Franklin County with its narrow north-south configuration is the eighth-smallest county in Texas. The Cherokee Trace is on the eastern boundary and is intersected by the Choctaw Trail. With the well-traveled Indian routes passing through the county, there is good reason to believe that the remnants of the LaSalle party passed through here as they tried to reach French Canada in the late 1600s.
More than 30 signs throughout the county mark the routes of early roads and Indian trails. The local historical association maintains more than 60 signs marking pre-World War I homes, and another 20 official state historic markers designate historic sites.
A wealth of special attractions and features help display the uniqueness of Franklin County:
seven operating museum facilities open free of charge, including two art museums (one located in the 1912 jail);
home-turned-museum of the tallest soldier in the Civil War, Henry Clay Thruston, who stood 7 feet, 7 ? inches tall;
a museum housing the only egg of the Carolina Parakeet in Texas – with only 27 eggs from this extinct bird left in the world;
grave of Baptist preacher Johnson who voted not to secede in a town which stood against slavery and was burned to the ground by secessionists in 1861;
two natural trails open dawn to dusk, beautiful lakes and many parks;
the site of the last Indian massacre in the eastern half of Texas;
genealogy society with historical displays in an 1894 department store;
our district courtroom complete with balcony and ornate metal ceiling located in the 1912 Franklin County Courthouse; and
a lovely public plaza remaining true to the 1849 public dedication of the present town site.
Finally, our special terrain still looks as it was described in the published journals of Anthony Glass surveying this area as United States Territory in 1808. When we say, “Come experience the nature of an earlier Texas,” we mean it – and we can deliver it. Come visit! County Judge Gerald ?Jerry? W. Hubbell