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Tourists offered choice
of activities in East Texas
By LAURI REESE
Sufi Writer
Wait — before you reserve
your spot on the beach or on
the snowy slopes for Spring
Break, consider Elast Texas —
especially if you're interested in
historical homes, lakes or hiking
and camping in parks and for
ests.
Tourism is one of Texas’
largest industries, second only
to petroleum, according to a
newsletter issued by the East
Texas Chamber of Commerce,
and East Texas tourism ac
counts for $7.6 billion of the
$13.7 billion in state revenues
that the industry produces.
In Austin, tourists can visit
the massive, pink granite slate
capitol, the Lyndon Baines
Johnson Presidental Library, or
the LBJ Ranch, located 50 miles
from the city.
Water recreation is a way of
life along the 150-mile chain of
seven lakes, the Highland Lakes
of Central Texas.
Eight miles west of Huntsville
on Farm Road 1374, also called
Possum Walk Road, visitors will
find the Bird and Butterfly Mu
seum.
Over 25,000 butterflies are
on display there, making the
museum one of the largest but
terfly collections in the United
States, Sandy Wier, of the
Huntsville Visitor and Conven
tion Bureau, said.
Wier said the museum also
features exotic birds mounted
in beautiful settings, such as on
trees or in gardens.
The Sam Houston Memorial
Museum is in Huntsville, as are
two of Houston’s former homes
that have been restored and
Houston’s grave.
The Sacred Gardens, seven
acres of pine forest filled with
religious shrines, each with its
own garden, can be found deep
in the piney forest, east of New
Waverfy on U.S. Highway 150.
Wier said almost every kind of
tree that grows in East Texas is
there.
Hikers might enjoy the Lone
Star Hiking Trail or the Hunt
sville Stale Park, where they can
hike, bike or rent paddle boats.
In Crockett, the fifth oldest
town in Texas, tourists can visit
historical homes, like the
Downes-Aldrich house or the
Monroe Crook House, and his
torical sites, like the San Fran
cisco de Los Tejas Mission and
the Rice Log Cabin.
Visitors can boat, fish, camp
and go to the Davy Crockett Na
tional Forest or the Mission
Slate Park.
On March 15 and 16, the Ju
nior Livestock Show will be held
in Jacksonville, at the Cherokee
(bounty Showbarn on Loop 456.
Peggy Renfro, of the Jack
sonville Chamber of Com
merce, said fishing is excellent
in Lake Jacksonville and stu
dents would probably enjoy
Love’s Lookout, a state park
with hiking trails, on U.S. High
way 69 North.
Jacksonville is near Lake
Striker and Lake Palestine and
is the home of Fairchild State
Forest, the Killough Mon
ument, Lester-Hamlin Gardens
and the Vanishing Texana Mu
seum.
Jim Hogg, the first native-
born governor of Texas, was
born in the town of Rusk, which
now brags of the nation’s long
est footbridge, the Rusk State
Railroad Park, the Jim Hogg
State Park, historical homes and
hiking trails.
Everything’s just starting to
bloom in Palestine, Mary Bar
ton, of the Palestine Convention
and Visitors Bureau, said. It’s
beautiful countryside, she said.
Visitors to Palestine must see
the John H. Reagan Memorial
Center, with its shops, exhibits
and Indian artifacts, Barton
said.
Pat Boniface, of the Nacog
doches Chamber of Commerce,
said Lake Nacogdoches is good
for fishing and boating, as is
Toledo Bend Lake, only 20
miles from the city.
At Lake Murval, tourists can
sail, fish, rent cabins and motor
boats, and camp, Tommie
Gates, of the Panola Chamber
of Commerce, said.
Madeline Shelton, of the
Groesbeck Chamber of Com
merce, said visitors would prob
ably enjoy the Red Stocking Fol
lies, a play put on by the people
of Groesbeck as a community
fund raiser.
The play will be held March
16 and 17 at 8 p.m. at the
Groesbeck High School Gym.
Other sites to see in East
Texas include the Texas
Ranger Hall of Fame in Waco,
the Wax Museum of the South
west and the Texas Sports Hall
of Fame in Grand Prairie, and
White Water, with two facilities
in Grand Prairie and Garland,
America’s largest family recre
ation park.
To find out other recre
ational and sightseeing infor
mation in East Texas, get a copy
of a 1984 East Texas Vacation
Guide. It is free at any of the
stale’s 12 tourists bureaus, at
auto club offices all over the na
tion, and at more than 100 host
cities, lakes, and attractions in
the 71 counties of East Texas.
To write for a copy of the
book, send $1 to:
East Texas Chamber of Com
merce
P.O. Box 1592
Longview, TX 75606.