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Texas Highways
& Historic Roads
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The
road that became an Interstate by Clay Coppedge
Camino
Real National Scenic Byway by Delbert Trew
The old road "Camino Real" or Royal Road may not be the oldest road
in America but was completed in 1598... It begins at the San Juan
Pueblo in northern New Mexico, goes 400 miles south to El Paso then
on another 1,200 miles to Mexico City. The U.S. designated it a
National Scenic Byway...
El
Camino Real by Archie P. McDonald
East Texas' oldest highway: The King's Highway (Texas 21) stretches
from Toledo Bend Reservoir near Milam to San Antonio. It is also
one of our most scenic roadways. The route was used by Indians and
traveled by Spanish missionaries in 1791. It is also known as El
Camino Real, the Old Spanish Trail, and the Old San Antonio Road.
International
Pavedway by Mike Cox
The International Pavedway never existed anywhere but on a map,
but most Texans have traveled it many times...
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Wild
Rose Pass
The two mile-long pass ranges from 4,320 feet to 4,546 feet above
sea level.
Texas Legend Bigfoot Wallace, who once carried mail by foot from
San Antonio to El Paso later drove a stagecoach along the Skillman
mail route which included the pass.
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The
L-O-N-G Roads of Texas: Texas-State-Highway-16 by C. F. Eckhardt
Texas’ state highways are some of the most interesting ways to travel.
They pass through—not go around—interesting communities of every
sort. The towns are both beautiful—sometimes (and sometimes not
so beautiful)—and often historically interesting. The two longest
state highways in Texas are Highway 16 and Highway 6. Both cut across
scenic and historically significant parts of the state...
State
Highway 207/Hamblen Drive by Mike Cox
SH 207 cuts through Palo Duro Canyon and crosses the Prairie Dog
Town Fork of the Red River. That segment, one Texas’ most scenic
drives, honors Will H. Hamblen who spent much of his life making
that roadway a reality.
U.S.
67 by Mike Cox
It may not be the Mother Road, but U.S. 67 stretches 1,560 miles
across five states, connecting Iowa to Mexico. The highway extends
through Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois to the intersection
of U.S. 52 in Sabula, Iowa, population 670. Six hundred thirty-seven
miles of U.S. 67 are in Texas, from Presidio to Texarkana...
US
90 and US 67; Merging Highways by N. Ray Maxie
"These two US Highways merge for 34 miles in far West Texas,
mostly between Alpine and Marfa. There, together, they go through
Alpine, skirt around the picturesque Paisano Peak and Twin Peaks,
both 6050 feet high. Then on to Marfa where 67 leaves 90 and turns
south into Presidio, ending at the Mexican border... 90/67 also
passes another very interesting landmark. One you won’t want to
miss..."
IH-10
Neighbors Expedition
by Clay Coppedge
The drive from San Antonio to El Paso on IH-10 might be called boring
or monotonous. But as Texas was established and settled, there was
a whole world – some 600 miles – of rugged country between the two
towns, a vast region made all the more treacherous by the presence
of Comanches and other tribes...
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North &
Central Texas Drives
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Saratoga
Ghost Road by Ken Rudine
Two miles north of Saratoga off FM787 is the beginning of Bragg
Road which travels north to FM1293. It is the Ghost Road where the
Saratoga Mystery Light has appeared....
“Demons
Rd” in Huntsville by Dana Goolsby
Bowden Rd, perhaps better known as " Demons Rd,” leads to an old
cemetery known as Martha’s Chapel Cemetery...
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The
Roads of Upshur County by Bob Bowman
Most East Texas counties name their county roads with numbers or
the names of people. But not Upshur County. Years ago county officials
came up with the unique idea of naming one precinct of the county’s
roads for animals, another for flowers, still another for trees
and the fourth precinct for birds....
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Depression-era
Roadside Parks by Bob Bowman
"Love's
Look Out" on Highway 69, Jacksonville
East
Texas Sunday Drives
( Excerpts from the book by Bob Bowman )
Athens
: Where the hamburger was invented
Athens, New York, Texas Cheesecakes, LaRue, Brownsboro,
Edom, Purtis Creek State Park, Eustace, Mabank, Gun Barrel City,
Payne Springs, Caney City, Malakoff and Cross Roads
Carthage
: Music from two country masters
Carthage, Jim Reeves, Tex Ritter, Tatum, DeBerry, Elysian Fields,
Sabine River, Hendricks's Lake, Trammel's Trace, ghost town Harmony
Hill, Martin Creek Lake State Park, Beckville, Fair Play and Rake
Pocket.
