Pierre Hochendel/Maison Bayou Plantation

JEFFERSON

Altitude 191

General

Jefferson nearly became a major East Texas river port of entry; Big Cypress was then navigable by steamboats from New Orleans. Discovery of nearby iron ore brought smelters and plow works, while plentiful pine and cypress stimulated the lumber industry.

Here was one of Texas' first breweries, and in 1873 the world's first ammonia refrigerant ice plant. It was the state's first city to utilize artificial gas for street lighting, and shortly after the civil War, reached a peak population of 30,000 with as many as 15 steamboats at a time lining the docks, and scores of wagon trains passing through on the way West.

Steel rails were also reaching west, but Jefferson, confident in the steamboat, refused Jay Gould's offer for a railroad. Gold angrily predicted death for the city, and laid his tracks elsewhere. He was right as far as the "city" goes, because growth in succeeding years, like the railroad, seemed to bypass Jefferson.

For today's traveler seeking a quiet reflection of a past era, it is a fortunate result.

BAYOU RIDING STABLES

CARNEGIE LIBRARY

HISTORIC HOMES TOURS

ALLY CARLSON HOUSE

CULBERSON HOUSE

FREEMAN PLANTATION

RUTH LESTER MEMORIAL AND PLAYHOUSE

HISTORIC INNS

JAY GOULD PRIVATE RAILROAD CAR

JEFFERSON & CYPRESS BAYOU RAILROAD

JEFFERSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM

TROLLEY RIDES

TURNING BASIN RIVER BOAT TOUR

WOODLANDS TRAIL

Attractions

• BAYOU RIDING STABLES - 45 minute narrated horseback tour along banks of Cypress Bayou amid 100 year old trees. Observe wildlife and site of Diamond Bessie murder.
• CARNEGIE LIBRARY - Built in 907, and one of few such libraries still serving its original purpose. Second floor designed as an opera house. On display is one of the outstanding doll collections in Texas. 301 Lafayette Street.
• HISTORIC HOMES TOURS - Many of the city's fine old homes are open during the annual Historical Pilgrimage, the first weekend in May and Candlelight tour the first two weekends in December. Others, are private residences and are generally open . Most are on the National Register of Historic Places.
• ALLY CARLSON HOUSE - Built in 1861 by Dan N. Alley, co-founder of Jefferson. Owned by three generations of Alley family until 1961 when it became property of Jefferson Historical Society and Museum.
• CULBERSON HOUSE - Built in 1880 by noted attorney David B. Culberson in the Greek Revival style. House has 14 foot ceilings, five fireplaces, and a secret passageway. This home has both national and state historical medallions. 403 n. Walnut.
• FREEMAN PLANTATION - Built in 1850, the graceful Greek Revival structure embodies the building style that distinguished so many Louisiana plantation homes. Giant magnolias and period furnishings complement the house, which has been cited by the Historic American Buildings Committee of the Department of the Interior. One mile west on Texas 49.
• RUTH LESTER MEMORIAL AND PLAYHOUSE - Built as a private residence about 1860, it became a Catholic convent, school, and hospital in 1869. Sold to a Jewish Congregation in 1875 and adjoining synagogue added. Both buildings restored with Victorian furnishings and memorabilia.
• HISTORIC INNS: Excelsior House - 19th Century hotel numbered among its guests Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Diamond Bessie, Jay Gould and Oscar Wilde. Guest rooms feature period furnishings of maple, cherry and mahogany and include marble-topped dressers, button and spool beds, many from the original furnishings when hotel opened more than a century ago. 211 West Austin Street.
• JAY GOULD PRIVATE RAILROAD CAR - The "Atlanta" has luxurious interior with four staterooms, lounge, dining room, kitchen butler's pantry and bathroom. Ironically, the car is within a stone's throw of the Excelsior Hotel, in whose register Gould wrote "The end of Jefferson" when citizens indicated a preference for grass to grow in the streets rather than have them marked with railroad tracks.
• JEFFERSON & CYPRESS BAYOU RAILROAD - Despite Jay Gould's prediction, railroads eventually arrived, and after more than a century, a new railroad is in service. pulled by quaint steam locomotive, train winds along tracks beside Big Cypress River past historic sites. Depot on East Austin Street.
• JEFFERSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM - Four floors of articles, documents and antiques from bygone era mementos of pioneer days, early steamboat commerce, ante-bellum society. Paintings and sculpture from D. D. Feldman collection. Old Federal Building, Lafayette and Vale Streets.
• TROLLEY RIDES - Soft-tired trolley tours around the city past historic homes and buildings. Narrated tours. Board at corner of Polk and Austin Streets.
• TURNING BASIN RIVER BOAT TOUR - 45 minute narrated tour of Big Cypress Bayou, featuring riverport history of Jefferson. Just below old trestle across Polk Street bridge (U.S. 69)
• WOODLANDS TRAIL - Feature is 99 foot state champion yellow poplar, survivor of four transplanted from Georgia in 1887, and sire of hundreds now in area. Other species identified. On U.S. 59, 8.5 miles north.