"Keeweechic's Jefferson" a Jefferson Travel Page by keeweechic

Jefferson is located in Marion County in northeast section of Texas. It is the most delightful little historic town of with a population of just over 2,100. Most of the 10,000 Marion County residents live in rural areas which is made up of agriculture with livestock and forestry. Fishing, camping, and tourism in the Lake O' the Pines and Caddo Lake areas. Caddo Lake is Texas' only natural lake.

In 1845 Jefferson was established as being a bustling river port upstream from New Orleans. It was visited by steamboats loaded with people migrating westward into Texas. The steamboats travelled up the Red River, crossed westward beyond Caddo Lake into Big Cypress Bayou, and docked at the furthest reach upstream where covered wagons were built and readied for travel. The return journey was loaded with bales of ginned cotton and carried back downstream to New Orleans. After the Civil War, Jefferson's population boomed to 35,000 due to heavy commerce. Southern mansions and plantations around the area were common. At one point Jefferson, Texas, had a population of 66,000 when Dallas was still an Indian trading post. However, after the boom prosperity ended when an important log jam that kept water levels backed high was demolished on the Red River in 1873. The river channel which ran across Caddo Lake and up to Jefferson became too shallow and unreliable for the steamboats to travel. With its vital travel, shipping, and trade route ruined, Jefferson was in an economic stranglehold. The population drastically fell to less than 3,000 and the community was left with the remnants of many old mansions and homes which typified the Civil War era.

I visited Jefferson briefly one afternoon last year enroute to Marshall and was given enough temptation to want to go back and see more. Even after another trip, there is still more in the area to see. A nice idea would be a weekend at one of the lovely historic B&B's and just wander around the delightful shops and do as we did, and take a cruise out on Caddo River/Bayou and Lake at nearby Uncertain.