caddo lake
About Caddo Lake
The best gatherings are those that make the most of their surroundings. The remote and mysterious Caddo Lake is perfect for an art retreat, offering an alternate reality where the hustle and bustle of everyday life becomes a distant, faded memory. Situated on the Texas-Louisiana border, Caddo Lake teems with rich history and legend. The Caddo Native Americans flourished there for two millennia before their expulsion in the 1800s. Along the shores today are towns and ghost towns dating back to the days of the Republic of Texas when settlers harvested timber in the Great Pine Woods and shipped their cotton to New Orleans on paddle-wheelers. A wetland area designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, Caddo Lake has the largest bald cypress forest in the country. It is home to a great diversity of flora and fauna and a popular destination for photographers, birders, and sports fishermen. The cypress swamp — a lovely, dark, deep and wildly intricate maze of bayous, ponds, and sloughs — has a mystical feel. Texas Blues and the Boogie-Woogie originated here and the region is a music confluence of gospel, bluegrass, rock, country, soul, R&B, and cajun genres. George Jones, Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, Janis Joplin, Don Henley, Johnny Mathis, Tex Ritter, and Van Cliburn are some of the famous musicians to call East Texas home.
Jefferson, Texas
The rich and diverse history of Jefferson, Texas is told through numerous factual and romantic accounts, including those that describe its dramatic rise to prosperity during the mid 1800s, as the state's largest and most significant river port. This period of has come to be known as “The Golden Era”. Jefferson erupted into a mid-19th-century boomtown with the help of a genteel, graceful society of successful and well-bred families, a host of nefarious opportunists and a rich assortment of eclectic individuals, while offering a supply point and doorway to settlers and immigrants looking for a new life. She was and remains, The Queen of the Bayou.