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What Remains of the Wends Can Be Found in Serbin
On the eve of Jan. 25, students at St. Paul Lutheran School in Serbin, south of Giddings, set out empty plates on windowsills and fence posts as part of an annual tradition called the Birds’ Wedding. According to folklore, a “wedding” takes place in secret at night between the bride (a magpie) and groom (a raven). By morning, the plates appear filled with candies, cookies, and pastries—tokens of celebration left by the birds. At school, students dress in wedding costumes and assume the roles of the birds, acting out their version of this avian matrimonial ceremony.
Galveston’s long-running Mardi Gras is big, bold, and family friendly
“Anyone can be a misfit!” is the slogan of the Krewe de Isle of Misfits, who ride each year through Galveston’s Fat Tuesday parade atop a double-decker float made from an old school bus. But it might easily be the slogan of the Mardi Gras! Galveston celebration itself. Whether you’re sporting an oversize, gold, feathered ruff to proclaim your individualist status or just feverishly decorating a golf cart or umbrella in decidedly impractical fashion, you’ll fit right in among revelers of all ages and levels of creativity at Texas’ largest Mardi Gras celebration.
A Pittman Pilgrimage: Touring Texas’ First Practicing Black Architect’s Work
As I walked toward the Joshua Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Waxahachie, I noticed a blackbird on the roof fluffing its feathers. Blackbirds symbolize a myriad of things in different cultures, religions, and mythologies, but I’m particularly fond of those who see them as messengers of spirit. So it makes sense to me that the blackbird found rest on an elegant red brick church built in 1919 with Romanesque Revival elements—three arched entry ways, a corner wooden tower, and tall curved windows with stained glass along both sides of the building.
The Daytripper Goes Thrifting at the ‘World’s Largest Flea Market’ in Canton
To properly enjoy Canton, an East Texas town of 4,200 near Tyler, you should show up with two things: an empty car trunk and an empty belly. Before you head back home, they’ll both be full. Founded in 1850, the community is a paradise for antiquers, junkers, and thrifters. It’s home to the self-proclaimed World’s Largest Flea Market—here you can find vinyl, yard art, aprons, bathtubs, old phone books, knickknacks, you name it. Canton is also a great place to sample comfort food, both traditional and experimental. For your next vacation, consider this small town destination, where they don’t care if you show up empty-handed—so long as you don’t leave that way.
When Texas Highways Became the Official Travel Magazine of Texas
Decades before Texas Highways became a public-facing travel magazine, it was known by the slightly less charming name Construction and Maintenance Bulletin, an internal publication for employees of the Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation). Founded in 1953, the bulletin covered highway design, construction, and maintenance. But in 1962, a young editor named Frank Lively began adding stories about historical events and places and other topics of general interest. On Lively’s recommendation, the magazine was converted to a travel publication offered to the public in 1974. One year later, Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe signed House Concurrent Resolution 26, naming Texas Highways the official travel magazine of Texas. This year, we are proud to celebrate 50 years of inspiring travel in Texas.
Director John Sayles on the Making of ‘Lone Star’
John Sayles is one of the great American independent filmmakers. His epic 1996 drama Lone Star, which received a new release from The Criterion Collection this month, is one of his masterpieces. Channeling 1970s neo-noirs like Chinatown as well as the epic ensemble dramas of Robert Altman (Nashville), it’s a muckraking mystery set in a Texas border town, following recently elected sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), a lifelong resident, as he tries to figure out what happened to a previous sheriff, the brutal and corrupt Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson). Charlie ran the place a generation earlier alongside Sam’s dad, deputy sheriff Buddy Deeds (played by a then-obscure actor named Matthew McConaughey) and was believed to have disappeared after absconding with $10,000 in county funds. The discovery of Charlie’s badge in the ground at a shooting range suggests foul play and ignites an investigation that turns over every stone in town—and several across the border.
Deep in the Heart of North Houston’s Massive Mercados
It’s 10 o’clock in the morning, and the line of Houston traffic I’m in is particularly wide, slow, and meandering. Not the vehicle traffic on nearby Interstate 45 North or parallel Hardy Toll Road, but the foot traffic of hungry Sunday regulars who crawl toward De Buey y Vaca Taqueria‘s steaming bins of barbacoa de borrego, slow-cooked lamb that crumbles with the touch of a fork and will soon rest on a soft bed of handmade corn tortilla.
The Crescent Hotel in Fort Worth Is a Work of Art
Bathed in ambient light, an imposing 3D relief greets visitors behind the front desk as they enter the new Crescent Hotel on Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth’s Cultural District. Measuring more than 16 feet long and 9 feet high, Figuring No. 4 by sculptor Carolyn Salas states the case for what the hotel promises to be: an art experience.
The South Texas-Inspired Pizzas of Chef Janet Zapata
As she observed the pizzaiolos of the now-defunct Laredo Pizza Factory toss dough and maneuver peels in and out of its sweltering oven a decade ago, Janet Zapata took mental notes. In the past, she had asked if they could teach her how to make pizza, but the team of all-male chefs laughed and waved off the then-23-year- old “cashier girl.” After months of watching the men toss, knead, and bake, she went straight to her boss and asked if she could step into the kitchen. Not only did he agree, but he offered to train her himself.
What to Do in Texas in 2024
A new year brings new adventures, and Texas has plenty in store for 2024. From inaugural music festivals to venues opening this year, we put together a list of what’s coming up. So mark your calendars—exciting things await. Stable Hall in San Antonio. The long-awaited opening of Stable...
