Backroads and History

We always take the backroads when we have the time.  Occasionally we will just take off exploring the backroads.  We almost always stop at historical markers that we find.  If you look back to some of my older posts, you will see them sprinkled in here and there.

 Yesterday, upon the recommendation of a new acquaintance that shares a penchant for history, we took a short trip to see the marker near the site of Jonesboro.  It was one of the first ports of entry into Texas and crossed the Red River north of what is now Clarksville.

At the time of its heyday, Jonesboro was in the United States and Texas was part of Mexico.  The Red River Valley is deep, fertile soil and would certainly have provided an encouraging view for those earliest Anglo settlers to the future Republic of Texas.

A couple of notable people are mentioned on the marker -- Sam Houston and Davey Crockett.  Houston had a long and notable career after entering Texas while Crockett's career was cut short at the Alamo.

Crockett is known to have visited Honey Grove which lies to the west on his way into the interior of Texas.  If you a draw a line from that point of entry at Jonesboro to Honey Grove, it would cross very near where we currently live.  It's kind of cool to think Crockett could very well have crossed what is now our small piece of Texas.