County Seat: Hemphill * County Population: 10,834 (2010 Census)
The Sabine County Courthouse was originally a “Beaux-Arts masterpiece,” as depicted in The Courthouses of Texas, a historical guide of county capitols by Mavis P. Kelsey Sr. and Donald H. Dyal.
Built in 1906, the courthouse included an inset portico flanked by columns and pilasters with pediments on the ends of the building “and a gracefully curving stairway” that swept up to the second floor. Unfortunately, a fire in 1909 partially destroyed the courthouse. The structure was rebuilt without the original dome and clock tower; funds from the Work Projects Administration were used to complete the upper levels in 1938.
Sabine County has been home to at least four courthouses. The county was created from the old Mexican municipality of Sabine in 1837 and organized the following year with Milam as the county seat.
An 1858 election called for Sabine County offices to be moved from Milam to the more centrally located Hemphill, named for former Texas Supreme Court Justice John Hemphill.
Sabine County is made up of roughly 160,656 acres of national forest managed by the Texas and U.S. Forest Services. The Trail Between the Lakes is located in the Sabine National Forest. This 28-mile hiking path runs from the Lakeview recreation area on the Toledo Bend Reservoir to Highway 96 near the Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The trail was built in the late 1980s and is the result of a joint effort between the Sierra Club and Forest Service.
With the abundant amount of forest comes the wildlife preservation. Management of wildlife is a joint effort between Texas Parks & Wildlife and the Forest Service. The forests of Sabine County are home to over 142 species of animals.
Sabine County is seated between two of the largest lakes in the state, deeming it the fishing capital of the world.
Construction began on the Toledo Bend Reservoir in 1964. Toledo Bend, the largest manmade lake in the South, covers 181,000 acres, over a third of which are in Sabine County. Toledo Bend has made a name for itself with its enormous population of hefty, large-mouth bass.
Sam Rayburn Reservoir, formerly known as the McGee Bend Reservoir, is fed by the Angelina River and lies in Jasper, Angelina, Sabine, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine counties. The lake is approximately 79 miles long, stretches over 600 miles of shoreline, and has a surface area of 114,500 acres. Jet skiing, tubing, knee boarding, and kayaking are among the most popular water sporting activities, along with some of the best bass, catfish, and crappie fishing around.
The Gaines-Oliphint House located in Hemphill has been acknowledged by the Texas Historical Commission as the oldest standing log structure in the state. The building is a double pen, planked log, story-and-a-half building with a dog trot. Built around 1815 by slave labor, research shows that the Gaines-Oliphint House stands on ground granted to James T. Gaines in 1830, one of the oldest Anglo grants in the State of Texas. The house provided lodging for Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and Stephen F. Austin, among others.