"Ghost Town" - Belle Plain, Texas (Belle Plain Cemetery)

Turns out the abandoned buildings from the former town Belle Plain are on private property, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Regular visitors cannot legally or comfortably visit the "ghost town." On the way there however, was a small sign for Belle Plain cemetery and we decided to check that out. It turned out to be super-interesting. There are gravestones from all eras in a wide variety of designs and several with unique personalization.

Some locals from the adjacent town of Baird were on a Sunday afternoon drive with their elder mothers, and had stopped by the cemetery for one of the widows to visit her husband's grave. When asked they not only gave us directions to the "ghost town," but had us follow them in their truck; after solicitously warning us about possible deep mud along the way from recent heavy rains in the area.

Before we said goodbye, they shared a story about a friend of theirs who had been hired to raze one of the abandoned homes. During the process of demolition the man found a revolver buried under the floorboards of the house. A mystery! What was the story? What had the gun been used for and why was it there?!

They also told about when they were growing up, teenagers would come out in groups at night to the "haunted" house to scare and entertain themselves.

There are the remains of a three-story brick building that does look rather impressive for a relatively recent American "ruin." Since after all, we don't have ancient castles in this country. Apparently the structure was a music school at one point and held baby grand pianos in its heyday.

There are a few historical markers with some good information on Belle Plain, placed outside the barbed-wire fence along the dirt road.

Back to the fascinating cemetery:

A couple of inscriptions found --

Erected in memory of Claude Flores
1870 - 1949
Dedicated to the pioneers of Belle Plaine
As fade the leaf and morning flower
So fade our lives each passing hour
As dews that melt before the sun
So pass our lives, one by one.

- Claude M. Flores, Jr.


Jack's Oak
Dedicated to the memory of
Jack M. Flores Jr.
Charter Member, President,
Poet and Lifetime Caretaker
Belle Cem. Assn.
May 1999

A sampling of gravestones --

Dublin Dr. Pepper

Dublin Dr. Pepper Bottling Plant and museum is a far-flung, well-run treasure of a place. Well worth the hour and a half drive from Abilene we took for a day trip. The tour and gift shop were simple but interesting. Our guide (Luke) was informed, entertaining and kept a good pace. The man who first established the company thought that Dublin would become the size of Ft. Worth someday but, it hasn't (pop. approx. 4,000). That actually adds to the charm of the place. Bill Kloster, eventually named "Mr. Dr. Pepper" started as a bottle sorter at the plant and eventually became owner. He began collecting related memorabilia after his wife gave him a Dr. Pepper calendar during WW II. His collection forms the basis for a professionally curated museum and recently opened museum annex. The company is known for never substituting Imperial sugar for corn syrup. Evidently, fans appreciate the unwavering taste.

www.dublindrpepper.com

Friesenhaus - New Braunfels

A lively place, with German music, clothing, food and dancing.

Poteet Strawberry Festival

... ate the little green plastic basket of strawberries in the car on the way home. They were crunchy not with sugar, but with dust. Delicious anyway.

It was very windy and dry for our visit.

Highlights:

Strawberry shortcake; chocolate-dipped strawberry kabob; corn-on-the-cob.

Gunfighters who were convincingly dressed and with real, droopy mustaches. Obviously enjoying their act and the chance to perform exaggerated death jerks during the pretend shoot-out.

There were these giant, wooden rocking horses wearing real saddles.

A couple of really excellent bands. One jazz/rock/blues. One a group of very young and accomplished mariachi musicians, girls and boys.

In the distance was a water tower painted to look like a giant strawberry.

A stuffed, bright red strawberry mascot roamed the festival posing for photo-ops.

***

There were the usual carnival rides and games.

We noticed that the new live prize to take home is a ferret! Last time we went to a fair in England it was goldfish. I think the ones we ended up with were all three named Amy and lived with us for quite awhile ...

* The smaller-than-usual, homegrown Poteet berries were wonderful. Wonderful.

Guadalupe State Park

Felt like we were in the land of Narnia. These big, bleached grey trees were down at the edge of the (low water) river. They had tangled roots above ground and wind-woven branches.

The river was clear, green, wide.

It was very quiet the day we went and we heard rippling water, screechy birds, crunchy leaves, sausages sizzling, and the bang of kids' feet on a slide.