Beaumont Texas

We visited our first National Preserve. In fact, it turns out that Big Thicket National Preserve about 20 miles North of Beaumont, was the first National Preserve established in the US. Often described as one of the most biodiverse areas in the World outside of the tropics, Big Thicket has been designated as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

We learned that the way the Big Thicket looks today is not that different than it looked 10s of thousands of years ago. During the ice age, most species anywhere North of Arkansas could not adapt to the sheet of ice. Moving South as they could, many of these species ended up in the Big Thicket, which was never covered by ice. Accordingly, many species that would never be found anywhere else in the World in the same area could be, and still can be, found in the Thicket.

Since the ice age, and into the early 1800’s, the Thicket covered nearly 4 million square acres. The Thicket is characterized by forest sized trees of all sort (various pine, various oak, beach magnolia, etc.) and very thick ground cover that made it almost impenetrable by man. We hiked many trails carved out as logging access in the mid-1800’s when White Europeans did their best to harvest the wealth out of the Thicket. By the time some conservation minded clear thinkers got involved to try to preserve this wonder, nearly 97% of it had been plundered. Thankfully, the 3% that remains is pretty impressive.

While the wildflowers are missing in November, we did manage to find an immense grove of Water Pitcher Plants. We’d never seen these guys before and they were very interesting. They emit a sweet scent that attracts insects into their tube-like flower. When the insects get caught in their hair like cilia they fall into a pool of digestive fluid at the bottom. While I had seen carnivorous plants before, I had never seen them growing wild in such huge quantities. Cool!

There are tons of museums in the Beaumont area to the point that we couldn’t possibly take in them all. If we ever get back to the area, we plan to take in the Clifton Steamboat Museum. Although closed the day we could have seen it, the grounds looked Intriguing.

Kona the pooch liked this museum the best. Again, being closed the day we had available we weren’t able to take in the Fire Museum of Texas. But we did get a chance to stop by and see the largest fire hydrant in the World!

We did manage to get a tour of the McFaddin-Ward House. Built in 1905 for William McFaddin, the Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival house (I should say mansion) is nearly 13,000 square feet. Nearly everything about the mansion speaks to the very wealthy ranching family that lived there. In 1919 their daughter Mamie married Carrol Ward, and the newlywed couple moved into the mansion along with the McFaddin family, and spent their entire married life there.

Having lived in the home nearly their entire life, Mamie created a foundation in 1982 to preserve the home. Because of that, nearly all the furniture and furnishings in the home are the originals that the family had used as they lived out their lives here. Not only was the mansion nearly 13,000 square feet, but the carriage house where the family's servants lived was over 8,000. We enjoyed this slice of the past, and would take in this home again if given the chance.

Talk to you soon!