The sun was just topping the horizon when we headed down the road this morning. Picking starts early in the day on the farm. That is our first stop of the day – B&G Gardens in Poolville, just north of Weatherford. I haven’t picked fresh vegetables in years and I am looking forward to it. Just thinking about it brings back memories of being a little girl and the fun of finding “treasures” in my aunt’s garden. Then I got a little older and met your Grandpa and we would go to his Grandma’s house and pick from her garden too. Lot’s of good memories driving down the road this morning!

Back to B&G – it is one of the “pick your own” farms –just what it says – go pick your own fruits and vegetables, whatever is ripe this week. I can’t wait – I can smell a “Farmer’s Market” dinner coming tonight and I haven’t even gotten there yet!

Well, that was fun! Now, I remember why you go early – it’s hot out here!! My trunk is full. It’s time to head back to Weatherford. But first, we have a stop to make…

We have to stop at the gate & follow the dogs out into the pasture - WOW!! There it is! Standing tall in it’s splendor – 125 feet tall, 7 feet in diameter – the largest pecan tree in the nation – 900 to 1100 years old!! Can you imagine the stories it could tell?? Go grab a few of those peaches we picked this morning and let’s lay back in the grass and dream a while…

It was here 500 years before Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas! It has seen the beginnings of the white settlers coming to the area in the 1850’s. It was here long before electricity, plumbing, gas or even steam engines. It has been here for both World Wars. It was here before radio, tv, telephones or telegraph. It was probably a good resting stop for the stage coaches and settlers traveling west, providing shelter from the hot sun or blustering winds that swept the prairies.

Close your eyes and rest a while, we worked hard this morning, and I will tell you a story…We’re going back to the 1850’s. (How many years ago is that? That’s right – more than 150 years!) Close your eyes now, and erase the towns, erase the highways, the noise, the pollution…

This was a beautiful wide open land and people were leaving Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties and heading west to avoid the malaria outbreak that was killing the settlers. Mr. Isaac Parker brought 224 settlers to the area by foot, horseback and wagon, carrying all their worldly possessions with them. Soon they were settled and petitioned for a new county and in December 1855 the Legislature carved Parker County from Bosque and Navarro counties and named Weatherford the county seat. It didn’t take long to build a courthouse and soon it was surrounded by a handful of cabins and tents.

During the coming years the settlers and the Indians continued to have clashes. Can you imagine the settlers fears, laying in bed at night seeing the flames from their bon fires dancing off the sky, listening to the strange dancing and chanting off in the distance. Can you imagine the Indians fear as these strange people came into their lands taking what wasn’t theirs, killing their buffalo and leaving senseless waste behind? No wonder they clashed – two very different people, each claiming the land as their own.

Things didn’t get better as more settlers arrived and the Indians fought back. By 1861 most of the men under the age of 45 had left the county to fight in the Civil War. The women and children who were left to manage the farms moved closer to town because of fear of the Indian raids. 1874 brought the last of the Indian raids. Soon the area began to stabilize and began to grow. Well, that’s enough for now...let’s load up & head back into town and see what this town has grown into.

There is a driving tour you can pick up at the Visitor Center…I grabbed one while I was passing through town the other day, so let’s go see some of the sights…

As a matter of fact – let’s just start at the visitor center. It’s in the old Santa Fe train depot. This building is almost 100 years old and was built when life was very different. If you notice, there are three waiting rooms. There used to be laws called the Jim Crow laws – they were an ugly part of our history, but should be mentioned so that they aren’t forgotten. The laws showed up in the 1860’s and lasted until the 1960’s. They imposed racial segregation. So, look closely and you can see the effects of them. First I want you to picture the streets we walk down, the restaurants we eat in; picture DFW airport and the thousands of people that walk the concourses together. See the rainbow of colors mingling together? Now, look at the train depot and notice the three separate waiting rooms. People had to wait in separate rooms depending on their gender or color. Can you imagine living in those days & times?

Ok, time to move across the street to the Farmers Market. It was built in 1932 as a WPA project. The WPA (Work Progress Administration) developed during the Great Depression to put people back to work and give them back their dignity by building government and public facilities. They were paid wages, provided housing and lodging, The WPA helped rebuild our country. Before it was the Farmers market, it was a canning plant.

Across the street is the 1st Monday grounds, people have been coming here since the “early days” when the farmers came to town when court was in session to bring their livestock and wares to sell. They still come, even though what they sell has changed with the times. You can still find the farmers with their fruits and vegetables and you can still find the livestock in the back.

Remember me telling you earlier about the courthouse and how it started out? Well look down the street and see it in all its glory. This is the fourth courthouse for Parker County. It replaced the two that burned and the first temporary wooden structure. See the four sides facing the four main highways that lead into town? The main trails leading through town to the outlying forts crossed through here taking settlers and soldiers to Fort Graham, Fort Worth, Fort Richardson and Fort Belknap. In a few weeks, I think we’ll do a fort tour and go visit some of these places.

We’re going to walk around the square – it’s easier than fighting all the one way streets. I liked reading about and seeing 114 Austin Ave – The Reniassance Café – when they remodeled in 1999, they found signatures dating back to 1898 inside the walls. They also found antique bottles and square nails.

Another place I liked was the Weatherford National Bank. It is one of the oldest banks in Texas west of Dallas. Did you know it was built in 1885 – how long ago was that? It just curves around the corner and you can imagine how impressive it must have been long before the other stores and traffic were here. How rich you must have felt pulling up in front of it in your wagon!

Ok, time to move on and see some other sights. We’re going north on Main St., following the driving tour. I won’t bore you with directions – just tell you about a few places I found interesting. 101 College Ave. used to be a ‘two-dollar” house – a place where stage coach travelers stopped. The army mail coach also left here, along with the soldiers who protected the stage coach from robbers and Indian attacks.

I am always amazed by the fortitude of people who can stay in business for a long time. Well, that is what the Carter and C.D. Hartnett families have done. Carter-Ivy Hardware ahs been operated by the family since 1902, 104 years! The Hartnett family has been in business even longer than that – since the 1880’s! Wow! That is a long time.

There are houses that are still lived in that were built in the early 1900’s with sun-dried bricks made on the site. (We might have to make some one day). Everyone knows Peter Pan. Well, you can drive by the houses where she grew up and first thought about flying. It is even rumored that her diary was buried in the planter box outside a second story window. There are lots of interesting houses and stories here. One of them is the house where it is rumored that the Indian Chief Santana was hidden in the basement while waiting trial for the Warren Wagon Train massacre. (That’s a story for our fort tour).

We have to stop at Chandor Gardens. It is an amazing work of “living” art. When I stopped there wasn’t anyone there and I had the entire grounds to myself. With all the water features and trees, it was a nice cool spot on a hot day. Be sure and read about it’s history in the driving tour. You will want to know how it came to be.

If you want to drive farther out, towards the lake you can see the sites where the Weatherford Monster is rumored to roam. The legends have been around since the Indians roamed free and reported seeing a fire breathing bull that roamed the villages killing several warriors until one was brave enough to pierce his heart with a spear.

More recent rumors tell of increased sightings since the lake was expanded in the 1950’s and recount the “monster” as being either a legendary “Big Foot” or a giant hairless armadillo. The most recent match the Indian legends of a giant bull with glowing eyes and in some cases with flames coming out of his nose. Want to stick around until after dark and see if we can see him?

Ok, well I guess we will head for home, it is getting late after There it is --- “Grandma’s Mountain (Comanche Peak) off in the distance. That means we’re getting close.

Till next time…

Do you have a story to share or a place you would like me to visit? E-mail travelswithgrandma@yahoo.com