Lacie Carpenter February 15
"Jefferson?! It's just my favorite city in all of Texas!" Jefferson is a wonderful place to live and an interesting tourist getaway destination. History, beauty, romance, ghosts, charm, and convenience are all aspects of life in Jefferson.
In 2008, my wife, Ellen, and I started investigating East Texas via the web. We looked at tourism sites, homes for sale, news articles, demographics, events, and festivals. In each category, we kept finding great examples in Jefferson. But, being urbanites from the San Francisco Bay Area in California, we were unsure whether a city of 2000 people could possibly offer the stimulus we need in order to thrive. The city had a lot going on, but could it possibly be as wonderful as it looked from our remote perspective? Finally, we called our sister-in-law, who lives in Longview. "Have you ever heard of the little town, Jefferson?" Her response, "Jefferson?! It's just my favorite city in all of Texas!" has been our mantra ever since.
By April, 2009 we had secured a home and started moving our lives here. We relocated our home and two businesses to Jefferson. At about the same time, our youngest daughter, Sara, decided that it was simply illogical to spend another winter in Chicago. She packed her belongings, cleaned out her cute little flat, quit her jobs (3!) and headed for Jefferson and our guest room. Her intension was to lodge with us for a short while and relocate, probably to Dallas, Houston, or Austin. To our surprise, it took only a week or so for Sara to decide, Jefferson was to be her new home. She loved it as much as did we.
This site has two purposes. We wish to reflect what we value about Jefferson so that you can follow our journey and possibly be inspired to pull stakes and take off for your dream destination as did we. Secondly, we want to promote the City of Jefferson. Our beloved city is a tourist town. We need you to visit, often. We also hope for an upward trend in permanent population. Decades ago, Jefferson enjoyed a population of over 30,000. As the world changed, so did Jefferson. Our population of approximately 2000 fits almost entirely into our 200 antebellum homes in the historic district and a few surrounding neighborhoods.
Consider Jefferson, Texas for your next excursion. You will find a place of beauty. You may find home.
