East Texas Offers Many Ghost Towns

What happened to all those rural places in East Texas where early settlers started to build a life, and then somebody else decided the spot where the Tyler loop now sits would be a better place?

Camps became homes, then small school houses joined the homes, then all that was deserted in favor of greener pastures - or should we say more populated areas.  And thus, the Texas ghost towns are born.

We came across an interesting website that lists several ghosts towns right here in Smith County. 

Texasscapes.com says, "They say in Bullard if you stand beneath the pecan trees south of Bullard and turn your head slightly to the north wind, you can almost hear the hallelujah's of an old-fashioned church revival.  

375 Methodist church members founded a town called Burning Bush in 1913, along the Smith Cherokee County Line.  It's gone today, but the history remains.

How about Thedford?  Ever heard of that?  It's on a 1940's Smith County map, just south of Lindale between Tyler and Mineola.  Lem Thedford was an early settler who organized the area's first rural school district.  Thedford had 25 people in 1910.

Something to do if you're looking for a road trip!   Visits east Texas ghost towns and pretend like it's 1905.  Take your smart phone of course and listen to Mix 93-1 so you're not THAT out of touch.  And post the pics on Facebook.