Parting ways with the ebullient Jimmie Ruth, I was whisked to the Jefferson Hotel in a golf cart to meet my fellow judges for the "Taste of Jefferson" contest. Local restaurants, hotels, and bed-and-breakfasts were presenting their signature dishes for consideration by judges and visitors in booths along Austin Street. The contest revealed a level of culinary sophistication I hadn't expected in a town so small. This was before I knew that chef "Kapp" Kappler's delicious steaks at the Galley Restaurant, regularly lure patrons from as far away as the metroplex, or learned that the upscale bill of fare at the Stillwater Inn is favored by discerning diners throughout the ArkLaTex area. The Galley's tasty spread was the winner that day, with meatballs from Lamache's, a family Italian restaurant, running a close second.

Horse-drawn carriage at the Galley Restaurant. Photo courtesy of the Marion County Chamber of Commerce.

The night of my arrival I had a chance to discover Jefferson's unexpected nightlife. As I emerged from dinner at the Galley on Saturday night, raucous live music spilled out of Annie Skinner's Bar while tourists disembarked from a horse-drawn carriage. Still others strolled arm and arm, window shopping at downtown antique stores. Farther down the block, there was drinking and dancing to live music at the Diamond Bessie Saloon and Dance Hall, an authentic turn-of-the century saloon named for the doomed Bessie Moore. Watching the tourists alight from the carriage, I realized what a common sight that must have been when Austin Street was the cosmopolitan sister of Rue Royale in New Orleans and Galveston's Strand.

In its prime, Jefferson welcomed the famous theatrical performers of the day: Oscar Wilde, Enrico Caruso, Lilly Langtry, and Sarah Bernhardt. Current visitors to Jefferson can observe Professor D.L. Smith in his performances as Mark Twain at the Galley Restaurant on alternating Saturday nights. The white-haired, mustachioed Smith dons a white suit and strolls up and down Austin Street visiting with tourists before he performs a one-hour show sharing the wit, wisdom and whopping lies of one of America's most beloved humorists. And during the Jefferson Historical Pilgrimage the first weekend of May, the Excelsior House -- and that hardworking garden club -- sponsor a play based on the transcripts of Abe Rothschild's murder trial.

JEFFERSON'S PAST : : WHERE TO STAY : : DINING/ENTERTAINMENT
OUTDOOR/CADDO LAKE : : NEARBY JEFFERSON : : LINKS/LISTINGS

INTRODUCTION