Town shrugs off curse; History draws visitors
Town shrugs off curse; History draws visitors

JEFFERSON, Texas — Proud Southern homes built during the mid-1800s stand tall, showing off welcoming porches, mammoth columns and freshly painted exteriors.

Blades of grass reach for the sun as they grow between the original bricks lining the downtown streets.

Townspeople turn out by the hundreds for a Norman Rockwell-style Fourth of July celebration, complete with a homemade cake and pie auction, bike and tricycle decorating, and homemade ice cream contest.

It's difficult to imagine this quaint, historic town as once being a mini-New Orleans.

But that's how history looks back on Jefferson when it was a thriving river port that attracted wealthy planters and prosperous businessmen.

The town even caught the attention of Jay Gould, a railroad tycoon who wanted to lay tracks right though town. City fathers wouldn't hear of it. More than a bit upset, Gould declared that grass would grow in the streets and bats would roost in the belfries. He reportedly wrote "The end of Jefferson” in the Excelsior Hotel's registry and took his railroad to a small town to the west: Dallas.

A year later in 1873, it seemed as if Jefferson's curse had come true when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forced the water level to drop overnight in Big Cypress Bayou, making shipping uncertain and no longer profitable.

While Gould's curse makes for a good story, and one that continues to be debated, Jefferson's prosperity did take a nosedive. Grass did grow in the streets. For years, the town barely survived.

Now, it's a small-but-thriving town that attracts visitors to its historic hotel and homes, dozens of bed-and-breakfast inns, street-side shopping and, interestingly, Gould's own personal railroad car.

The anchor of downtown Jefferson is the Excelsior House, built by one of the town's early settlers, Capt. William Perry, who arrived with the first stern-wheeler in 1844.

"The hotel has remained virtually unchanged for 150 years, and that's the way we like it,” said Juanita Wakefield Chitwood, tourism development director for Jefferson.

Original floors and antiques add to the charm and perhaps explain some of the ghostly sounds guests often say they hear. Each of the 15 rooms is decorated with antiques. Some famous guests have stayed at the hotel, too, including Ulysses S. Grant, Oscar Wilde, Rutherford B. Hayes and Lady Bird Johnson. A picture of Grant and his family reportedly was traded for a night's lodging.

Across the street from the hotel is Gould's railcar, the Atalanta. He traveled with a doctor and a cook in the luxuriously appointed car that features a kitchen, crystal light fixtures, stained glass, four staterooms and two baths. Purchased by the Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club in 1953, the car is open for tours.

"The Diamond Bessie Murder Trial,” another interesting piece of Jefferson history, plays out every year at the Jefferson Playhouse. The abbreviated story is that a well-dressed couple took a room in Jefferson. One day, they headed out for a picnic. The man returned to town. His wife, he said later to those who asked about her, was in the country visiting friends.

Her body was found a week later — minus the jewels she usually flashed. Her husband was arrested, and soon nearly every lawyer in eastern Texas became involved in one of the most celebrated trials of the period. After two trials, the man was found not guilty, and the case was never solved.

While the murder trial and Gould's curse might still tempt a filmmaker, Jefferson does have its own little piece of Hollywood. The Scarlett O'Hardy's Gone With the Wind Museum started as a place to store all of owner Bobbie Hardy's collectibles. She started collecting memorabilia of Margaret Mitchell and her novel, but now has posters, books, videos, a first edition of Mitchell's book, international collectibles and even a replica of Tara. The museum is open to the public.

Along with an opportunity to learn a bit of interesting history, Jefferson offers visitors a chance to embrace a slower place and reflect on a different century, even if it's just for a day or two.

The Jefferson General Store and Old Fashion Soda Fountain is one of the most interesting places in town and offers everything from old-time candy and tasty dipping sauces to Davy Crockett-style coonskin caps and T-shirts.

Downtown dining includes The Bakery, Lamache's Italian restaurant and House of Pies, where the biggest surprise is a cornbread sandwich. If you try it, you'll like it.

Many of the charming old homes are open for tours, and others have been turned into bed-and-breakfasts. One with a link to Oklahoma is the House of the Seasons, which offers tours for those staying in the guest house. Built in 1872 by Col. Benjamin H. Epperson, the most unusual features are the cupola and the murals. Many of the furnishings are original and were bought in 1974 from Jeannie Epperson, the colonel's daughter. The owners found her in a nursing home in Ada.

Jefferson is small and easy to get around, but a horse-drawn carriage is one of the best ways to get a glimpse at the town and a better understanding of the people whose names are etched in history.

It's that history that makes Jefferson so special, so different and so appealing to visitors, Chitwood said.

"Even though other towns have bed-and-breakfasts, have historical hotels, have antiques ... but they don't have our history,” she said. "And Jefferson has some of the most colorful and fascinating history of any town I've ever been in.”

What's more, she said, Jefferson is green, cool and clean.

"It's a magical place. I've been told that many times by visitors who come to town,” Chitwood said. "It's a simpler, quieter time that everybody's craving.”

Accomodations provided by Holiday

Trail of Lights Marketing Coalition.

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