Granbury, Texas Travel Guide: Historic Square, Texas BBQ & Civil War History
Sometimes we choose a place because we can’t wait to explore the town.
Other times, we choose it because it’s conveniently located near something else we want to see.
Granbury, Texas, started out as the second kind.
One of our main reasons for staying there was its proximity to Fort Worth and a museum that had been on our bucket list for quite some time.
Then we started exploring Granbury itself.
We found a beautiful historic courthouse square, an 1886 opera house, old homes, parks, the Brazos River, Texas barbecue and one of the strangest historical legends we’d encountered during our travels.
Did John Wilkes Booth really survive after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and eventually live in Granbury under another name?
History says no.
Granbury has another story.
Here’s what we discovered during our stay.
Traveling From Carlsbad to Granbury
We entered Texas after leaving Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The change in scenery was noticeable almost immediately.
There was more grass.
More farmland.
More trees.
Mesquite seemed to be everywhere.
And the hills we’d been traveling through began disappearing.
Texas is big, and getting to Granbury required another overnight stop along the way.
Another Night at a Texas Rest Area
We spent one night at a rest area just east of Sweetwater.
This was only our second experience spending the night at a rest area.
It was quite a bit smaller than the previous one.
RVs and trucks pulled off along either side of the driving lane, which made it noisier as vehicles came and went throughout the night.
But it worked.
Our trailer door opened toward a grassy area, which made taking General outside considerably easier.
Then the next day, we continued toward Granbury.
Free Camping Along the Brazos River
Our camping area near Granbury was run by the Brazos River Authority and felt almost like camping in a city park.
During our visit, the authority had several parks in the Granbury area that allowed free camping with a ten-day stay limit.
We’ll cover our particular camping area separately in its own campground review.
But as a base for exploring Granbury, we loved it.
We were right on the Brazos River.
And there was grass.
General was thrilled.
Watching Wildlife Along the Brazos River
Unfortunately, it rained quite a bit while we were in Granbury.
That limited some of our sightseeing.
But when your campsite looks out over the river, a rainy day isn’t necessarily wasted.
We spent plenty of time simply watching the birds.
There were egrets and blue herons, along with several pairs of Canada geese with their babies.
Sometimes RV travel is about seeing how many attractions you can fit into a day.
Sometimes it’s about sitting at your campsite watching birds along a river.
We enjoy both.
Parks and Walking Trails Around Granbury
Between rainstorms, we took General out to explore some of Granbury’s parks and walking trails.
At one park, the neighboring property had goats and a donkey.
The baby goats were hilarious.
We couldn’t believe how high they could jump.
General naturally found some water to play in too.
Granbury gave us several opportunities to simply get outside, stretch our legs and enjoy the area without needing some elaborate sightseeing plan.
Exploring Historic Granbury Square
The heart of Granbury is its traditional courthouse square.
The courthouse sits in the center, surrounded by historic commercial buildings.
This is the kind of downtown we love exploring.
There was history everywhere.
During our visit, you could pick up a walking-tour guide at the visitor center on the square and use it to learn more about the individual buildings and stories.
It’s an easy area to explore on foot and gives you a much better feel for Granbury than simply driving through town.
The Granbury Opera House
One of the buildings that caught our attention was the Granbury Opera House.
The building dates to 1886.
By the time of our visit, the interior had been completely restored and the building was being used for live theater.
Historic buildings are always more interesting to us when they’re still being used rather than simply sitting empty.
But the building next door introduced us to an even stranger piece of Granbury history.
Who Was John St. Helen?
Next to the opera house was a building that housed St. Helen’s gifts during our visit.
The name comes from John St. Helen, a man who lived in Granbury during the 1870s.
St. Helen worked as a bartender at two establishments in town, including this building.
That alone wouldn’t make him particularly famous.
It’s what Granbury legend says about his real identity that makes the story so interesting.
According to local tradition, John St. Helen was actually John Wilkes Booth.
Yes.
That John Wilkes Booth.
Did John Wilkes Booth Really Live in Granbury?
The accepted historical account is that John Wilkes Booth was tracked to Garrett’s farm in Virginia and died there shortly after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln.
The Granbury story offers a very different version.
According to the legend we learned during our visit, the man killed at Garrett’s farm wasn’t Booth at all.
Booth supposedly escaped, eventually made his way to Granbury and began living under the name John St. Helen.
The story says St. Helen kept his identity secret until he became seriously ill and believed he was dying.
He supposedly confessed that he was John Wilkes Booth.
Then he recovered.
And left Granbury.
It’s certainly a fascinating story.
But it’s important to distinguish local legend from established historical fact. The accepted historical account remains that Booth died in Virginia in 1865.
Still, stories like this are one of the reasons we enjoy exploring historic towns.
You never know what you’re going to discover.
Beautiful Historic Homes
Granbury’s history wasn’t limited to the courthouse square.
We also enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful older homes around town.
One feature we particularly liked was an iron fence incorporating the Texas Lone Star into the design.
Little architectural details like that are easy to miss if you’re simply trying to get from one attraction to another.
Sometimes wandering around is half the fun.
We Had to Try Texas Barbecue
We had another goal while traveling through Texas.
Real Texas barbecue.
We’re huge barbecue fans.
There was no way we were going to spend time in Texas without having brisket.
We chose Spring Creek Barbeque, which was a chain in the area.
Both of us ordered brisket sandwiches with beans and coleslaw.
The brisket was wonderful.
Juicy.
Tender.
Exactly what we’d hoped for.
We also thoroughly enjoyed the sides, and they were making fresh dinner rolls throughout the day.