Huntsville
: Old Sam, prisons and pine trees
Huntsville, Oakhurst, Point Blank, Coldspring, Sam Houston National
Forest, and Huntsville State Park
Longview
and Marshall : A metropolitan Sunday Drive
Longview, Marshall, Hallsville, Scottsville, and Jonesville
Palestine
: Old homes, fruit cakes, and stained glass windows
Palestine, Texas State Railroad, Davey Dogwood Park, Plenitude,
Mound Prairie, Montalba, Tennessee Colony, Old Magnolia, Elkhart
and Slocum
Rusk
: Mark Twain might have lived here
Rusk, Alto, Jim Hogg State Park, Caddo Mounds State Historic
Site, two ghost towns, and the longest footbridge in the United
States
Tyler :
A drive with beauty and history
Tyler, Tyler State Park, Winona, Starrville, Troup, Burning Bush,
Lake palestine, Mount Sylvan, Lindale and old Steen Saline
El
Camino Real
East Texas' oldest highway: The King's Highway (Texas 21) stretches
from Toledo Bend Reservoir near Milam to San Antonio. It is also
one of our most scenic roadways. The route was used by Indians and
traveled by Spanish missionaries in 1791. It is also known as El
Camino Real, the Old Spanish Trail, and the Old San Antonio Road."
(From "Holiday
Day Trips" by Bob Bowman)
Sabine National
Forest - From Center, take
Hwy 87, FM 417 and FM 2694 to Boles Field Recreational Area, and
other Forest Services Roads in Sabine National Forest
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Hwy
290, 20-mile scenic drive off I-10 to Sheffield in Pecos County,
West Texas
US
90 and US 67; Merging Highways by N. Ray Maxie
"These two US Highways merge for 34 miles in far West Texas,
mostly between Alpine and Marfa. There, together, they go through
Alpine, skirt around the picturesque Paisano Peak and Twin Peaks,
both 6050 feet high. Then on to Marfa where 67 leaves 90 and turns
south into Presidio, ending at the Mexican border... 90/67 also
passes another very interesting landmark. One you won’t want to
miss..."
IH-10
Neighbors Expedition
by Clay Coppedge
The drive from San Antonio to El Paso on IH-10 might be called boring
or monotonous. But as Texas was established and settled, there was
a whole world – some 600 miles – of rugged country between the two
towns, a vast region made all the more treacherous by the presence
of Comanches and other tribes...
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Wild
Rose Pass
The two mile-long pass ranges from 4,320 feet to 4,546 feet above
sea level.
Texas Legend Bigfoot Wallace, who once carried mail by foot from
San Antonio to El Paso later drove a stagecoach along the Skillman
mail route which included the pass.
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Did
lost colony in the Okla. Panhandle exist? by Delbert Trew
The drive from Boise City to Black Mesa, Kenton, Folsom, then over
the top of Johnson Mesa into Raton from the east is our favorite
drive in the entire Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico area.
FM
669 - Between Post and Gail - reaches edge of Texas High Plains,
or the Llano Estacado
State
Highway 207/Hamblen Drive by Mike Cox
SH 207 cuts through Palo Duro Canyon and crosses the Prairie Dog
Town Fork of the Red River. That segment, one Texas’ most scenic
drives, honors Will H. Hamblen who spent much of his life making
that roadway a reality.
Verbena
- "...Verbena is 4.4 miles North of Hwy 380 on FM 2008. ...
The drive is scenic and thus well worth [an] altered route. Continuing
North on 2008 was just as scenic and reminded me of the Texas Plains
Trail on Hwy 70 & 207 from Borger to Dickens." - David Higgins,
Lubbock, Texas, September 14, 2005
Silverton,
Panhandle scenic drives
Borger,
Panhandle scenic drive
"39-mile
drive from Amarillo
to the old ghost town of Tascosa,
now home for Cal Farley’s Boy’s Ranch. Via FM 1061, it’s one of
the more scenic drives in the Panhandle." from Mike Cox's "Sunday
Drives."
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For up-to-date
travel-related information such as: flood, construction, closures
etc, see Texas Department of Transportations'
https://drivetexas.org |
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