Travel & Outdoors
March 19, 2024
How Does a Small Texas Town Prepare for a Solar Eclipse? Porta-Potties.
Allyson Cliett, Hillsboro's eclipse coordinator, has spent fourteen months getting ready for 4 minutes and 23 seconds of darkness.
Small Towns
Food & Drink
March 12, 2024
Will Small Texas Towns Lead the Way in Reviving the Dine-in Pizza Hut?
The Plano-based chain has opened at least nine “Pizza Hut Classic” locations in towns such as Gonzalez and Bastrop, hoping nostalgia and community will help bring people back to the brand.
Style & Design
February 14, 2024
How the Brenham Schoolhouse Hotel Transformed From Schoolhouse to Hotel
The 1880s property began its life as the alleged first public school in Texas, then became a convent. Now travelers can stay within its historic walls.
Being Texan
January 29, 2024
If It Isn’t Stamped at the Love Station in Valentine, Texas, Is It Even Really a Valentine?
Mail your card to this tiny West Texas post office, and its sole employee will hand-cancel it with a charming postmark (for free).
Business
November 28, 2023
What Can Public Transit Deserts Learn From Paris, Texas?
The East Texas town has maintained a reliable bus route since 2016, providing a model for rural areas with limited transportation.
Being Texan
November 6, 2023
In Search of Texas’s Hidden Polish Heritage
Just southeast of San Antonio, a rare European American dialect may be dying, or already dead. That’s a shame. Or is it?
Style & Design
November 1, 2023
How an East Texas Developer Built His Dream Neighborhood, Brick by Brick
Why choose one architectural style? In Tyler’s Mosaic District, no two buildings are alike.
Travel & Outdoors
October 9, 2023
The Oatmeal Festival Could Use Some More Oatmeal
Small-town charm abounds at this quirky Central Texas event, which once hosted oatmeal-wrestling and oatmeal-sculpting competitions.
BBQ Joint Reviews
October 2, 2023
Can a Town of 3,500 Sustain Three Barbecue Joints?
Winnsboro, in East Texas, is experiencing a surprising smoked meat boom: three new joints opened there in just one year. But will they endure?
Travel & Outdoors
September 7, 2023
“Escape” Means Many Things in the Lakeside Town of Kingsland
Here you can sleep in a yellow caboose, swim in one of the many nearby watering holes, and eat a steak in the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ house.
Travel & Outdoors
August 28, 2023
Sip Wine, Watch Bats, and Paddle the Llano River in Cozy Mason
The home of Old Yeller, this scenic Hill Country getaway also has a beautifully restored courthouse.
Sports
August 23, 2023
Needville’s Boys of Summer
Until recently, a new Sonic restaurant was the small Texas city’s big news of 2023. Now it’s Needville in the Little League World Series.
Travel & Outdoors
August 11, 2023
In This North Texas Town, It’s Always Shark Week
The small city of Sherman, which lies far from the coast, is a fossil hunter’s paradise.
Parks & Recs
August 2, 2023
We Found Texas’s Best Beachcombing Spot in Matagorda
The seaside town is also a great place to catch redfish, watch dolphins, and stay in a snazzy new bungalow.
Travel & Outdoors
July 31, 2023
Denison Is a Cozy, Not-(Yet)-Too-Crowded Getaway in North Texas
Wineries, stylish bed-and-breakfasts, and a beautifully restored old train depot make this North Texas town a great weekend getaway.
Sports
July 28, 2023
A Texas High School Baseball Team’s Secret Recipe for State Championships
A roster with only thirteen players? Three-sport athletes who refuse to specialize? It’s all part of the plan at Magnolia West.
The Texanist
July 18, 2023
The Texanist: Where Do All Those Cannons in Courthouse Squares Come From?
A Plano woman wonders why so many small towns have so many big guns.
Travel & Outdoors
June 15, 2023
Where to Eat, Shop, and Stroll in Salado
The Central Texas town has a lively arts scene with a picturesque creek running through it.
Travel & Outdoors
April 14, 2023
Pilot Point Is a Quaint North Texas Getaway (and an Animal Lover’s Paradise)
It promises a grand time on a big lake, next to an awakening downtown square and miles of horse (and lemur!) country.
Texas Trip Guides
April 4, 2023
Hip Bars and Culinary Surprises Take Longview to a New Level
Come to this East Texas city for the hot-air balloons. Stay for the gluten-free beers, natural wines, and impressive array of cuisines.
Parks & Recs
March 29, 2023
Lake Mineral Wells State Park Offers Adventurous Hiking, Fishing, and Some of the Best Rock Climbing in Texas
This underrated pocket of North Texas is well worth your time.
BBQ Joint Reviews
March 23, 2023
Can This Barbecue Joint Survive in a Town of Less Than 700 Residents?
Hill City Chop House might need to depend on people coming from outside of Tolar to keep it afloat, but the smashburger and smoked dump cake are well worth a trip.
Sports
March 10, 2023
This Panhandle School Is the Tiniest Girls Basketball Powerhouse in Texas
The Nazareth Swiftettes have won 25 state championships in less than fifty years—and they just hung another banner for 2023.
Being Texan
February 22, 2023
Finding Weird All Over Again in Rockport
I left homogenized Austin for the Texas Gulf Coast—and felt right at home amid the Speedo-wearing bikers and chicken feet–fed alligators.
