Image: Wiki Commons by Billy Hathorn
About This Quiz
You don't have to be an expert on the Lone Star State to know that the big cities in Texas get all the attention. Guidebooks are filled with info about San Antonio's Riverwalk, Houston's Space Center and massive museums, the incredible Texas State Fair up in Dallas or the weird and wonderful Austin. But this second-largest U.S. state has so much more to offer than the attractions found in its major metro areas. In fact, Texas is home to more than 100 small towns that might not look like much more than a dot on the map, but manage to pack in plenty of fun, history and culture.
Did you know that many small Texas towns have incredibly well-preserved historic districts, complete with classic Main Streets and storefronts that would fit right into any cowboy movie? Others serve as gateways to surprising natural wonders, from a gorge rivaled only by the Grand Canyon to preserves that let you walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs. You'll also find plenty of historical sites, arts and cuisine inspired by immigrants, as well as all the rodeos, boots and spurs you can stand!
Think you're an expert on these towns that line Texas highways, byways and old dirt roads? Prove your small town IQ with this quiz!
Aliens
Lights
Located off the beaten path down in the far western portion of the state, Marfa would be easy to overlook if not for a series of mysterious lights. The famous Marfa lights appear out of nowhere in the desert and have been doing so since at least the 1880s. The flowing orbs are so popular that there's even a dedicated viewing area off Highway 67. While you're in town, check out the area's many galleries, plus an installation called Marfa Prada which resembles a luxe boutique.
Gold mines
Caves
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Pumpkin beer
Potato donuts
Electric cars
Dr. Pepper with real sugar
Nicknamed "the Irish capital of Texas," the city of Dublin's claim to fame was long its Dublin Bottling Works, which was one of only a handful of U.S. companies allowed to brew Dr. Pepper with real sugar. After it stopped producing this product in 2012, the town began touting its Ben Hogan Museum, a location dedicated to the life and career of one of golf's biggest names.
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Tyler
Round Top
Located just 70 miles outside Austin, the tiny town of Round Top hosted an antique swap in 1968. It was such a success that the event was repeated every year since, and it's now held in both spring and fall. During the Round Top Antiques Fair, hundreds of thousands of shoppers flood this town of 90 residents seeking bargains.
San Marcos
Galveston
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Austin
Lubbock
Gruene
Amarillo
Since 1974, visitors to Amarillo have made the detour to Cadillac Ranch. This roadside attraction consists of 10 Cadillac cars sunk nose deep in the dirt and painted in wild color schemes. Amarillo is sometimes called Bomb City because it's home to one of the only facilities in the U.S. designed for nuclear bomb assembly.
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Diamonds
Used books
You may recognize the name Larry McMurty as the writer of the book that became "Lonesome Dove," and as the scriptwriter on "Brokeback Mountain." What you might not know is that he hails from Archer City, where he opened a used bookstore called Booked Up in the '80s. He went on to open other venues with hundreds of thousands of tomes before closing them all to focus on his original Archer City Main Street store in 2013.
Records
Watches
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Johnson City
Born in Johnson City, Texas, Lyndon Johnson spent so much time at his ranch in this tiny Texas town that many called it the Texas White House. Today, Johnson City is home to the LBJ Historical Park, which includes the former Commander in Chief's ranch as well as his final resting place.
Lincoln City
Kennedy City
Ford City
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Beer
Shiner, Texas only has one stoplight and 2,000 residents, but it's also home to the famous Spoetzl Brewery. It's been making beer for more than a century, and its famous Shiner Bock is sold in 48 states.
Pineapples
Chickens
Computer chips
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Fredericksburg
Named in honor of Prince Frederick of Prussia, Fredericksburg, Texas still offers plenty of European charm with a Texas touch. Home to a well-preserved historic district offering restaurants and bakeries with German-influenced food, it's also the hometown of Chester Nimitz, who served as Admiral of the Navy in the Pacific during WWII.
Marfa
Canyon
Ervine
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Massive antique festival
Corn palace
Painted churches
Many Hill Country towns in central Texas were settled by European immigrants in the 19th century, and Schulenburg is no exception. It is famous for its painted churches, which are fairly standard on the outside, but full of vibrant paint schemes and frescoes on the interior. The town is also home to a model aircraft museum and a museum dedicated to polka music.
