History Along the Way: Stories Beyond the Texas Roadside Markers

Texans love stories, and the 15,000 roadside markers along the state's highways and byways testify to the abundance of tales to tell. History along the Way recounts the narratives behind and beyond more than one hundred Texas roadside markers.

Peopled with colorful characters--a national leader of Camp Fire Girls, an army engineer who mapped the Republic of Texas frontier, a hunter of mammoth bones, a ragtime composer, civil rights leaders, and an iconic rock star, among others--the book gives readers an intriguing and expanded look at the details, challenges, and lives commemorated by the words cast in metal on these wayside markers scattered across the Lone Star landscape.

Also recounted in History along the Way are the stories of historic structures (from roadside architecture and elaborate West Texas hotels to university Old Mains and country schoolhouses of Gillespie County), engineering features (the Hidalgo Pumphouse in South Texas and the Rainbow Bridge in East Texas), and even town mascots (a jackrabbit, a mule, and a prairie dog). Accompanied by helpful maps, colorful photographs, and informative sidebars, History along the Way is guaranteed to inform, amuse, and intrigue.

Every part of Texas gets a visit in this anthology of select sites, making it easy for travelers--both the armchair and touring varieties--to enjoy and learn about the fascinating nooks and crannies of history captured in all their variety by the roadside markers of Texas.

DAN K. UTLEY, chief historian of the Center for Texas Public History at Texas State University and a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association, is the retired chief historian for the Texas Historical Commission, a past chairman of the National Register State Board of Review, and former president of the Texas Oral History Association and the East Texas Historical Association.
CYNTHIA J. BEEMAN is the former director of the History Programs Division of the Texas Historical Commission. She is past president of the East Texas Historical Association and a board member of the Texas Oral History Association and the Ruthe Winegarten Foundation for Texas Women’s History.
Utley and Beeman also coauthored the award-winning History Ahead: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers (Texas A&M University Press, 2010).