June Naylor - Texas Off the Beaten Path®: Discover Your Fun

A sixth-generation Texan and Fort Worth native, June Naylor has written about food and travel for more than 25 years for publications around Texas and the US. She is currently the food and travel editor for 360 West Magazine and is a contributor to Texas Monthly, Texas Highways, and the Dallas Morning News. June is the coauthor of three cookbooks, The Texas Cowboy Kitchen, Cooking the Cowboy Way, and Big Ranch, Big City Cookbook.

The author of GPPs Food Lovers Guide to Dallas and Fort Worth, Quick Escapes from Dallas/Fort Worth, Romantic Days and Nights in Dallas/Fort Worth, and Recommended Bed & Breakfasts Southwest, June has received several writing and photography awards from the Society of American Travel Writers. She is a founder of the nonprofit Foodways Texas and a member of the womens culinary group Les Dames dEscoffier.

Working on the 11th edition of this book was a pleasure, mostly because it allowed me to rediscover the backroads and oft-overlooked corners that make Texas live up to its vast legend. I owe a great debt to the kindly folks who work in tiny museums, cafs, shops, and inns in such towns as Leakey in the Hill Country, Uncertain in the Piney Woods, Marathon in the Big Bend, and Canyon in the Panhandle; its people like this, in places like those, who make writing about Texas a joyful privilege. Im also deeply appreciative to my editors at GPP, who make the process of working on books as painless as possible. As for the support at home, I have endless gratitude for my sweet and supportive husband, Marshall Harris, and for all my family and friends who make me keep my sense of humorand still love me even during those moments when I seem to have misplaced it.

A train whistle blows steadily, and soon loudly, through the fragile darkness. Just before dawn a rooster begins its intonation, and moos soon follow. Days begin early in the country, breaking clean and freshthe sky, grass, and picket fences seem unusually pure along central Texass Brazos and Colorado Rivers, through a region spreading just to the east of the Balcones Escarpment and the states fabled Hill Country. German, Scottish, and Czech immigrants made their way to new homes through this rolling corridor, toughing out a life that could become hazardous when conflicts with Mexicans and Native Americans arose. Here, dairy and cotton farmers and horse ranchers carved lives with their families and friends, thanks in part to their own determined spirit and that of the Texas Rangers.

It was through this part of the frontier, once called Tejas by the Mexicans and Indians, that pioneers crafted a republic, a sovereign nation that gave rise eventually to the Lone Star State. Todays explorers find great and lasting remnants of that period in peaceful towns that make wonderful discoveries on the way to someplace else and in a fine capital city whose enduring beauty and character make it a popular place for people who love art, history, rhythm and blues, comfort food, lakeside scenery, and even batsyes, the nations largest urban bat colony lives under the Congress Avenue Bridge spanning the Colorado River in Austin.

Hillsboro, resting at the center of Hill County, is a town of about 8,000, established as a trade center and county seat in 1853. People whove passed through remember the Hill County Courthouse, built in 1890 to replace the original log cabin structure. The flamboyant, cream-colored design on the town square mixes styles to include classical revival, Italianate, and French Second Empire. A vintage Saturday Evening Post story called the courthouse a monstrosity, while Harpers countered with a description declaring the ornate structure like an outstanding cathedral. The courthouse was destroyed by fire on New Years Day, 1993; however, the town and some of its powerful childrensuch as country singer Willie Nelsonrallied quickly to raise funds to restore the masterpiece to its original glory. Work was under way at once, and now the gorgeous creation of Texas limestone reigns over Hillsboro again.

Roughly a block north of the square, at the corner of North Waco and West Paschal Streets, the old jail (18931983) is now the Hill County Cell Block Museum, (254) 582-8912. Inside find varied Native American artifacts. The museum is open April through October, Sat from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Five blocks north of the square on North Waco Street, the Old Hillsboro Cemetery is covered with ancient cedar trees and filled with wonderful old headstones and monuments, marking those buried here from 1856 to 1940.

JUNES FAVORITE ATTRACTIONS

Armstrong Browning Library

Waco

International Festival-Institute

Round Top

Hill County Courthouse

Hillsboro

Hotel Ella

Austin

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Austin

McKinney Roughs

Bastrop

Spoetzl Brewery

Shiner

Star of the Republic Museum

Washington

State Capitol Building

Austin

Texas Ranch Life

Chappell Hill

Two blocks from the square, the 1895 Tarlton House (211 N. Pleasant St., Hillsboro; 254-582-3422, heartoftexasbb.com) is a gorgeous Queen Annestyle Victorian home with 7 comfortable, thoughtfully appointed guest rooms. Youll be tempted to do nothing but sit in a rocker on the front porch and watch the world go by. Youll find plenty of stained glass throughout the lovely bed-and-breakfast, as well as wireless connectivity. This is a great place for girlfriends getaways and murder mystery weekends.

Take a side trip to Corsicana, 41 miles east of Hillsboro on Highway 22. Although established in 1849, the Navarro County seat didnt see much action until oil was accidentally struck here in 1894 when the city was drilling for water. This set off quite a boom, and one of Texass first refineries was built here in 1897. Today the city of about 23,000 is known far and wide as home to Collin Street Bakery (401 W. 7th Ave., Corsicana; 903-874-7477; collinstreet.com), the fruitcake company founded in 1896. Each year more than 1 million fruitcakes are shipped to every state in the US and to nearly 200 foreign countries. You can also find a 10-cent cup of coffee here. Open Mon through Fri from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sat 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sun noon to 6 p.m.

Get a little history lesson at Corsicanas Pioneer Village (912 W. Park Ave., Corsicana; 903-654-4846), where Navarro Countys surviving historic structures, filled with heirlooms, artifacts, and family treasures, make up this living-history village. Grounds include a Peace Officer Museum, a Civil War Museum, the Lefty Frizzell Museum, various archives, an 1870 pioneer home, blacksmith shops, a general store, slave quarters, a barn, a carriage house, and an 1838 Indian trading post (the oldest structure in the park). Open Mon through Sat from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sun from 1 to 5 p.m. A small admission is charged; free for tots under 4 years.

JUNES FAVORITE ANNUAL EVENTS

South by Southwest Music, Film, & Media Conference

Austin, second and third weeks in March

Round Top Music Festival

Round Top, June and July

Wildflower Tours

Brenham, Chappell Hill, and Round Top; throughout March and April

Westfest

West, Labor Day Weekend

Texas Reds Steak & Grape Festival

Bryan, late September