The Infinite Worldsof Yesterday
A son and his parents return to the fields of their dreams. Both kids have left Austin, where my family and I have lived since 2004, to chase their athletic and musical dreams in Madrid and New York, respectively—faraway places where they probably belonged even before they departed in the fall of 2021. Our house feels improbably massive, eerily uninhabited. But it felt puny in the before years, when the boys still lived with us, large and indomitable in their 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5 bodies. The rooms and hallways would burst with the chaos of scattered size 13 sneakers and muddied cleats and smelly goalkeeper gloves, the cacophony of disco paraphernalia cluttering bookshelves and India ink for homemade tattoos staining bathroom sinks. Our unpretentious house was built in the early ’80s in a corner of northwest Austin that was affordable and old-fashioned, like the neighborhood on The Golden Girls, when we moved in. But now it is peppered with flipped, sleek, black-and-white McMansions. When the boys lived here, this place could barely contain all their loud, rebellious Gen Z energy.
Singing Cowboy Tex Ritter’s Legacy Lives On
Of all the actors, musicians, sports figures, and entertainers known as Tex, the most famous is practically unknown to younger generations today. That would be Woodward Maurice “Tex” Ritter, one of Hollywood’s singing cowboys of the mid-20th century. He wasn’t really cut out for the role. His...
Roadside Oddity: The ‘Marfa Payphone’
Pay phones are a relic of the past. With the emergence of cellphones, the public phones that let you make a call for a quarter became obsolete starting in the early 2000s. New York City removed their last public pay phones in 2022. But in Marfa, there’s one left standing. Located on Lincoln Street across from the Presidio County Courthouse, the silver box with a yellow receiver comes with a catch: It doesn’t make phone calls. Instead of a dial tone, the receiver plays Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off,” the lead single from her 1989 album.
Texas Towns Are Partying Through the Total Eclipse
The ATV kicks up red dust on a bumpy ride to Decision Point, a rocky ridge on a cattle ranch about an hour northwest of Austin. Mitch Morales steps out of the four-wheeler, walks past some prickly pear, and looks toward Lake Buchanan in the distance. From this perch, you can see panoramic views of the Hill Country. And on April 8 at around 1:30 p.m., another jaw-dropping vista will emerge: a total solar eclipse. The celestial spectacle will cut right through here as the moon’s shadow travels across the Earth’s surface from Mexico to eastern Canada. “I think this is where I’ll be when it happens,” Morales says, his eyes marveling at the expanse.
Inside the World’s Most Extensive Dallas Cowboys Museum
Located on a typical residential block in Arlington, the world’s most extensive collection of Cowboys memorabilia sticks out like a big blue and silver sore thumb. Stoney Kersh’s Dallas Cowboys Museum is easily spotted from a block away: a flag bearing the Cowboys’ star hangs alongside the stars and stripes on the corner, both waving above the game-used turf that makes up the front lawn.
Frozen in Time at the Great Trinity Forest
While most Texans stay inside when icy conditions hit, Sean Fitzgerald ventures outside to find something interesting to photograph. During a winter storm in late February 2015, the Dallas-based photographer headed 9 miles southeast of the metroplex to the Texas Buckeye Trail in the 6,000-acre bottomland hardwood Great Trinity Forest. “I remember being alone out in the forest and how utterly quiet it was,” he says. “It was as if the cold had brought everything to a silent halt.” While seeking an abstract shot, he encountered this frozen puddle. “The vibrant green leaves in the ice looked like they had been flash-frozen, as if winter and spring had accidentally merged,” he says.
Editor’s Note: 50 Years on the Road
The first issue of Texas Highways available to the public was devoted to “the Texas Indian, with a look at his past, his present and his future,” the cover credit on Page 1 explained. A painting by Carl Hantman, an illustrator of Western books, was chosen as the cover image. The 34-page issue was ad-free and featured a full-page photo on the back cover of Garrett Battise of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe performing a war dance at the Fifth Annual Pow-wow in East Texas.
Where to Stay in 2024
This historic 1930s landmark motor court, composed of 11 cottages, was painstakingly restored to its full midcentury glory in 2022. The property is surrounded by native gardens and has a social club and restaurant as well as an art house and café that serves locally roasted coffees and baked goods. —Cynthia J. Drake.
Where to Stay in 2024
Given their retro charms, it’s not surprising that motor courts are enjoying fancy redesigns by hip hotel chains—with fancy prices to boot. That’s what makes the Dixie Motel in Brenham a star among motor courts. It is not part of a chain, but a stand-alone original born from the creativity and roll-up-your-sleeves hard work of Brenham couple Sarah and Karl Stopschinski. Self-described “motel people,” the Stopschinskis, who married at the Marathon Motel in West Texas, bought the Dixie after it had long lost the luster of its 1950s origins. They pulled out the motel’s shag carpet and pink asbestos siding and updated the décor of eight streamlined rooms that sit around a courtyard of Zen-raked gravel and twinkling lights.
Where to Stay in 2024
Lulu is a flirt in the best kind of way. She makes you feel special, pampered, like it’s time to kick up your heels, forget city life, and linger with a book of poems on the porch. Even in your hotel confirmation email she calls you “darling,” as in: “Friendly reminder that we don’t have a fitness center—that’s the point, darling!”
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Texas Highways is the Official Travel Magazine of Texas, and your ultimate guide for exploring the Lone Star State's people, places, & wide-open spaces.
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