BBQ Joint Reviews
January 31, 2023
This Barbecue Joint Loves Its Community—and the Small Town Loves It Right Back
Long lines, packed parking, and sold-out meat are regular features of Kat’s Barbecue in Santa Fe, thanks to lauding loyal customers.
Sports
November 24, 2022
This Tiny West Texas HS Has Five Boys. Three of Them Made the State Cross-country Meet.
There’s no stoplight, no stores, and no walk-in businesses in Valentine. But there’s plenty of space to stretch those legs.
Style & Design
November 10, 2022
Dripping Springs Was a One-Stoplight Town. Now It Hosts 1,000 Weddings Per Year.
The Hill Country destination’s economy has coalesced around the wedding industry, with a slew of new event spaces, vendors, and florists willing to work as many as six parties a weekend.
Food & Drink
October 18, 2022
The Sole Restaurants in Small Towns Do Much More Than Serve Food
They keep their communities running, whether it’s providing a gathering space or keeping prices low in the face of inflation.
Travel & Outdoors
September 21, 2022
Miranda Lambert’s Parents Really, Really Want You to Visit Their Hometown
The Grammy winner is the most famous export from Lindale, but the charming East Texas town also boasts a delightful candy shop, blackberries galore, and plenty of live music.
Texas Trip Guides
September 6, 2022
Where to Stay, Shop, Ride, and Two-step in Bandera, the Cowboy Capital of the World
The Hill Country town supplies cowboys—both real and temporary—with a dose of ranch life, complete with hotcakes and trail riding.
Travel & Outdoors
August 29, 2022
Utopia, Texas, Is Accurately Named
This serene Hill Country town boasts a treehouse hotel and an idyllic swimming hole.
BBQ
August 24, 2022
Community Barbecues Keep Old Cooking Traditions Alive
Small towns, like Bellville in Austin County, raise funds for various efforts through preparing meat using direct heat and old-school brick pits.
Texas Country Reporter
July 28, 2022
The Tiniest Bank in Texas Didn’t Deal in Change
For decades, Roddy Wiley ran the only bank in the small town of Oakwood, which happily resisted modern technology well into the twenty-first century.
Travel & Outdoors
July 13, 2022
Old West Meets New in Little Hico
The town, an easy back-roads drive from Austin or DFW, is both quiet and brimming with worthy new shops and eateries.
Texas Country Reporter
July 12, 2022
The 175-Year-Old General Store That Came Back From the Brink
I’ve visited the T. C. Lindsey & Co. General Store multiple times over the years, but our most recent visit was a surprise in the best possible way.
Travel & Outdoors
July 5, 2022
You Should Take a Soak in Marlin, the “Hot Mineral Water City of Texas”
Professional baseball teams once traveled here in search of healing waters
Music
May 20, 2022
A Trip to Turkey, Texas, Where Western Swing Is Still King
Bob Wills fans flock each spring to the tiny Panhandle town to “dance all night, dance a little longer.”
Travel & Outdoors
March 31, 2022
Escape to Indianola, a True Ghost Town on Matagorda Bay
This far-flung spot has a rich history, excellent fishing, free beach camping, and no crowds.
Country Notes
February 9, 2022
Marfa Meats Brings a Slaughterhouse Back to the Big Bend
Small-town locker plants, lifelines for rural Texans for generations, have vanished from parts of the state. Christy Miller’s company is an exception.
Food & Drink
January 26, 2022
As the Pandemic Endures, Texans Flock to Small Grocers
From Flatonia to Marathon, communities—often small and rural—band together to serve their own needs with local essentials.
Travel & Outdoors
January 21, 2022
Explore an Old Zoo in the North Texas Town of Cisco
Rocky paths wend their way past the crumbling ruins of animal dens, making for a one-of-a-kind nature walk.
Sports
September 24, 2021
On the Field With the Smallest Texas High School Playing Football This Year
At tiny Dell City School in far West Texas, more than half of the high schoolers are on the varsity football team.
Books
September 15, 2021
Brutally Suppressed in Her Lifetime, Gertrude Beasley Is Finally on Our Bookshelves
A searingly feminist 1925 memoir of life in small-town Texas rises from the dustbin of patriarchy.
Texas History
August 18, 2021
Quiz: Which of These Weird Texas Town Names Are Real?
No Googling allowed.
Being Texan
July 20, 2021
In Mobile City, Everybody Knows Your Name
Mobile City was incorporated in the early nineties to facilitate alcohol sales in a dry county. Now residents—especially its devoted mayor—fear for the fate of their accidental utopia.
The Texanist
July 14, 2021
The Texanist: How Do You Pronounce All Those Weird Texas Town Names?
A Dallas man is flummoxed by Quitaque. And Danevang, and Jiba, and Study Butte, and Zuehl . . .
Art
June 24, 2021
In Bartlett, an Art Exhibit Revives an Abandoned Building
Often described as a ghost town, this Central Texas community is alive and well.
Travel & Outdoors
January 16, 2021
Sanderson Is an Underrated, Adventurous West Texas Escape
This scrappy town on the edge of the Big Bend region has a trendy motel, pistol-packing waitresses, and starry nights aplenty.
The Culture
December 22, 2020
‘Texas 6’ Offers a Glimpse at the State’s Smallest Football Dynasty
The new docuseries follows tiny Strawn High School's six-player football team in its quest for a three-peat.
Being Texan
January 22, 2020
Small Towns, Big Money
Across the state, small towns are fading away. But in a few places, rich people are spending big to revive them. And that comes with its own set of complications.