Amy's Rear View Mirror
Livingston, TXJuly 2002
Livingston, TXJuly 2002
Livingston is the county seat of Polk County in the East Texas Timberlands region on the east bank of the Trinity River. Polk County, named after President James K. Polk, was one of twenty-three counties formed by the first state legislature of Texas in 1846.Before European settlement, Polk County was inhabited by the Hasinai Indians, a loose alliance of Caddo descent. The Alabama and Coushatta Indians crossed into the Big Thicket, which covered much of the region from Louisiana in the late eighteenth century. Unlike the Hasinais, they remained in the county, living on land given to them by the state of Texas in 1854. The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, enlarged by the federal government in 1928, is east of Livingston on U.S. Highway 190. Three streams in Polk County bear the names of Coushatta chiefs - Long King, Long Tom, and Tempe. A third group, the Pakana Muskogees, of Creek descent, settled in Polk County in 1834; many moved to Oklahoma in 1899, and the remainder have joined the Alabama-Coushatta Indians. The Big Thicket discouraged European settlement. Although the region now called Polk County was included in a vast royal land grant to Pánfilo de Narváez as early as 1529, the Spanish largely neglected the area. A few roads following Indian trails were completed through the district, but no settlers came. About 100 American and Hispanic families received land grants from various empresarios and companies between 1831 and 1834, but few actually settled the land.
Moses L. Choate, a native of Livingston, Tennessee, had started a settlement called Springfield on his land grant in 1835, and wanted the seat of government located there when Polk County was organized out of Liberty County in 1846. He offered to give the new county one hundred acres of land if Springfield was selected as County Seat and the name of the town be changed to Livingston, for his former home in Tennessee. Although this was a very generous offer made by Choate, the legislature required that an election be held to determine the location of the County Seat for the newly organized Polk County. By election in June 1846, Springfield was decided upon and the name was changed to Livingston. The town is still the county seat. The new county filled rapidly with American settlers between 1835 and 1860.
In August of 1902, one major fire in Livingston TX took every building between Abbey and Polk Streets, except the Courthouse, a brick building. Prohibition was the issue and a citizen, said to have been in illicit liquor business, was accused of burning the town. He was tried in Livingston, but there was a hung jury. The case was moved to Huntsville TX and he was cleared. To this date, no saloons or legal sales of intoxicating liquors have been allowed in Livingston.
Polk County remains predominantly rural, but timber rather than agriculture has become the main enterprise.
-------------
The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe has a very rich history.
Nestled deep in the Big Thicket of East Texas lies Texas' oldest reservation, home of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. It is located on 4,600 acres of virgin timberland which is called home by some 500 hundred members of the Tribe. General Sam Houston in 1854, as a reward to the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe for their display of courage in remaining neutral during the Texas War for Independence from Mexico, gave the tribe their land.
Once separate entities, the Alabama and Coushatta are both members of the Upper Creek Confederacy of Indians and are of the Muskogean Nation. The two tribes originated in what is now the state of Alabama and were closely related before they came to Texas.
In 1805, approximately one thousand Alabamas came to Tyler County's Peach Tree Village. The Coushattas were already in East Texas, having arrived into the Big Thicket area sometime after 1795. Their inter-tribal friendship became even stronger as they roamed and hunted this new land together. When they first formed villages, their homes were fashioned out of the abundant East Texas timber and the leaves of palmettos were used on their roofs.
In the early 1800's, the Texas Congress granted each tribe two leagues of land along the Trinity River. This land was soon taken over by white settlers, leaving them homeless. And so, Sam Houston recommended that the state purchase 1,280 acres for the Alabamas and set aside 640 acres for the Coushattas. The land for the Coushattas was never plotted nor surveyed; and so, either through marriage or special permission, they came to live on the allotted land with the Alabamas - uniting the two to become the Alabama-Coushatta. In 1928 the Federal Government purchased an additional 3,171 acres of land adjoining the original reservation to be held in trust for the Alabama-Coushattas. Many other Coushattas moved to an area near Kinder, Louisiana, where a majority of them still reside today.
In 1954, the Federal Government relinquished its trusteeship of all lands and other assets pertaining to the Tribe. In 1957, the Attorney General ruled that the Tribal Council had the right to manage the timber on the reservation and to use the revenue from the timber sales to finance different projects that would benefit all the people. Authority was also given to conduct a timber management program in cooperation with the Texas Forest Service. This was to prevent the excessive or premature cutting of timber, thereby protecting the long-range financial interest of the people. As a result, the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation won the state's top award for forestry conservation and their achievement in timber management.
Some 550 tribal members live on the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation today, while there is still a large number that live in surrounding towns. During the early 1960's, a decision was made to invite guests to the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation to enjoy the beautiful scenery and learn of the Tribe's customs and way of life. In 1963, with assistance from the State of Texas, the Tribe built a museum, gift shop, and a restaurant. They later added a tribal dance square and tour through the Big Thicket. More than 20,000 guests visited the reservation during the first year of operation; and today, ten times more that number visit annually. A 26-acre lake was completed in 1971 and offers an ideal spot for picnics, camping, and swimming.
