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John Sorsby - Texas History & Outdoors

@jsorsby

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🤳🏼 I make videos exploring Texas
🥾 TX State Parks: 89/89
📩 [email protected]

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I figured a few people might be curious about what led me to roam around Texas making these videos, so here’s a very condensed version of that.

Thank you to everyone that watches for giving me the coolest job in the state.

🧢👕: @thcprovisions by @jsorsby

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a year ago

Well, today is my 36th birthday. A year ago on my 35th birthday, I set the goal to visit all 88 @texasstateparks in one year.

And this past weekend, I completed that goal. I visited my 88th and final state park - @devilsriverstatenaturalarea.

It’s been a heck of a year. I’m so grateful to everyone that has watched my videos. Because of y’all, I’ve been able to create my dream job. That’s an incredible gift to give someone.

I’ve got a never-ending list of spots around Texas I want to explore, so I’ll still be taking y’all along to interesting places around the state. That won’t change just because I finished the state park goal.

I’ll put out some reflections on the past year and some more info on future content in the coming weeks. For now, I just want to say thank you to all of y’all for following along.

Parks 81-88:
- @devilsriverstatenaturalarea
- @garnerstateparktx
- Kickapoo Cavern State Park
- @enchantedrockstatenaturalarea
- @guadaluperiverstatepark
- Old Tunnel State Park
- Honey Creek State Natural Area
- Barton Warnock Visitor Center (Entrance to @bigbendranchsp)

🧢👕: @thcprovisions
🩳: @bearbottomclothing
💦: @rambleraustin by @jsorsby

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2 years ago

Less than 100 years ago, Manning, TX was a thriving East Texas town of 1,300 people built around a sawmill and the lumber industry.

But when the sawmill burnt down in the 1930’s, the lumber company left town taking the jobs with it. The town emptied out almost immediately.

🧢👕 @thcprovisions taken in Texas Forest Country Retreat by @jsorsby

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a day ago

Ten historic mansions across Texas - some with roots as far back as the 1830’s.

Bishop’s Palace - Galveston, TX: Construction began in 1887. Survived the devastating Galveston Hurricane of 1900.

@mcfaddinwardhouse - Beaumont, TX: Built in 1905 by one of the wealthy Beaumont families involved with the Spindletop oil boom.

Fort Leaton - @bigbendranchsp: Historic adobe fort on the Texas-Mexico border dating back to 1848. Site of many murders, squatters, tall tales & legends.

Rabb Plantation - @sabalpalmsanctuary: Built in 1892 as the headquarters of a massive sugarcane plantation along the Rio Grande. It’s on the southernmost publicly accessible spot in Texas.

@quintamazatlan - McAllen, TX: 10,000 square foot adobe home built in 1935 allegedly using secret adobe brick formula passed down from King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

Kreische House - La Grange, TX: Three story stone house built by German master stonemason in the 1850’s. He would go on to build the @kreische_brewery on the same property which would become one of the largest breweries in Texas.

@magoffinhomeshs - El Paso, TX: Adobe home with three feet thick walls built in 1875. One of the oldest adobe homes in the area.

Goodman-LeGrand House - Tyler, TX: Originally built in 1859 as a one-story home. Second story was added in 1880. Housed families fleeing violence during the Civil War.

Rancho Uribe - San Ygnacio, TX: Fortified compound on the banks of the Rio Grande initially started in 1830 by Jesus Trevino. Made of sandstone from the banks of the river.

Moody Mansion - Galveston, TX: 28,000 square foot home with 31 rooms completed in 1895 at a cost of $100,000. Survived the devastating Galveston Hurricane of 1900. taken in Goodman–LeGrand House by @jsorsby

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2 days ago

Some of the oldest homes and schools in Nacogdoches, TX are built on top of and through ancient Caddo burial mounds.

🧢👕 @thcprovisions taken in Nacogdoches, Texas by @jsorsby

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3 days ago

The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant opened in Northeast Texas during World War II and made military explosives there for over 50 years.

After its closure in 1997, there was a massive cleanup here and it’s now open to the public as part of the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

🧢👕 @thcprovisions taken in Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant by @jsorsby

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4 days ago

Nacogdoches is the official “Garden Capital of Texas” as proclaimed by the Texas Legislature in 2013.

And the Ruby Mize Azalea Garden on the @sfasu campus played a big role in achieving that title. It’s the largest azalea garden in the state with over 7,000 azalea bushes.

📍 Ruby Mize Azalea Garden
👕🧢 @thcprovisions taken in Ruby Mize Azalea Garden by @jsorsby

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7 days ago

The more I travel around, the more places I find that once had thriving health tourism economies built around hot mineral springs.

Marlin, TX was one of those places, and Conrad Hilton built one of his early hotels here to capitalize on the people flocking to those healing waters.

But when mineral waters fell out of favor with the public, the bathhouses and Hilton’s hotel closed down and now sits vacant.

🧢👕 @thcprovisions taken in Marlin, Texas by @jsorsby

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8 days ago

I was out in San Diego this past weekend to see @txstatefootball play San Diego State, and I had heard that the Caesar Salad was invented just south of the border in Tijuana…so I went over there to investigate.

📍 @caesarstijuana
👕 @thcprovisions taken in Caesar's Restaurant-Bar Tijuana by @jsorsby

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10 days ago

Old Stagecoach Road near Marshall in East Texas goes back to the pre-Civil War days. The woods around it were once a hideout for robbers that would target the stagecoaches driving to and from Shreveport, Louisiana.

There’s many a ghost story connected to Old Stagecoach Road…possibly the most haunted road in Texas?

🧢👕 @thcprovisions taken in Old Stagecoach Road in Marshall, Texas by @jsorsby

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11 days ago

Lots to see out there deep in the piney woods…

Aldridge Sawmill in the first slide was a really cool one for me recently. It’s an old abandoned sawmill deep in the Angelina National Forest. I’ll have a video out on it this coming week.

👕🧢 @thcprovisions by @jsorsby

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14 days ago

Lightnin’ Hopkins became one of the great Blues musicians of his time, but he & many others got their start playing for tips along Camp Street, a historic Black business district in Crockett, TX.

🎨 Camp Street Blues mural (2013): Robert Morrison
🗽Lightnin’ Hopkins statue (2002): Jim Jeffries
👕🧢 @thcprovisions taken in Camp Street Cafe & Store by @jsorsby

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14 days ago