Brazos County and Burleson County Texas

If you are headed Northwest out of Harris county to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Texas wild flowers this Spring be sure to include Burleson County on your list of Texas counties to see. From Brenham Texas you will head north to Somerville along highway 36 to go through Burleson county. Lake Somerville is on the southern line of Burleson county and it is a great place to visit for fishing and camping. It has a lot of camp sites with tables and other necessary conveniences. I have enjoyed many weekends at this lake and the camp grounds. I certainly do recommend it to you if you like to get outdoors to have fun in the sun, wet a hook or just take a boat ride. Burleson county is very wooded for the most part with mostly sandy loom soil and a fairly level landscape with elevations around 200 feet to 475 feet. Burleson County was founded in 1846 and the county seat is in Caldwell Texas.

 Caldwell Texas is north of Somerville where highway 36 and highway 21 cross each other. Highway 21 is also known as the Old San Antonio Road which was traveled as early as 1713 to 1718. Early settlers in Burleson county faced a lot of dangers along the Old San Antonio road including Indian raids, but face them they did and were part of Stephen F Austin's first colony in the 1820's. As I drive along this old quite country road I can't help but think about the many faces that have traveled this way before. That's a lot of history your flying by, so why not stop a while and consider the beauty all around you. There is after all 678 square miles of total area in the county with plenty of room for you.

 By the 1840's the Indian threat was small and the 1850 census showed no Indians in the county. The antebellum Texas of the early 1800's was noted in 1847 with 866 whites and 330 slaves in the county. Then came the civil war in 1861 and reconstruction to follow, with very violent and chaotic times. Outlaws and brigands or veterans unwilling to give up the fight roamed the country along Yegua creek rustling cattle and stealing horses and whatever they thought they could get away with. Even the notorious Sam Bass and his gang where said to have lived in the area for a time. However, from about 1870 with the Chisholm trail drives following the Brazos river through the county there was steady growth and improvements. The cotton planters received improvements in transportation when they began hauling their cotton to the Houston and Texas Central railway line in near by adjoining Brazos County. Then in the early 1880's the Gulf, Santa Fe and Colorado railway extended lines to Caldwell. And the rest as they say is history. the current population of 17,187 is still mostly rural and farm land and yes they still grow cotton, especially along the Brazos river.

Now on the other side of the Brazos river from Burleson county  Brazos County founded in 1841. The county seat of Brazos county is Bryan Texas and the city is part of the Bryan College Station metropolitan area. The growth in this county is very impressive and investments in land here reflect that growth. When I looked at the census records from 1850 on there is positive growth in this county every year except one negative span in 1930. From 1940 to 2010 the census shows 25% to 63% growth year after year. The current population is over 194,000 and continuing to grow. There is 590 square miles of area in the county, so it is smaller than it's neighbor Burleson county, but the city of College Station with the Texas A & M campus adds a lot of growth to the community. As a real estate broker I see a lot of investment potential in land growth for Brazos county with plenty of wide open spaces if you need to spread out a little. The drive out highway 21 headed north east along the old San Antonio road is a good place to start.

The old San Antonio road or old Spanish Trail, as some like to call it, runs along the north line of Brazos county. There are many old tails about lost gold shipments, never found from this stretch of highway. One such story is about a mule train carrying a load of gold and silver to San Antonio being attacked and the gold was buried by a petrified tree near Bryan. They say it was never recovered. I can certainly imagine how dangerous it was to travel along this road long ago in the early 1800's with Indians and outlaws waiting around every hill or crossing.  Other legends of the Brazos river bottom are fun to explore and will leave you wondering  if they are really true or not. Of course the ghost stories from the boggy bottom land of the Brazos valley will also keep you looking over your shoulder as well.  The land is picturesque with a slight roll to mostly flat and lots of wild flowers and trees especially along the creeks and gullies and low areas draining into the Brazos river. The hill top views are spectacular and seem to call out for a picnic spread. This is nice country folks and well worth the trip to see it. Friendly people will also make you want to stay a while and just say Howdy

Reference link     http://en.wikipedia.org/

North and North West Where Trees Grow Tall

Before you leave Harris county headed Northwest on Hwy 249, you will go through my old home town of Tomball Texas. It is a mighty fine place to stop and see some very friendly people and spend some time especially in the old downtown part that has now become a collectors dream of fine antique shops. When you cross the spring creek bridge you have arrived in Montgomery County, which was founded in 1837 and named for the town of Montgomery Texas. Conroe Texas is the county seat of Montgomery county. Montgomery has been recognized as the official birthplace of the Texas Flag. Now I don't know about everybody else, but that flag, the Texas Flag, is very near and dear to this old boy's heart. So my hats off to Montgomery County for that fact alone. Dr. Charles B. Stewart is credited with creating the very inspiring lone star Flag of Texas. But I am also a real estate broker and this next little bit of information has really made me sit up and take notice of the land in this county. From the 2010 census Montgomery county has a whopping 55% growth rate making it the 24th fastest growing county in the whole United States. The population in 2010 was 455,746 and they are still growing and counting. They do have a lot of land and beautiful trees to grow on with 1,077 total square miles of water and land area. In fact if you like census data and numbers, Montgomery county is the place to look for extended population growth. Look at these numbers. In 1970 they had 84.4% growth rate, 1980 they had 159%, In 1990 41% and 2000 was 61%. Now that is impressive growth for any area and real sustained growth. I also love the beautiful trees in the Sam Houston National Forest which is located mostly north of lake conroe and north of the town of Montgomery. Walking trails and bike trails and camping are all there and just a few minutes from newly built restaurants and shopping. Oh, and did I mention beautiful lake Conroe? Boating, fishing, skiing, sailing and nice accommodations everywhere. I mean, come on folks, what's not to like about this place. It really does have it all and you should see some of the golf courses in this county. Bentwater and Woodlands TPC to mention a couple, are first rate courses and absolutely beautiful to play or see.

Adjacent to Montgomery County is Grimes County to the west. Grimes county was founded in 1846 and the county seat is Anderson Texas. Grimes county was named after Jesse Grimes who was an early settler and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Grimes county is somewhat smaller than its neighbor Montgomery county, with only about 800 square miles of area but not the smallest county by far. As I traveled through Grimes county to Anderson Texas, I was impressed with the rolling country side and the beautiful wild flowers. I have heard this county called the land of milk and honey and I could certainly see why. It is drop dead gorgeous, from a real estate man's point of view. I mean everywhere you look is green and lush, with rolling hills and beautiful trees and did I mention wild flowers. Oh yes, lots and lots of those. My good friend and fellow blogger, Larry Hugonin, went with me on this trip so we could be sure and get plenty of photos for our faithful readers who love the Texas blue bonnets and wild flower. Now if I can just figure out how to get them downloaded to this blog before the publish time. I hope everyone will enjoy our efforts. Thank you Larry, for all the help and all of your good eye shots. The Grimes county courthouse in Anderson Texas is worth the drive in and of itself, so I hope you can visit soon and enjoy the drive as we did.

Reference link     http://en.wikipedia.org/