Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WORTH A TRIP
EDOM & BEN WHEELER
Itchin' for a Sunday drive? The stretch of FM 279 between
Edom
(
www.edomevents.com
)
(pop 375) and
Ben
Wheeler
(
http://benwheelertx.com
) (pop 400) holds a surprising number of diversions.
The
Shed Cafe
(
www.theshedcafe.com
; 8337 FM 279; dishes $4-11, steaks $18-24; 6:30am-8pm Mon-
Thu, to 9pm Fri & Sat, 7am-1pm Sun) routinely makes Texas Monthly's list of top country cafes, serving great
lemon icebox pie and chicken fried chicken. Live pickin' and grinnin' music plays Wednesday night. And just
down the road you can hear acoustic music concerts at the
Old Firehouse
( 903-852-2781;
www.jeffreylancephotography.com/theoldfirehouse
;
8241 FM 279, Edom ; 7pm Sat Sep-May).
The other old buildings in Edom have been turned into galleries filled with handmade arts and crafts (pottery,
original photography, jewelry...). They're part of the
Farm Road 279 Artisan Trail
(
http://279artisanstrail.com
)
,
which stretches the 8 miles northeast to Ben Wheeler, where the 1930s-era false front buildings contain gift
shops, galleries - even a cowboy hat store.
Scoots 'n' Scoops
(1560 FM 279, Ben Wheeler; 11am-5pm Thu
& Fri, 11am-6pm Sat, Wed & Sun 11am-3pm) is a vintage motorcycle/ice cream shop, what else?
A mix of country, blues and Cajun music bands play Friday through Sunday night at
Moore's Store
(
www.benwheelertx.com
; 1551 FM 279, Ben Wheeler; dishes $5-12; 10:30am-2:30pm Sun, Tue & Wed,
10:30am-10pm Thu, 10:30am-11pm Fri & Sat), a 1933 mercantile. Their burgers and beers are quite popular with
the weekend Harley hog-riding crowd. The
Forge Bistro
(
http://theforgebenwheeler.wordpress.com
;
1610 FM
279, Ben Wheeler; dishes $7-18; 11am-10pm Wed, to 11pm Thu, to midnight Fri & Sat, 11am-5pm Sun)
serves pizza, and singer-songwriter folk music Thursday through Saturday.
For a list of area lodging, including B&Bs and cabin rental, check the town and the Trail web sites. FM 279 is
20 miles west of Tyler, 72 miles east of Dallas.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Kilgore
POP 13,110
Twenty miles east of Tyler, Kilgore's old downtown recalls the kind of place you might
imagine James Dean roaming around circa Giant movie era. An old theater, the brickfront
buildings and dusty streets, the oil wells rising in the distance… Indeed, many of the
buildings date to the boomtown era after oil was discovered here in 1930.
Trace the town's boom - and bust - at the evocative
East Texas Oil Museum
(
903-983-8295;
www.easttexasoilmuseum.com
; Kilgore College Campus, cnr Hwy 259 & Ross St; 9am-4pm Tue-Sat, until 5pm
Apr-Sep)
, with vivid exhibits that do an admirable job re-creating the pre-oil discov-
ery town. The
World's Richest Acre Park
(cnr E Main & Commerce St)
, has 70 recreated, light-topped
oil derricks to commemorate the wells that gave this site its name. This patch of real estate
yielded 2.5 million barrels of oil during a 30-year run. At the height of the boom the num-
ber of oil wells everywhere in town numbered 1200, even on street corners.