After years of being under the auspices of the State of Texas, the Tribe started the wheels rolling to become a federally recognized tribe. Working with the Native American Rights Fund, the Tribe pursued legislation to become federally recognized and on August 18, 1987, President Ronald Reagan signed Public Law 100-89 reinstating the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe.
Throughout their history, the Tribe has been ruled by a both a Principal Chief and a Second Chief. (The Chiefs were elected by the people and served lifetime terms.) However, in 1957, the Tribal Council was established and is now recognized as the main governing body. The seven Tribal members selected to serve as members of the Council are elected by popular vote and serve three and four year rotating terms. Those elected are the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer.
A 250 feet by 150 feet covered pavilion has been completed to house the annual powwow which is held every year on the first weekend in June and other events which the Tribe sponsors throughout the year.
The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe are a very proud people and work hard to hold on to their culture while learning to adjust to the modern world of technology which is the way of life today. A large majority of its members speak the Native language. In order to keep the language and traditional crafts alive, a high priority is placed to teach the Alabama-Coushatta language and how to weave pine needle baskets by holding classes taught by the elders of the Tribe.
-------------
For an outdoor enthusiast, Lake Livingston State Park is just wonderful!
Lake Livingston State Park, in Polk County, one mile southwest of Livingston, contains 635.5 acres along Lake Livingston. Lake Livingston is a reservoir covering more than 93,000 acres. It was acquired by warranty deed and from private landowners in 1971 and opened to the public in 1977. Lake Livingston is the second largest lake completely in Texas located 80 miles north of Houston, and 175 miles from Dallas.
It is located near the ghost town of Swartwout, a steamboat landing on the Trinity River in the 1830s and 1850s, and the meeting place of Polk County's first commissioners court before voters selected Livingston as county seat.
----------
Old Town in Spring, TX
Located near the original rail yards built in the early 1900's by the Great Northern Railroad, Old Town Spring is a quaint turn-of-the-century town composed of restaurants, museums, art galleries, and shops offering antiques, collectibles, clothing, and accessories for the home. The Victorian-style shops have character which adds to the nostalgic feeling of having stepped back into time. Some of the shops occupy buildings which were constructed in the early 1900's for the then booming railroad town.
----------
Texas Forestry Museum
Located in the heart of the East Texas Pineywoods, the Texas Forestry Museum is an historic look at the Wood Products Industry. Some topics covered are early logging, lumberjacks, sawmill towns, and the Wood Products Industry in Texas. There is a full-sized logging locomotive, loader and caboose on the grounds which you can explore as well as some early equipment used to haul logs and make lumber.
----------
4th of July Plans
I got to attend a double celebration ... not only was it 4th of July, but it was the birthday of the membership
campground in Livingston TX where I stayed.
The campground had their own parade the morning of the 4th, a Beef BBQ lunch with all the fixin's around noon, then birthday cake at 4 PM.
The town of Livingston had a patriotic parade down Main Street in the morning.
Polk County provided the evening festivities at a marina on Lake Livingston. No cars were allowed to drive in, but shuttle buses were available from local church and shopping center parking lots. The county's evening festivities at the marina included the Livingston Area Community Band performing patriotic songs, then the county-wide choir presented the patriotic musical 'Liberty', the local American Legion Post provided the Color Guard, Ellington Air Force provided a fly-over, and the night ended with a fireworks display.
----------
While in Livingston I stayed at Escapee's Rainbows End RV Park. On 7/17 I found out I was going to be working in the Dallas area for a previous client. So I decided to spend my last few days in Willis TX with Donna & Ron Wanchek and Jurhee Ivey, RV friends. I went to the Thousand Trails campground on Lake Conroe since the membership park where Donna, Ron & Jurhee were doesn't allow non-members to stay there. Thousand Trails is just a few miles from their campground. Willis TX was only about a 1 hour drive from Livingston TX. I got to spend Friday and Saturday evening with them. Lady got to go along too. She played with Cassie, Donna & Ron's lab.
It was a great send-off for me before going to Dallas. Friday night we went to a Mexican restaurant for supper which was 'ok' as far as Mexican restaurants go. Saturday we had a potluck ... chicken, couscous with roasted veggies, green beans and Key Lime Pie for dessert. Yum!!!!! And you can't forget lots of talking ... who's ears were burning? All ya'll?
While I was there I bought a membership to Thousand Trails with the RPI membership. For those of you that don't know these groups ...
Thousand Trails owns about 50 Preserves around the country (WA, OR, CA, AZ, TX, FL, SC, NC, TN) which are beautiful campgrounds in some of the most scenic areas on a body of water (either a Lake, River or the Ocean). These campgrounds are for the outdoors enthusiast ... boating, hiking, fishing, beach, some have horseback riding, wildlife ... and all the luxury campground amenities you can think of ... jacuzzi, pool tables, swimming pool, tennis courts, shuffleboard, horseshoes, a restaurant, laundry, small store, activity center, mini golf, ballfields, volleyball court. The cool part is, once you're a member you stay for FREE ... up to 14 consecutive days, then you need to be out of the system for 7 days before you can come back to the same campground or go to another campground in the system.
RPI is a discount program that campgrounds can participate in which gives the members the ability to stay up to 7 consecutive days at $5/day.
So between these two memberships, I should be able to keep my campground costs low when I'm not working.
Images may not be reproduced without permission