the Gentry boys were hunting horses about a mile from home, when they saw the horse herd surrounded by a band of Indians and being driven off. The boys escaped to their home.

In 1867 Allen Gentry and his brother, Lee, went northeast to the Little Saline on a hog hunt and were soon joined by Felix Hale. Their hunt led over the line into Mason County. The part divided, Allen Gentry took one side of the creek, and Felix Hale and Lee another side in their hunt for the hogs. Allen was attacked by the Indians and killed in the very sight of his brother, Lee, who wanted to rush to the defense of his brother but he was told by Felix that it would be suicide and he would lose his own life. Hale and Lee dashed to the first neighbors' and gave the alarm, and parties organized to rescue the body of Allen Gentry and also to pursue the Indians. The body was found and placed on a blanket, and the four corners tied to a long green pole, and in this was the frontiersmen formed a hearse and conveyed the body to the residence of Matthew A. Doyle, the nearest neighbor, a distance of four miles. Here the body was placed in a hack and carried to the Gentry Creek. The body was buried in what developed into the Gentry Creek Cemetery.

Another buried here and worth mentioning is Dan C, Bird, grandson of George C. Kimble, an Alamo hero for whom Kimble County is named. Bird's son, Jack, passed away in California in 1981, and according to his wishes, Jack's cremated remains were scattered above Teacup Mountain that looms in the distance from Gentry Creek Cemetery.

That was it for today. Drove onto I-10 at Junction all the way to Fort Stockton. Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you next week for another tour of Texas.

2018-05-05: Meeting Up With Friends From Florida To Go Geocaching and Exploring Waco Texas

Hello friends, adventurers, history lovers, and fellow geocachers! Welcome back to AwayWeGo's (that's us!) Geocaching Adventure Blog. I really appreciate all the likes and comments that we've been receiving on Facebook, Twitter, and here on this blog. Feel free to share our stories with your family and friends. Also, keep leaving your comments, suggestions, as well as a critique every now and then on how I can improve our blog.

OK, on to the fun stuff. I only worked 5 days this week so I arrived home in Killeen last night. That gave us a rare Saturday to go exploring together! WOHOO!! And doubly fun because we have a couple of our Florida geocaching friends staying nearby on their Spring/Summer RV tour. Well in reality, they're camping north of Dallas about 200 miles away. But for Texas that IS nearby! So we decided to meet up with the YankaBucs about halfway in Waco, Texas.

On the way to our rendezvous point, we passed by this old building. Since YankaBucs were a few minutes behind schedule, we decided to stop for a closer look and photos. A faded sign on the back side said "Water Works." Though it confused me about the train caboose coming out the side of the building.

Further research from a 2015 Waco Tribune-Herald Article, this 7,000 square foot brick building was built before 1902 as a pump station for the private Bell Water Company. They punched wells into the adjacent sands for Brazos alluvium groundwater. Acquired by city of Waco in 1904, it continued as a pump station even after the Riverside treatment plant was built in the late 1910s. Contractor F.M. Young acquired the property for his headquarters in the mid-1950s, then leased it to Geoffrey Michaels from 1975 to 1989 as the popular Water Works restaurant. A variety of less successful restaurants and nightclubs followed until disorderly crowds forced closing in 2009.

Continuing down the road a little ways, we met up with YankaBucs at the Waco Mammoth National Monument and our first geocache for the day. It was an Earthcache (GC5ZKCB). Waco Mammoth National Monument sits within 100 acres of wooded parkland along the Bosque River on the outskirts of town. Surrounded by oak, mesquite and cedar trees, the site offers an escape from the modern world and provides a glimpse into the lives and habitat of Columbian mammoths and other Ice Age animals.

On a spring day in 1978, Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin embarked on a search for arrowheads and fossils near the Bosque River. To their surprise, the men stumbled upon a large bone eroding out of a ravine. Recognizing the unusual nature of the find, they removed the bone and took it to Baylor University's Strecker Museum (predecessor to the Mayborn Museum Complex) for examination. Museum staff identified the find as a femur bone from a Columbian mammoth. This now extinct species lived during the Pleistocene Epoch (more commonly known as the Ice Age) and inhabited North America from southern Canada to as far south as Costa Rica.

Strecker Museum staff quickly organized a team of volunteers and excavation began at the site. Using hand tools such as brushes and bamboo scrapers, crews slowly excavated a lost world. Between 1978 and 1990, the fossil remains of 16 Columbian mammoths were discovered. Their efforts uncovered a nursery herd that appears to have died together in a single natural event. Between 1990 and 1997, six additional mammoths were excavated, including a large male. Crews also uncovered the remains of a Western camel, dwarf antelope, American alligator, giant tortoise, and the tooth of a juvenile saber-toothed cat, which was found next to an unidentified animal.

Getting back into Waco, our next stop was at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. First opening in 1968 on the banks of the Brazos River, a smaller museum preserved the history and heritage of the Texas Rangers. The newer Hall of Fame displays many artifacts, exhibits, artwork and documents relating to this legendary group of law enforcement officers of Texas and the old west. There was even a whole room dedicated to the "Lone Ranger" fictional character full of TV and movie memorabilia, which Mr YankaBucs really appreciated.

Next to the museum is the historic First Street Cemetery dating back to Waco's founding in the 1850's. First Street Cemetery is the oldest public cemetery in Waco and is composed of three distinct cemeteries: City Cemetery, Odd Fellows Cemetery and Masonic Cemetery. In 1852, City Cemetery and Masonic Cemetery were officially established. It is not known when Odd Fellows Cemetery was officially established, but it was acquired by the City of Waco in 1866.

