$2 if you are taking the tour yourself, I think $5 for a guided tour…read more I did the self guided tour, they have a map with detailed information of each building. You can get some hand on activites, like Corn cob dart, penmanship, ring the bell and play the old piano. It was a fun place, highly recommended it.

While in the area, we wanted to come see this property. It's filled with historical buildings you…read morecan walk around and explore. There are houses, a train car and other small cabins. You can have a guided or self guided tour. We went out on our own. All in all we explored for about an hour. There are plenty of places to take photos of and even clean bathrooms. There is a small parking lot near the entrance.

SPIVEY, TEXAS. Spivey was twelve miles north of Center in northern Shelby County. It was…read moreestablished in the 1860s and named for the Spivey family, early settlers in the area. The community received a post office in 1890, with Isaac W. Spivey as postmaster. The post office was discontinued in 1903 and the mail forwarded to nearby Paxton. In 1896 the community had a sawmill, the Friendship Baptist Church, Friendship Cemetery, and a population estimated at fifty. By 1946 Spivey had ceased to exist as a named community. There's not much one can say about Spivey since it doesn't exist any longer and consider a vanishing ghost town. This historic roadside marker is one of the few reminders left that it ever existed. Located next to a old railroad track in the middle of the piney woods off US 84 near Joaquin, Texas it can be easily missed. There is a small paved area to pull off the highway to view this marker if you're interested. There are references a few graves marking the town original site I didn't realize this until much later so I can't speak to this.

Friendly staff. Plenty of memorabilia and things to see and read. On street parking had a nice…read morecafé attached.

Kinda dusty and run down is a good description lol but it's still a fun stop! It is a little silly…read moreand repetitive with some photos/ props but if you actually watch the videos and read the descriptions (which are written descriptively and interesting) you'll enjoy yourself for sure! Also they have a decent gift shop, outdated and a bit of bootlegged looking lol. The photo image tshirts just have such low resolution, they still sell mousepads, and it's all so dusty, but still a good gift shop! The foam guns crack me up and I loved my magnet, license plate and little charm gifts! Also I learned the man that runs it does all the cool sketches you'll see around the museum and has been here since he was 8 years old!! Super cool and much respect!

Had a pleasure of coming through here this morning with Saturday Morning Runners, and it was an…read moreexperience. What deserves some credit is the surrounding neighborhood. The houses are big and beautiful. It's centrally located, yet still manages to have more trees you can shake a stick at (see what I did there?)

Thrill Hill, as this bumpy, curvy, stretch of road on Gilbert Drive is universally known, as far as…read morethe Shreveport universe goes, is to be adored, admired, and certainly respected. The speed limit on this fairway is 35 miles per hour. It is an attraction premium for sledding as the snow falls on the occasional winter we might have in this area. (So, keep the toboggan within arm's reach should a snowflake appear and then descend!) This self-named Hill or series thereof successive Hills also may have some attraction to the occasional or even overnight extreme athlete be it via skate or possibly longboard, though it's somewhat terrifying to even imagine attempting this feat, especially with oncoming traffic in both, and at some points in this high speed quest even all possible directions. In a motor vehicle, at higher rates of ill-advised speeds one might actually catch their desired and sought after air and pull their very own Dukes of Hazzard, but this is again ill-advised, because we all know that what goes up, must at some point with great certainty also come down, and this is, sad to say that to stick this landing right here may be more difficult than one may have imagined or preconceived before that final press of the accelerator.

A cool little place to stop at for five minutes as you're driving across the border. The two…read moremonuments are separated by about 100 ft, and are both on the west side of the road.

Bethany, Texas-Louisiana is an unincorporated community on the Louisiana and Texas state lines on…read moreU.S. Highway 79, yes the town once claimed both states as its location one of the early stores, bisected by the state line, was built in 1889 by a barkeeper who wanted to take advantage of the differences in state laws; in half of the store drinking was legal, in the other gambling was legal proving the that times may change but people haven't. The town once went by the name Lick Skillet if ever the truth was told many towns of the era were called by that same name all boasting tales of the name's origin, from the food being so good or so scarce people would lick the skillets or the only scraps left to feed the dogs was for them to lick the skillets, I am sure the truth lies somewhere in between the myths. Although Bethany abandoned the name Lick Skillet, many of the town's features retain the name such as the Lick Skillet Plantation, a thoroughbred breeding farm, and the Lick Skillet Old Time Store. There is also a Lick Skillet Arts and Crafts Festival which includes live bands, food vendors, and exhibits by local artists and craftsman. Bethany was founded in 1840 long before barbed wire fences and paved highways marked the historic road that eventually became known as the "Old Shreveport Road" it originally was part of a prehistoric trade route from Dallas to Shreveport (not named towns at the time) established by the Caddo Indians. On the north side of the road heading east at the state line is a Marker placed in 1936 that reads: "Site of Bethany - A thriving town of the fifties - through it passed the Shreveport road over which many emigrants entered Texas". There not much left of Bethany now but lots of memories, I'd say by the looks of it the historic value exceeds the town's net worth, but I'm sure those that remain like it that way.

Smaller battlefield but very pretty!! Has a few monuments and a cemetery to walk through. They have…read morea huge reenactment for this battle every year! Was very impressed. The Battle of Pleasant Hill (April 9, 1864) Part of the Red River Campaign fought between Union forces led by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks and Confederate forces led by Major General Richard Taylor. The battle was essentially a continuation of the previous day's Battle of Mansfield, which ended around sunset due to darkness. On April 9, Taylor launched an ambitious assault against the newly reinforced Federals at Pleasant Hill and had the upper hand before General Thomas J. Churchill's Arkansas division was flanked on its right and repulsed. After the battle, the Federals remained demoralized and unconfident in their commander; they retreated to Grand Ecore, and from there to Alexandria. This was the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi River. Officially, the battle was a Union victory; as the Confederates were successfully driven from the field. However, because Banks and his army had retreated so soon afterwards, many argued over who had really won.

I had seen this in an article about roadside attractions and knew I had to come next time I was in…read moretown. Set next to a theater of some sort is this giant Dalmatian dog. All white during the day, it is lit up in colors at night that they change depending on the holiday or season. Very cool to stop and wonder at this figure.

Great history and presentation. Very interesting facts. Good tour. Cute gift shop. Very…read moreknowledgeable guide.

Melrose Plantation. Came to visit my wife's family in the rural parts of Louisiana and she…read morerecommended we visit this place because she had never been and always wanted to go. I'm a bit into history now so this would have been a great history lesson for my book I'm writing so great at idea all around. What I was expecting to hear and see was your usual plantation stories of slaves and Masters, but what I got was much more inspirational. A plantation, founded and owned by FREE people of color. Marie CoinCoin (pronounced "Quan-Quan" I believe) was an African slave who ended up having a 19 year relationship (and 10 kids) with Claude Thomas Pierre Métoyer. After being pressured by the local church to end the relationship, he eventually purchased her freedom and CoinCoin began building Melrose, selling tobacco to increase the family fortune. The Métoyer family ended up becoming one of the first families in a community of free people of color. There's a lot more to the history, especially learning about the internationally famed illiterate and self taught Memory artist, Miss Clementine Hunter. The last tour stops at 4:15 and it's $10 for a guided tour or you can roam the gardens and see the outside houses for $5 I believe. The wife ended up finding out she was actually related to the Métoyer family so that was an added bonus to her family tree. Overall, it was definitely worth the visit.