Diverse Women Are Building Better Communities
Crystal Bryce and Sreenidhi Vedartham bonded this past year over their desire to help women entrepreneurs. Their group, Embark Women, is a diverse network of professional women in East Texas supporting each other through networking, discussions, workshops, and more....
Modern Mavens Get Things Done
By Elaine Rogers With people honoring their mothers in May, it also seems an appropriate time to acknowledge a handful of modern mavens in the region who’ve made a habit of leading by example — inspiring younger generations and reminding citizens of all persuasions of...
Remembering New London’s Longest Night 80 Years Later
By Sherry Sereboff "Mister, will you get me out please?" First responder Don Nelson was struck by the 10-year-old’s composure. The boy’s leg was broken and bent. He lay atop a heap of rubble and surviving classmates, sheltered under a fallen bookcase. Rescued within...
Pioneers of Prominence in East Texas
By Elaine Rogers Long before achieving its statehood in 1845, Texas was home to a pioneer population of settlers, rangers, ranchers, renegades and indigenous people, as well as growing numbers of teachers, musicians, politicians and other achievers. Women played their...
Spunky Women Made a World of Difference
Someone with more knowledge than most about the accomplishments and histories of local ladies in the Piney Woods is Cherokee County author and historian Deborah L. Burkett, who spent two and a half years learning about women whose stories intrigued her. The result was...
A Historic Tragedy on Caddo Lake
Local history buffs think of Caddo Lake in mid-February because of the tragedy in 1869 which took the lives of 61 of 107 passengers on a sidewheel steamboat called Mittie Stephens. On February 12, the vessel was traveling from New Orleans to Jefferson, a principal...
Focus on Editorial Content For Promotions Strategy
By P.A. Geddie A great "advertising" strategy is to focus on getting editorial coverage in key publications. Make sure your message is getting viewed in as much CONTENT as possible. When consumers started skipping TV commercials through TVO devices, savvy advertisers...
Giving Horses Their Wings
By Clare McCarthy On 95 acres in Ben Wheeler, 40 to 45 neglected horses from around East Texas are nursed back to health and guided through the process of learning to trust humans again. For some, it’s a long road to recovery; for others, an impossible journey. Owners...
Keeping the Beat for a Blacktop Gypsy
By P.A. Geddie Many people know and love Andie Kay Joyner as the lead singer for the popular band blacktopGYPSY. She hails from Edgewood/Wills Point and her East Texas family shows up often to cheer her on. Today it is not her powerful, sultry voice however that has...
Ima Hogg Made Major Contributions for Historical Preservation and The Arts
By P.A. Geddie No one is quite sure what Governor James Stephen Hogg and his wife Sarah Ann Stinson were thinking when they named their baby girl — born July 10, 1882 — Ima Hogg. Rumors were there was another daughter named Ura but at least that is untrue. What is...
Martindale’s Acting Passion Started in Jacksonville
There’s something sweet and saucy and wise all at the same time about Margo Martindale that makes people smile when she enters a room. It’s like she knows something amusing others can’t quite see just yet and they eagerly wait for her to let it out in her friendly...
Carroll Shelby’s Legacy Races On
By LouAnn Campbell and Steve Freeman The name Carroll Shelby is hardly recognized by most East Texans, but the Shelby name is admired far, far beyond the region that gave him his start. Just using the word "Shelby" conjures up images to many of classic sports car...
Coming Summer 2025
County Line Magazine archives are going to The Portal to Texas History, a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. Look for the County Line issues there soon.