Surprising Columbus, Texas!
A visit to Columbus, Texas seemed like a major waste of our day since we’d been there before –- maybe a hundred times. We’ve dined at Whataburger near I-10. We’ve bought bags of ice just across the street at H.E.B. Mostly, we’ve bought gasoline. Columbus is a great place to fill up on the way to Austin. They have an impressive selection of gas stations lining the freeway.
And if you’re crazy about McDonald’s, they have one of those too.
But when we read that Columbus had an historic opera house, we couldn’t quite place it. It’s hard to hide an 1886 structure that seated a thousand guests. If it sat by the freeway with the fast food restaurants and gas stations, we would have surely noticed it.
We did a web search for the address, then let GPS guide us to 425 Spring Street. It didn’t take long to realize we’d never been to Columbus at all –not the one with the well-preserved 19th century architecture. This Columbus was a huge surprise. It was easy to imagine the streets filled with men on horseback and women in Victorian attire strolling down the boardwalks.
We made the opera house our first stop. The light fixtures alone are good reason to visit. They’re pretty amazing. Today, the place is part office space and part visitor center. The second floor is still for thespians and audiences. It’s a dinner theater now, an elegantly beautiful one. (Call 979-732-5135 for info and tickets)
Just across the street, next to the old Colorado County Courthouse, is a medieval-looking structure that would make Rapunzel proud. This 1883 building was once a water tower and fire station. A large water tank for fighting fires sat on top. Eventually, Columbus got a water system and the tank was removed. The plan was to dynamite the place, but dynamite didn’t do a thing to the three-foot-thick, brick walls. Without its tank, the water tower has a distinct Middle-Ages flair. Today, it houses the Confederate Memorial Museum. There is a collection of documents and old photos and a firearm or two. Columbus has a rich history; this is the town where the Cotton Road began.
During the Civil War, the Union Army’s blockades of Southern ports, halted cotton shipments to Europe. Cotton was moved by rail to Houston, and from Houston to Columbus, where the rail line ended. It was then loaded onto wagons to begin the long journey southward to the Rio Grande River.
In the 1860s, speculators, traders, and foreign agents crowded the Mexican village of Matamoros. It is said, that as many as three hundred ships would sit near the mouth of the Rio Grande awaiting the precious cargo. The Cotton Road transformed Matamoros into a bustling city, known as the world’s largest cotton market.
And it all began just outside of Columbus.
When we left the museum, we took a minute to gaze at the beautiful courthouse. A renovation is in progress, so we couldn’t go inside. Instead, we went shopping.
If you find yourself in Columbus, Texas, don’t miss The Silver Barn – a gift store. We loved everything about the place. The building was once a mercantile with a funeral parlor upstairs. If it’s haunted, we didn’t notice, because we were too busy looking at everything, from the beautifully restored structure, to all the wonderful merchandise. It’s chocked full of specialty gift items, fine china, and crystal too. Actually, there is a little bit of everything nice here.
We didn’t eat at Beckey’s Café this trip, though everyone said we should, but we’ll be back in the fall . We are definitely going to attend Live Oaks and Dead Folks, the town’s Day of the Dead/All Souls Day celebration.
The event takes place at night — in the old cemetery — beneath the gnarled branches of ancient live oak trees. You know there must be shadows everywhere. Guides take small groups from gravesite to gravesite, where actors appear (hopefully, not too suddenly!) and portray the real-life story of the deceased Columbus citizen buried there. Last year, the focus was on the period between 1870 and 1920.
Live Oaks and Dead Folks is the history event of the year in Colorado County. It sells out quickly and so do the T-shirts. If you want to go, better sign up early. That’s what we’re going to do!