Happy Holidays in Paris

by Janie Moses, staff member at Sam Bell Maxey House

The holidays have arrived in Paris and at the Sam Bell Maxey House. We are in full swing with our newly developed tour written especially for the Holiday in Paris city-wide event. As I am the housekeeper and tour guide, getting the house ready for all the events is exciting. Cleaning up afterwards . . . not so exciting.

Our December tour this year compares the holiday traditions from the Gilded Age of the late 1800s with the Roaring ‘20s of the 1900s. I always enjoy the children’s tours and this year is so much fun! Third graders toured the house during the first week of December and they were great. The girls tried on a replica lady’s hat from the Gilded Age era and flirted with the fan we had on display. The boys tried on the replica top hat and walked with the gentleman’s cane, just as Senator Maxey might have done. My favorite part of the tour was in the dining room, when the kids were shocked to learn ham came from pigs! And that flowers, such as rose petals, could be eaten!

The community came out in full force to see the house and hear our new tour. We greeted our Maxey House guests with beautiful Victrola music and served them rock cookies — both were popular at the Maxey House during the 1920s. December is an exciting month in Paris, for it gives us an opportunity to work side by side with the community.

** Sam Bell Maxey House is located in Paris at the corner of Church and Washington streets in the Texas Lakes Trail Region.

Visitor Center Improvements at Fort Griffin

by Eric Abercrombie, assistant site manager at Fort Griffin

We at Fort Griffin are excited to see much-needed improvements done to the interior of our nearly 40-year-old visitor center. The center has received a fresh coat of paint and stain from a local contractor, Abilene Constructors & Tile, on wood and drywall surfaces within the main room. The drop cloths, ladders, buckets, scaffolding and paint fumes have been the telltale signs of progress. As a result, the visitor center was closed to the public, now with project completion we have reopened.

The purpose of the fresh, clean improvements is to prepare for a much larger project of improving our interpretive displays, which is expected to commence in January 2010. The interpretive display project is much anticipated and has been in the works since last spring when a diverse committee of historians, local Fort Griffin enthusiasts and THC staff first met with the 106 Group to discuss what was to be done. We are now in the final planning stages and are confident our visitors will absolutely love the new content, look and layout of the upcoming visitor center displays.

**Fort Griffin is located 15 miles north from Albany on U.S. Hwy 283 in the Texas Forts Trail Region.

Introducing New Web Sites for the THC Historic Sites

by Jennifer O'Hair, web content coordinator

All of us on the THC's historic sites staff have something to be very thankful for this Thanksgiving — new web sites! Each of our state historic sites has been upgraded from a single web page to a full, stand-alone web site. A variety of new features will help you discover more about the real stories of these real places in Texas and get you started planning your next visit to the sites, such as the Starr Family Home shown below.

To explore the new web sites, go to www.texashistoricsites.com and select a historic property to open its new web site. Here are a few of the new features worth checking out:

• Events calendar – Keep up with what's going on at the sites.
  
• Share Your Story – Tell us about your visit to the sites or memories of them from the past, and read about the real experiences of others.
  
• FAQs – Get your questions answered before you head out to see the sites.
• Share & Bookmark – Use the Share & Bookmark feature in the upper-right corner of each page to share what you learn in an email to a friend or a post to your Facebook, Twitter and more.
  
• Our Stories – Explore the real stories behind each of the historic sites, such as Sam Rayburn's 1947 Cadillac shown below.

We hope you enjoy the new web sites as much as we do. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think! We'll be continuing to add more interpretive and educational content to the sites, and we plan to incorporate additional features, such as video and podcasts, in the future.

Casa Navarro to Have a White Christmas

by Sarah Tober, senior marketing specialist for the Historic Sites

Thanks to the efforts of José (the site manager of Casa Navarro), staff and a few volunteers, Casa Navarro State Historic Site will be gleaming white again in time for Christmas! José is completing the annual whitewashing of all the main buildings and some of the Austin staff headed down to San Antonio to lend a hand. The team included Glenn, Ellen, Hal and I. We rolled up our sleeves and dared to get dirty as we methodically applied the whitewash to the exterior walls and eagerly learned about making the wash.

To make the whitewash, José starts with a lime mix in five one-gallon buckets mixed with water. In another mix he utilizes the diced cactus he has harvested from the big cactus plant on the grounds. He lets the cactus soak in water for a few days to release its gooey juices, which provide an adhesive base for the whitewash. Once the two compounds are mixed together, it’s ready to apply to the walls. Long precise strokes are necessary for even distribution of the wash, an art Ellen easily mastered.