Wild horse preserve
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Buffet restaurant
Federal prison
Racetrack
Water park
Opened in 1979 in New Braunfels, Schlitterbahn is a massive water park known for its sweet slides, long lazy rivers and endless ways to keep guests cool when the sun is at its worst. The name means "slippery road" in German.
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Silver Dollar City
Terlingua
Terlingua peaked around 1900 as a quicksilver mining town. By the mid-20th century, this tiny town along the Rio Grande was largely deserted. Folks eventually began to return, with art galleries popping up over the years and tourists heading into town for a chili cookoff held annually since the 1960s.
Killington
Bodie
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Brownsville
The first festival celebrating cooperation between the towns of Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas took place back in the 1800s. Since 1938, Brownsville has held an official annual festival known as Charro Days to celebrate this relationship.
Galveston
Amarillo
Lubbock
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Canyon
Port Isabel
Luckenbach
Luckenbach, Texas was a town with only a handful of residents in 1977, when it became the subject of Waylon Jennings' tune "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." The success of the song transformed the town into a gathering spot for fans of outlaw country, and Luckenbach later hosted shows by Willie Nelson, Jennings and other singing stars.
Kemah
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Abilene
Odessa
Laredo
Situated way down south on the Mexican border, Laredo has four international bridges and serves as a major transportation hub between the U.S. and its southern neighbor. This town is known for its month-long celebration of Washington's birthday each January, as well as the Mardi Gras-like Jamboozie fest.
Katy
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Lewisville
Jefferson
Jefferson sits in east Texas near the Louisiana border. It's home to Caddo Lake, which is the only natural lake in the state. Jefferson also maintains a well-preserved historic downtown area as well as the private rail car of railroad baron Jay Gould.
San Marcos
Round Rock
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Flea market
Canton, Texas, in the northeastern part of the state has been hosting an event known as First Monday Trade Days for more than a century. In the days leading up to the first Monday of each month, the town is the site of one of the largest flea markets in the world, with hundreds of thousands of shoppers heading for Canton to snap up bargains.
Rodeo
Chili cookoff
Cattle drives
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Art deco skyscraper
Antique weather vane
Wooden carousel
Lighthouse
Positioned on the Gulf Coast and connected to South Padre Island via a causeway, Port Isabel is known for its iconic lighthouse. Measuring 70 feet tall and built in 1852, the structure lends its name to community hub Lighthouse Square.
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Bandera
Johnson City
Granbury
Dripping Springs
Just 25 miles west of Austin, the tiny town of Dripping Springs has one incredible natural wonder; it's home to Hamilton Pool, a partially enclosed grotto with a waterfall that's perfect for a refreshing swim. Dripping Springs is also the unofficial Wedding Capital of Texas Hill Country thanks to its surprisingly large number of wedding venues.
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Space Museum
Swimming hole
Wimberly is the site of one of the best outdoor attractions in Texas. A natural area called Jacob's Well looks like a 12-foot diameter swimming pool formed by Mother Nature, but is actually the mouth of a spring that descends hundreds of feet underground. Only trained cave divers should venture below the surface, but almost anyone can swim on the surface of these cool waters.
Country music venues
Hot air balloon rides
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Jefferson
Johnson City
Granbury
The cemetery in the town of Granbury in northern Texas is home to a grave with the name Jesse James. If the outlaw's bones are buried under that slab, he lived to the ripe age of 103 before passing of natural causes in 1951. While it's most likely someone else in that grave, there's little debate that Mrs. Davy Crockett was laid to rest in this tiny Texas town back in 1860.
Amarillo
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Jalapeno Fest
Charro Days
Jamboozie
LakeFest
Marble Falls is a haven for lake lovers, as evidenced by its annual August LakeFest, which includes a series of drag boat races that have been held in the area since the '70s. This southern town also has one other claim to fame that may surprise you; a female mayor was elected to run things ... back in 1917!
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Luckenbach
Gruene
Founded in southeast Texas in the 1840s, Gruene was largely abandoned a century later. By the '70s, people were rediscovering its beautifully preserved historic structures, resulting in Gruene being annexed into New Braunfels. If you're ever in the area, check out the Gruene Dance Hall, which dates back to 1878.
West
Port Isabel
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Port Aransas
Situated in the Gulf of Mexico on Mustang Island, the southeastern Texas town of Port Aransas was a pirate haven in the early 19th century. If you can't track down the treasure many believe is buried here, you could always indulge in tourism activities like bird watching or fishing.
Fredericksburg
Dripping Springs
Katy
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Odessa
Canyon
For such a small town, Canyon has a lot to offer locals and visitors alike. It's home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, which is the largest history museum in Texas, and also provides easy access to Palo Duro Canyon, which is the largest gorge in the U.S. after the Grand Canyon.
Brownsville
McAllen
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Wimberly
Laredo
West
Some call this place West Comma Texas so you know they mean the town and not just the entire western portion of the state. Founded in the 1880s by Czech immigrants, West still offers bakeries and restaurants with Czech cuisine. The town's kolaches, dough stuffed with sweet or savory fillings, are some of the best you'll find outside Europe.
Longview
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Alpine
Yes, there are some mighty big hills in Texas. Take the town of Alpine, for instance, which is located next to Big Bend National Park and has peaks that rise a mile above sea level. Alpine is also home to a unique tradition in the form of the annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering that's held each February.
Snowy Lake
Iceberg
Winter's Run
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Raven
Midland
Big Spring
Pecos
Out near the New Mexico border you'll find the tiny town of Pecos, Texas. Long known as a producer of sweet cantaloupes, Pecos also claims to have hosted the first rodeo on the planet back in the 19th century.
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Round Rock
Plano
Nacogdoches
One of the oldest towns in Texas, Nacogdoches plays host to the popular Texas Blueberry Festival each June. It was also in this town that a runaway mule interrupted a show by the Marx Brothers singing troupe in 1912. After the interruption, the brother we now call Groucho began telling jokes. The audience loved the switch to comedy and the rest is history.
Plainview
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Wichita Falls
Willow City
Folks come from all over the state to drive the Willow City loop in March and April each year. This area is known for its endless fields full of bluebonnets, the official state flower of Texas.
McAllen
Rockport
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Bandera
The town of Bandera lies less than an hour northwest of San Antonio. It's in this town that calls itself the "Cowboy Capital of the World" that you can ride a tube down the Medina River or visit the Frontier Times Museum to see what life looked like out on the range.
Fredericksburg
Armstrong
San Marcos
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Brownsville
Laredo
Archer City
Chappell Hill
Established in 1849, the town of Chappell Hill sits midway between the much bigger cities of Austin and Houston. It's worth a visit any time thanks to its Main Street Historic District, but the most popular event each year is the town's Spring Bluebonnet Festival.
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Gold mines
Craft beer
Dinosaurs
The northern Texas town of Seymour was founded by settlers from Oregon in the 1800s and dubbed Oregon City. Today, paleontologists and archaeologists flock to the town for its rich fossil deposits, including those of dinosaurs and their relatives.
Great shopping
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Statue of Liberty
Liberty Bell
The town of Liberty on the Trinity River northeast of Houston is home to a twin of the Liberty Bell found in Philadelphia. Liberty also has a full-size replica of the Texas Governors Mansion as well as the beloved Opry on the Square, a historic music venue on Main Street.
White House
Pentagon
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"Give me liberty or give me death!"
"Hold your fire!"
"Come and take it!"
Sometimes called the "Lexington of Texas" because just as Lexington, Massachusetts saw the first violence in the American Revolution, Gonzales was the site of an early skirmish during the Texas Revolution. The 1835 event gave the town the rallying cry "Come and take it!" which was uttered by townspeople fighting off enemy soldiers.
"We will fight on the beaches!"
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Stay at an inn
The Stagecoach Inn located in Central, Texas claims to be the oldest continuously operated hotel in the state. Opened in 1861, this Salado inn hosted both General Lee and General Custer, not to mention infamous outlaw Jesse James and state founding father Sam Houston.
Eat lobster
Serve jail time
Engage in a duel
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