Sometimes our travel research is historical.
Sometimes it’s culinary.
We take both responsibilities very seriously.
Granbury Made a Convenient Base for Fort Worth
One of the reasons we’d chosen Granbury was that it put us within an easy drive of Fort Worth.
For us, the drive was about 45 minutes.
And there was one particular Fort Worth attraction we’d wanted to see for a long time.
The Texas Civil War Museum.
Visiting the Texas Civil War Museum
We love history.
And the museum had an enormous collection of Civil War-era material.
We saw uniforms.
Flags.
Historic clothing.
And many other artifacts from the period.
For me, the clothing collection was particularly fascinating.
We filmed enough of the historic garments that we created a separate video specifically about the costumes.
Regardless of how someone approaches the Civil War as a subject, seeing original artifacts can provide a tangible connection to the people who lived through that period.
For us, that made the museum a worthwhile history stop during our Texas travels.
Because museums can close, relocate or change their operations over time, check current information before planning a trip around any particular museum.
Texas Indian Paintbrush Around Camp
Back at the campground, we found another little piece of Texas everywhere around us.
Wildflowers.
Beautiful Texas Indian paintbrush was growing throughout the campground.
Between the flowers, river and birds, our free campsite ended up being one of the prettiest parts of our Granbury stay.
Even with all the rain.
And there was plenty of rain.
As we soon discovered, that rain was going to create a much bigger problem.
Our Texas Road Trip Took a Dangerous Turn
After leaving Granbury, we headed toward the little town of Alto, Texas.
Google wanted us to take some back roads to our next campsite.
I had a feeling we shouldn’t.
But we were hungry.
We wanted to get parked.
So I ignored that little voice.
Bad idea.
The region had experienced heavy storms and flooding.
We were driving down a two-lane road when a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction flashed its headlights at us.
We thought perhaps the driver was warning us about police ahead.
Then we rounded a curve.
The road was flooded.
Good Trailer Brakes Made a Difference
We were towing our trailer and moving at highway speed when Ed realized what was ahead.
He had to stop.
Immediately.
That’s when good trailer brakes and a good brake controller became very important.
We were able to stop without an incident.
That experience reinforced something Ed felt strongly about:
Don’t automatically choose the cheapest brake controller you can find.
Your towing and braking equipment isn’t where you want to discover you’ve saved a few dollars at the expense of control.
Use equipment appropriate for your tow vehicle and trailer, keep the braking system properly maintained and follow the manufacturers’ setup and adjustment instructions.
Never Drive an RV Through Floodwater
Once we saw the flooded road, continuing forward wasn’t an option.
We weren’t going to try to guess how deep the water was.
We weren’t going to assume the road underneath was intact.
We stopped.
That was the right decision.
If a roadway is flooded, turn around rather than attempting to tow an RV through water of unknown depth or condition.
But turning around created another problem.
There wasn’t anywhere to turn our rig around.
Ed Had to Back the Trailer More Than Half a Mile
We had to go backward.
A long way backward.
Ed ended up backing our truck and travel trailer for more than half a mile along a curving road before we finally reached somewhere we could turn around.
And while you’re backing, you’re also wondering whether somebody is going to come flying around one of those curves toward you.
It was not fun.
But Ed could do it because he’d practiced.
Practice Backing Your Trailer Before You Need the Skill
This became one of Ed’s strongest pieces of advice for new RVers.
Learn how to back your trailer before you’re in a situation where you absolutely have to do it.
Find a large empty parking lot or another safe place where practicing is permitted.
Set yourself a target.
Practice putting the trailer into a parking space.
Practice correcting it.
Learn how your trailer reacts to steering input.
Learn how slowly you need to move.
Ed had driven trucks and hauled wide loads when he was younger, but even with that experience, our years of traveling and practicing with our own trailer made a difference.
You don’t want your first serious backing lesson to happen on a curvy Texas road with floodwater in front of you.
We Eventually Made It to Camp
We finally found somewhere to turn around.
Then we took another route to our camping area.
That route took us down a forest road.
After all the rain, it was badly washed out too.
We went slowly.
And we made it.
When we finally reached our campsite, we were rewarded with an incredible view from an overlook just a few feet away.
After the day we’d had?
We’ll take it.
What We Enjoyed Most About Granbury
Granbury gave us a surprisingly varied stay.
We enjoyed:
- Camping beside the Brazos River
- Watching egrets, blue herons and geese
- Walking through local parks with General
- Exploring the historic courthouse square
- Seeing the restored Granbury Opera House
- Learning the John St. Helen legend
- Looking at historic homes
- Eating Texas brisket
- Visiting the Civil War museum in Fort Worth
- Seeing Texas Indian paintbrush around our campground
And then Texas gave us a memorable RV driving lesson on the way out.
Travel certainly isn’t boring.
Is Granbury, Texas Worth Visiting?
We enjoyed Granbury much more than we’d expected.
Originally, it was primarily a convenient place for us to camp while making a day trip into Fort Worth.
Instead, Granbury became a destination in its own right.
The historic square was charming.
The Brazos River gave us a beautiful place to camp.
We found parks for General.
We ate some excellent barbecue.
And the John St. Helen story gave us one of the strangest historical legends we’d encountered on the road.
If you enjoy historic towns, local stories and places where you can slow down and explore for a few days, Granbury is certainly worth putting on your Texas road-trip list.
Just keep an eye on the weather.
And when that little voice tells you maybe you shouldn’t take the back road after days of heavy rain?
We’d listen to it.
And we’ll see you down the road…and Over the Hills!
Continue the Journey
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