Now it really gets interesting when you combine the cemetery, the museum, and the Fort Fisher Park in the same area. It was discovered during the Hall of Fame expansion during the 2007-2010, that there were human remains underneath. It turns out that during the creation of the Fort Fisher Park and first Ranger museum in the late 1960's, as well as a "relocation" of graves to the larger Oakwood Cemetery to the south years earlier, that ONLY headstones were moved and not the remains of the bodies buried underneath. As you can imagine, that caused a LOT of community outrage and delays during the renovation and expansion plans!

As a surveyor myself, I had to include a photo of the Major George B Wrath statue there. Perhaps they could have used him to relocate the cemetery.

Now it is time for lunch. We saw this place across the highway also on the river called Buzzard Billy's. The decor and location were great and the food was excellent! However, I forgot to take any pictures. After filling up with a delicious lunch, we decided it was time for a walk along the river front to burn off some calories.

We crossed the Waco Suspension Bridge first. This was the Brazos River Crossing of the Chisholm Trail and a virtual geocache (GC2B5A). Imagine all the history that once crossed over this bridge.

In 1866 the Waco Bridge Company was granted a 25 year charter to build a toll bridge here. The charter guaranteed that no other bridge or ferry could be built within five miles. Construction began in 1868 and, after much financial difficulty, was finished in 1870. Bridge traffic included wagons, pedestrians, and cattle herds. Special rates were given to heavy users. From 1875 to 1889 the public agitated for a free bridge, but the company retained its monopoly. Then, in 1889, the bridge was sold to McLennan County which gave it to the city of Waco as a free bridge.

We continued strolling along the riverwalk finding various geocaches along the way and enjoying the day. (GC7ETPC, GC7ETQF, GC7ETQ9, GC7ETPY, GC6D2E, GC7C2NN, GC7C2N7) One of them had this monument. The inscription read: "Shakespeare! Daign to lend thy face, This romantic nook to grace, Where untaught Nature sports alone, Since thou and Nature are but one…1616-1916."

An easily overlooked memorial that pays tribute to William Shakespeare (1564-1616). How and why is it there? In 1916, on the 300th anniversary of his death, the Waco Shakespeare Club had it constructed and designed by Paul G. Silber, Sr. According to the Waco Shakespeare Club record’s at The Texas Collection, Baylor University, the organization began in the late 1890's at the Waco home of Kate Harrison Friend and her mother, Arimenta Harrison Friend, “conducting a private school guaranteeing their pupils thoroughness for higher grades.” Here, Kate Friend “…organized a class in the study of Shakespeare for the single young ladies of the elite of Waco. Here so much profit and enjoyment was experienced, that on request, a class for young matrons was formed.” Thus officially forming the club in 1899.

After making it around the riverwalk, we drove a few blocks over to the Dr Pepper Museum (GC2ATKV). Dr Pepper is a “native Texan,” originating at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store. It is the oldest of the major brand soft drinks in America. Like its flavor, the origin of Dr Pepper is out-of-the-ordinary. Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist working at Morrison’s store, is believed to be the inventor of the now famous drink. Alderton spent most of his time mixing up medicine for the people of Waco, but in his spare time he liked to serve carbonated drinks at the soda fountain. He liked the way the drug store smelled, with all of the fruit syrup flavor smells mixing together in the air. He decided to create a drink that tasted like that smell. He kept a journal, and after numerous experiments he finally hit upon a mixture of fruit syrups that he liked.

Dr Pepper gained such widespread consumer favor that other soda fountain operators in Waco began buying the syrup from Morrison and serving it. This soon presented a problem for Alderton and Morrison. They could no longer produce enough at their fountain to supply the demand. Robert S. Lazenby, a young beverage chemist, had also tasted the new drink and he, too, was impressed. Alderton, the inventor, was primarily interested in pharmacy work and had no designs on the drink. He suggested that Morrison and Lazenby develop it further. Morrison and Lazenby were impressed with the growth of Dr Pepper. In 1891, they formed a new firm, the Artesian Mfg. & Bottling Company, which later became Dr Pepper Company. Lazenby and his son-in-law, J.B. O’Hara moved the company from Waco to Dallas in 1923.

Around the corner from there was the Magnolia Market. Magnolia Market at the Silos, commonly called Magnolia Market, is a shopping complex that encompasses two city blocks in downtown Waco, Texas. It is marked by two 120’ high silos, built in 1950 as part of the Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company. The grounds opened to the public in October, 2015.

The complex is owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines, TV personalities best known for HGTV's Fixer Upper TV series. The Silos, Waco, TX The grounds include a 12,000 sq. ft. retail store located in the historic grain barn and office building, a food truck park with picnic tables, a garden store, bakery, and lawn area. There was some kinda 5K event in the area today, so the place was just packed! This is the line below just for the bakery!

While the YankaBucs took a peak inside the Market, Candy and I stayed outside in the courtyard / lawn area because it was so crowded.

As we walked around the corner on our way to dinner, we passed by the First Baptist Church which I thought was worthy of a photo.

Then we arrived at Hecho En Waco Mexican Restaurant for another good meal. After an exhausting nut rewarding day, it was time to say our good-byes to our good friends the YankaBucs and head home. I hope you have enjoyed our tour of Waco, Texas. Until next time...