Jefferson Texas, 75657, is a unique small town community with big city roots and attitudes. Located in the Piney Woods, sandwiched between Lake O' the Pines and Caddo Lake, Jefferson enjoys wonderful natural surroundings, the ease of country living, and the stimulation of progressive attitudes.
Pulpwood Queens-
I am pleased to announce the first annual Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Getaway Cruise! Don’t miss your chance to hob-nob with authors (details to be announced later) and have some fun in the sun with your fellow Queens!
We will sail aboard Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas departing Friday June 24, 2011 from Miami, visiting CocoCay and Nassau, Bahamas, and returning to Miami on Monday June 27, 2011. Interior cabins are only $465.67 per person and Oceanview cabins are only $505.67 per person (both prices based on double occupancy).
From now through October 1st, you can reserve your space on this cruise for only $50! After October 1st, a $200 per person deposit will be required to book space on this cruise. Final payment will be due by March 1, 2011.
Space is limited! To reserve your spot call BROOKE IVEY at 812-320-5423, toll free at 800-881-3157, or email brookei@mei-travel.com to have Brooke call you at your convenience.
Until now, I have only blogged about Jefferson’s events after they happen. It has been nearly impossible to post predictive articles because I am so new to town (just over one year) that I have not known enough about annual events to write informatively until actually experiencing an event.
Starting today I am trying to change that. I start with a relatively new event that has been on pause and is restarting in October, the Carriage House Inn’s Sunday Test Kitchen.
For a small fee (yet to be announced), guests are asked to evaluate new recipes while enjoying the relaxed luxury of the Carriage House B&B dining room.
Here’s what BnBFinder.com posted about the Test Kitchen:
Taste Test. The Carriage House Bed and Breakfast in Jefferson, Texas, has whipped up a creative way to give guests a special dining experience on Sunday nights when not too many local restaurants are open—they turn their kitchen into one giant experiment. For a small fee, if the guests can’t go to a restaurant, the restaurant comes to them, well, sort of. “Sunday nights we prepare food and test it out with the guests. These are brand new recipes or recipes we’ve been preparing but we’ve changed something,” explains innkeeper, Stephanie Lester. At the Sunday Night Test Kitchens guests are then supposed to give raw feedback on whether they like their two-or-three-course meals; they’re encouraged to be as specific as possible with suggestions. It’s the guest input that helps set the menus for the inn. At many gatherings a townsperson will be invited to come and mingle and add some local flavor; recently a steamboat captain came to dinner. Among the favorite recipes to make it past the group is a hand-me-down from Stephanie’s husband’s grandmother. Tom Lester remembers his grandmother’s cooking with a dash of nostalgia. Mama Ronchi, as she was called, came to the U.S. in the 1920s via Ellis Island from Italy and was rumored to be a seamstress for the mob who used to make a killer scrambled egg breakfast. One day the Lester’s found her recipe on an index card and tested it on a Sunday crowd. Today Mama Ronchi’s Mafia Scramble is a hit.
Stephanie Lester, owner with husband Tom, added this recently on her blog:
I just took another phone call inquiring about our Sunday Night Test Kitchen. Unfortunately, we have had to our suspend our Sunday Night Test Kitchen until first of October due to …a puppy. I know. I know. How can a business operation be suspended for a puppy?
Sunday afternoon is the quietest part of the week. All of our weekend folks have already gone home and our weekday folks have not shown up. So Ladybug, the pup, and I head out for puppy school at 3:15 Sunday afternoon for an hour of learning. I consider this staff training. Every business needs to have a well trained staff that knows how to perform (behave) when duty calls. We are no different. Dixie, the old lady Golden Retriever, knows when to sit, stay, lay down, and roll over on command. Ladybug has to get to the same place.
Ladybug and I graduate the first week of October and we will resume the Sunday Night Test Kitchen again. Call (903) 665-9511 to reserve your spot today.
This sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday! Give the Carriage House a call.
Tom, owner of the Carriage House put together this video of Saturday’s car show in Jefferson. He captures much of the fun of the day. Weather was beautiful. Riverport Ambassadors were there in costume. The cars were beautiful!
This is the smaller of two car shows in town. The Spring show attracts over 300 top cars! This show in the fall benefits Jefferson’s volunteer fire department (which benefits us all!).
This is an unusual day in the life of our little town. As far as I know, there is nothing special happening on Sunday or Monday of this long weekend. The only things to do are the usual activities that are ongoing all the time. Even so, there are at least a thousand people roaming the streets.
We offer “only” horse drawn carriage rides, mule team wagon tours, pedal power excursions, river boat cruises, ghost walks, antebellum home tours, the Gone With the Wind Museum, the Jefferson Historic Museum, vintage car museum and self guided walking tours. Don’t forget shopping! Restaurants are open!
Being from a metropolitan area, it never occurred to me that a small town would have much in the way of activities. What a surprise to find that there is always some community event going on!
This long weekend was kicked off in Jefferson with the high school football game. We have only 1900+ people in town but the parking lot was full, the stands crowded, and everyone’s attitude seemed positive and upbeat. The Jefferson Rotary grilled hamburgers as a fundraiser. And the band and drill team played and marched.
Saturday started off with the downtown crowded with tourists. At 11 the Riverport Ambassadors took to the streets in 1870s costumes, at noon we started judging the benefit car show entries. Just down the block from the car show a new business in town, Pedal Power – a pedal taxi and tour service, held their Grand Opening celebration with food, fun, and all of Jefferson’s beauty queens.
This is a small town, but there are plenty of things to do. Some of these events are unabashedly “down home” in their presentation. Others are produced on a scale that seems almost ridiculously ambitious for 1900 – 2000 people. The amazing thing is that residents and tourists all have such a great time.
2010 Pulpwood Queen Cruise:
