EAST TEXAS: Quiet Rural Towns Far Off The Interstate

all right everyone I am in rural East Texas let me show you where on the map exactly you can see Dallas up there in the upper left I'm right here a little east and south of Tyler there's an interstate here Interstate here I'm gonna kind of do this area here I'm gonna actually get close to Louisiana a bunch of little small towns here I'm going to show you today uh my goal is eventually to hit every little area like this in the United States over the next several years so that in time you can come to my channel and say hey what's this area of this state looks like and you'll be able to see it that's the goal but anyway today is East Texas now it is a Friday little dreary about 10 A.M I am heading into the small town of Overton let me tell you a little bit about the town as I approach it uh about 2200 people here 2275 people in Overton the 2010 census there was 2554. so it's lost a few people Peak population in this town was in 1936 when there were 4 500 people here it's a town built on railroads uh let me see what other information I got here poverty level 17.9 percent so that's not too bad um according to the U.S census in 2020 the average home here is going to cost you 83 800. thank you that's pretty cheap uh it looks like I'm approaching downtown now according to Zillow in September of 2022 an average house here will cost you 126 000. so home values that went up pretty good oh and one other thing the median household income is forty four thousand three hundred so with all that information that I've just given you we now arrive in downtown beautiful downtown Overton Texas let me take a right here because I think there's some things I want to see this way yeah I think I'm going to park the car get on foot or out on foot and take a quick look what do you guys think is there's a theater here I want to check out so I'm gonna do that right now all right I'm here downtown Overton I'll take a quick look uh I want to see this theater over here so I'm gonna walk over there and check it out you know it's rusted and old but it's still beautiful look at this old theater Overton it's Glory Days or long over got a no trust Passing sign on the front violators will be prosecuted but I hope they don't mind if I just take a look in this and it's heyday what a thing of beauty theaters were always the most beautiful buildings or among the most Beauty beautiful buildings in town no exception here it's gorgeous and I'm gonna head to that part of downtown to see what we see Overton press they still operate in it a newspaper it looks like Hacienda looks like that place is still operating check out another building over here yeah look at this [Music] again it's neglected but boy you can see the potential there can't you what a great little shop that would be 1931 Coolidge building man what a potential Beauty there amazing see what else we can see here Jesus saves over here that's good to know I'm gonna come up on the uh this other Main Street here and take a look I don't know if this is open see this building it's a pretty bad disrepair but look at that light and there's lights inside that are on not sure what's going on there it's interesting Lord's florist oh I'm out here on the main drag looking at well the Decay quite frankly paymaster feeds Leonard's Farm Supply see let's talk about this a lot but you could pull that sign off and sell it in a antique shop and you can get some money for that we've got a barber shop though an old classic one Barbara's in there talking to a lady a small town life anyway yeah not a lot going on here yeah not much happening with the town it's very quiet uh 1934 Sexton building that's pretty cool all right I'm back in the Bronco gonna head to the next town I actually talked to a policewoman for a couple minutes while I was walking around the area here real nice lady she's just making sure it wasn't causing trouble anyway I'm gonna head to the next town it is called Henderson so that's coming up next [Music] I'm still an Overton at the moment uh making my way out of the town but I will be driving through New London basically just a wide spot in the road but I thought I might mention it because New London is the birthplace of Sandy Duncan now younger Folk probably don't know who she is but those of you who are older like me know exactly who she is huge star in her day multi-talented actress singer dancer but uh yeah her Beginnings were humble real Tiny Town of New London is where she was born and she spent some time in nearby Tyler well I've arrived in Henderson looking at this old Bail Bonds building I am getting ready to drive into downtown pretty good sized city 2020 there was 13 270 people here 2010 was Peak population there were 13 700 downtown is called vibrant here or described as such let's see for ourselves we're fixing the head that way right now it's a pretty healthy Town poverty rates 8.5 percent that's low a lot lower than the US average which is above 11 percent median household income is 65 000. almost the same as the U.S average home here is worth about 170 000. and anyway you're seeing the downtown for yourself it does look pretty nice doesn't it lots of cars traffic well-kept buildings ah look at this beautiful theater yeah it's really nice I'm a couple blocks out of downtown thought I'd check out a neighborhood yeah I ran across this house huge home looks like it caught on fire though really big house though yeah a lot of interesting homes different architecture that's what I'd like to see really nice yeah this is a nice town uh not much to report here this house backs the blue it's a beautiful home too all right I'm a little farther out of downtown looks like uh I had a fire here that's gotta suck yeah it looks like an abandoned house there and uh there's a cross right here looks like somebody died there another old house no trespassing I don't think there's anybody living there I'm gonna guess not hey look like we got some abandoned homes here hmm okay well