We also had the opportunity to check out the newly recovered 16-foot-deep cistern on the property. The cistern was once used for storing captured rainwater from the roofs and is being restored again for the same use. We were able to climb down and observe the unique space inside the cistern two and three staff members at a time. I captured some pictures of the staff emerging from the cistern, like this one of Hal. Look for more on the restoration and use of the cistern to come!

**Casa Navarro is located in downtown San Antonio at the corner of S. Laredo and W. Nueva streets in the Texas Independence Trail and Hill Country Trail Regions.

Good News from the Maxey House!

by Lynn Deal, site manager for the Sam Bell Maxey House

Here at the Sam Bell Maxey House we are celebrating great news for the Friends of the Maxey House, a 501(c) 3 organization that supports our mission. On Oct. 27, the Friends of the Maxey House received the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce 2009 Visionaries Award. The award recognized the Friends’ 16-year-commitment to the Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site (formerly known as the Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Structure) through their various contributions, including the purchase and planting of flowers on the Maxey grounds.

The transition of site ownership from Texas Parks & Wildlife to a state museum run by the Texas Historical Commission, as well as the state’s current four-year exterior preservation project at the Sam Bell Maxey House was also acknowledged at the awards ceremony. The Friends of the Maxey House currently consists of approximately 65 members. Seven of the 15 board members were present to receive the award at the Chamber’s 105th awards banquet. The current board includes President Daisy Harvill, Vice President Laura Carrington, Treasurer Judy Gibbons, Secretary Phyllis Bryan, Chairman Carl Covert, Judy Martin, Brady Fisher, Jeanette Bender, Caroleen Thornton, Betty Ann Entzminger, Martha Stephens, Devon Mason, Armand Frank, George Kimbrough and Arvin Starrett. A big congratulations goes out to our Friends, we appreciate all you do!


**The Sam Bell Maxey House is located in Paris at the corner of Church and Washington streets in the Texas Lakes Trail Region.

THC Historic Sites Represent at State Fair

by Sarah Tober, senior marketing specialist for the Historic Sites

The Historic Sites represented at the Texas State Fair this last week, with Jennifer (our web content guru), Dixie (one of our fabulous site managers, she oversees the Confederate Reunion Grounds) and yours truly. Together we worked the Texas Historical Commission (THC) booth, meeting visitors and providing information about the Historic Sites and other THC-related programs. We made sure visitors left our booth with rack cards, historic sites' mint tins and a better understanding of what we offer in the way of preservation and heritage tourism.

Traveling all over Texas and getting to know other Texans is definitely one of the perks of my job. Having grown up in Texas I have always heard that we Texans are some of the most friendly bunch of people in the U.S., and I can now officially confirm the rumors as truth. Even in the big city of Dallas there were plenty of friendly faces and hearty storytellers.

Some highlights from the two days spent at the fair include: tornado tater twisters, Dr. Pepper floats, talking with Dixie about history and life in Texas, corndogs, the Go Texan store, hearing people recognize our program and appreciate Texas history, and finally seeing the big O, a Brazilian Spectacle Owl that is!

If you make it to the state fair next year, be sure to stop by the THC booth inside the Food and Fiber Pavilion, you never know what new things you could learn there! For more information on the state fair visit http://www.bigtex.com/.

The long road to Acton…

by Sarah Tober, senior marketing specialist for the Historic Sites


After being in my new position for two months, I am finally making it out to see the sites! First stop, Acton State Historic Site in Acton, TX. After a few detours yesterday (due to missed roads and a slightly misleading GPS), to and from Acton, I can say that I have successfully visited Acton and stood in front of the Elizabeth Crockett monument.

First impressions, we have some work to do in restoring the monument, making the area more accessible (to drivers and walkers) and crating some visitor seating near Crockett's resting place. However, ultimately I believe she has a beautiful resting place, surrounded by history and lush landscapes. I tagged along to this site visit with co-workers Brett, Ellen and Donna who are planning for potential improvements. They also met with the Acton cemetery board of directors, where both parties shared visions for enhancements and a few development obstacles.

Who knew a monument and a cemetery could be so interesting though! In addition to the monument, the cemetery features an Official Texas Historical Marker, beautiful old oak trees and is the resting place for a Teas Ranger by the name of Capt. John W. Middleton. It was nice to not only visit our historic site, but to take a moment and reflect on Elizabeth Crockett's life and to consider the idea of what it must have been like to be the wife of such an important historical figure. The monument reminds me of her tragic story as a widow, but also of her strength in life.

Some how these Texas treasures and the historical context in which they fit, becomes more palpable to me once I have experienced them firsthand. I'm looking forward to my future THC related adventures (whether they be GPS misguided or not) and seeing more Historic Sites in the coming weeks.