that's enough here in Henderson I think going ahead to the town of Carthage next well everyone I am in Carthage I'm out on foot and see downtown here is one of those classic Texas squares I uh was familiar with Carthage I couldn't remember why it was poking at my brain so I dived down deep a little bit more and uh this is the town where Bernie took place I don't know if you remember seeing that movie had Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine he played uh a very popular funeral director that worked for a really mean lady Shirley MacLean played her uh in a fit of rage he killed her and put her body in a freezer and it was quite a while before they found it but it was a good movie Matthew McConaughey's mother is in it and I got to tell you guys she is one good looking older woman but anyway yeah I'm out here on this park here in the Square a little bit about uh Carthage 6600 people here in 2020 2010 there were 6 800 so it's lost a little bit of population Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is here uh uh let's see the hard numbers poverty rate 16.4 it's not bad uh average home cost you about 190 thousand dollars and uh medium household incomes 44 000. so it's just a little town well maybe a small City uh it's quaint downtown just kind of swinging around here and giving you a look at it very busy lots of traffic this is not one of these abandoned downtowns anyway uh I'm gonna take a look around here see what I can see furniture and more used furniture candy cakes probably a cupcake shop Realty Spotted Zebra looks like clothing that kind of thing maybe second hand uh what is this a salon yeah this is the way you do it folks if you're a small town and Walmart's siphoned a lot of business away you just encourage these small town shops like this nicely done Carthage I kind of like this town got an old-fashioned Barber Shop here nice kids clothing got a place for lease here if you want to open a shop get this old old shack it looks like something out of uh moonshine movie or something all right you can see a moonshine Moonshiner living than that that's pretty cool well there's the main square of the town there but no small town would be complete without an old theater and they have one here too most of the time they're not in operation but this one is yeah she's a beauty that is really cool a lot of work has been done here to keep this downtown in business you got to be impressed with that and look at here I'm making a new friend what he was coming right up to me but I guess he doesn't want to hang out with me now he's trying to decide yeah huh there you go it's just a kitten a baby yeah there's no collar I wonder if she's homeless or he can't tell from here I am at one of the landmarks of Carthage it is a statue called Footprints in the Sand it is a statue of Jesus carrying an old man and basically you just follow these footsteps in what looks like sand [Applause] and there he is right there I will walk over there and show you what the front of him looks like I figured this would be near downtown but it's not it's out here on the edge of town [Applause] but it's worth coming out for it looks like because look at it it's pretty big yeah that's Jesus he's carrying an old man how about that really interesting yeah that's cool well okay time to head to the next town it's called I want to say tineja uh clearly an Indian name anyway that's coming up next all right I'm in taneja Texas I think that's how it's pronounced little small town of 989 people and they were 1160 a little over a thousand people I guess or 1100 people in uh 2010 so the city's losing a little population it is the birthplace of a famous clown Bobo Barnett Bobo the Clown anyway uh yeah this is it for downtown very small let me pan down there so you can see the rest of it this town is uh not quite as prosperous as some of these other towns poverty rate here is 40.1 percent uh median household income is twenty two thousand one hundred and seventy three I mean that's really low this Bronco cost a lot more than that you turn around take another look show you uh downtown in this direction hmm I guess what I'm going to do is maybe take a little bit of a look around first State Bank small but Majestic in its day you can tell um yes we can see what's over here it's a very small town so there's not a lot of places to drive to I'm just gonna I guess just uh take a look around well we got some abandoned houses here uh we've got one here that is that might have been a garage but it is disintegrating and this is uh small out of the way town the very definition of it I would say looks like we have a donut breakfast shop there it's got people there having some breakfast it looks like uh gas station that has failed here let's take a look up here of course uh you knew you were going to see this Dollar General okay well I'm gonna head to the next town it's called Uh Timpson so that's coming up next all right I am driving into timson Timpson is the exact same as Tenaha 989 people that was in 2020 of course U.S census uh Peak population was in 1930 and there were 1545 people here at the traffic lights turn left onto Jacob Street then arrive at your destination well thank you for that Australian Siri he's directed me to where I need to go uh to downtown which I can see is over there so head in the heading there and tell you a little bit about the town poverty rates 25.6 percent median household income thirty four thousand seven hundred arrive at Timpson thank you Australian Siri uh average house will cost you 192 000 here uh it's kind of a quaint downtown really hmm kind of nice I mean it's old and there's some old run down buildings but it's got some character too look at the colors a few cars down here too so there's a bit of activity it's a hub of some kind which you always want to see in these small towns there's even a movie theater let's check this out always one of if not my favorite building in every city that I go to Every small town anyway is the movie theater most the time they are boarded up and empty this is no exception there's that theater hmm see what we got over here there's the uh another section of it I'm gonna head down this way no mural there that's fading got a house over here definitely needs some work the roof roof is held I'm a block off the downtown now taking a look around the town put that all over or look at that over there holy cow that is a big accumulation of stuff it's a lot there wasn't there wow wow it's an interesting place isn't it I'm back in downtown how about that this was quite the downtown in its day oh there's that train I knew I heard something or heard it all right well with that I'm gonna head to the next town uh it's called Rusk well I'm stuck here for a minute I have to cross that track guess what came as soon as I was ready to go that's right the train [Music] so I guess I'm gonna rest here for a minute [Music] I like looking at trains though anyway oh all right try it again Rusk is next all right I am entering Rusk Texas uh in 2020 there were 5300 people here and Peak population was 1950 there were 6 600 people poverty rates 14 percent so that's not too bad average household income is forty eight thousand two hundred so a little bit lower than the national average but uh given the low cost of living I would guess that they have here it's probably pretty good looks like it's got your typical Texas Square Downtown a few people here it looks like some cars it's not a dead downtown like you see some of these towns looks pretty nice so far we got a County Courthouse here that looks uh wow looks really nice you know Anna's going to drive around the square here and show it to you give you a look-see ing around hmm yeah it's kind of nice Chapman Pharmacy I see a movie theater over there I'll head in that direction in a second pull this way first there's some nice old buildings here I see a big mural uh looks like they're working on this building right here that's got a big mural on it this is a town founded by trains so that explains this big mural that this way wow look at that house that's kind of fascinating isn't it looking isn't it really interesting I told you I saw theater here we'll take a look at that uh Cherokee it says looks pretty fantastic from here already yeah it's the Cherokee theater and it's got a picture of a Cherokee Indian up there at top can you see that an amazing building sadly at uh setting empty but look at this house wow that is a big house huh well let's see what else we can find here wow look at this wind it's really picking up believe it or not this area that I'm in right now has just went under a tornado watch I am smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley at the moment it was really warm today in the 80s and this is early November so um yeah clearly some colder air is moving in that's always the recipe for tornadoes believe it or not I'm only two blocks out of downtown because that's what it looks like it's crazy huh beautiful all right well uh I think I've had enough of being here interesting Town though but anyway it's time to go to the next and last town it's called Jacksonville foreign [Music] downtown Jacksonville kind of a what can I say all over the place hmm there's 14 000 people in Jacksonville so this is the biggest town that I've visited 2010 there were fourteen thousand five hundred so uh City's lost a little population poverty rates 18.2 percent median household incomes 43 800. uh Jacksonville uh Jacksonville Jacksonville calls itself the Tomato capital of the world look at this traffic uh I'm gonna look around a little bit but let me get out of this traffic jam I'm gonna head into downtown here what I can see of it what was I saying oh yes tomato capital of the world uh tomatoes are so big here they have a huge tomato Fest once a year lots of people come to it if you are a country music fan you should know that Leanne Womack was born here right now I think I'm just going to drive around a little bit for me it's kind of an odd downtown you know you don't really have that big cluster of buildings to kind of spread out all over it and this town's got you know 14 000 people so while it's not huge usually you have a couple of blocks of real old buildings not really seeing it here you you see them in little spots like this right here uh it's kind of odd let's drive around a little bit see what else here yeah so there's downtown hmm look at all this traffic the light is way down there well I don't want to make any Jacksonville people mad but I got to be honest with you uh this downtown is personality less is that the right word it's lacking in personality it's just a big jumbo buildings with no Rhyme or Reason and I don't even see any particularly beautiful ones you know when you come to these towns like this you want to see the really old buildings even if they've been you know abandoned and left empty you like to see that uh I don't know about you guys but I just don't see it here they'll have a little stretch here and there where there's a couple foreign I am at the tomato bowl see there's a tomato home of the Jacksonville fighting Indians looks like it's a High School stadium got you an Indian right here Indian chief I know the gates are open uh why didn't I go take a look he's asked me for tickets yet looks like we got some high school football going on today yeah that makes sense it is Friday this is Texas High School football is King yep yeah High School football game going [Music] foreign touchdown is good wow that's cool well all right I think that's going to be the end of this video let me get out here we see downtown here and in the distance again um yeah this will be the end next video will have Nicole with me and we are going to Tyler Texas it's not far from here so are you looking for that

Channel: Joe & Nic's Road Trip

Views: 823,804

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Id: -fqwtlomCIM

Length: 38min 13sec (2293 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 08 2022