Gray: History, Route 66 and Special Travel Experiences

Gray County combines an impressive cultural history with distinctive traces of Route 66 and diverse opportunities for a varied day of travel. Museums, historic buildings, music, trails and the recreation area at Lake McClellan offer different points of focus.

Discover Museums and Musical History

An important cultural destination is the White Deer Land Museum in Pampa. It is located in a restored 1916 office building of the White Deer Land Company and presents the history of Gray County. The museum includes the Red River War Wing. It presents both sides of the conflict between Native Americans and the United States government; artifacts from battlefields and early military posts are also on display.

In the town of Pampa, the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center also commemorates the region's musical history. The Center is located in the former Harris Drug Store, where Woody Guthrie worked and found his first guitar. It is also a venue for live music. Jam sessions take place on Fridays from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., where visitors can play along, sing along or listen. In addition, the Center attempts to offer a community concert about once a month. This combination of a historic location and community music gives the trip a particularly personal touch.

Route 66 and Historic Architecture

The history of Route 66 is particularly evident in the McLean Commercial Historic District. Streets whose appearance reflects the mid-20th century are preserved there; the district forms a historic Route 66 time capsule. It is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places' Multiple-Property Dossier “Route 66 in Texas.” The Devil's Rope Museum complements this theme with engaging historical interpretation and exhibitions about barbed wire, the Dust Bowl era and Route 66.

Individual buildings also make the county's architectural facets tangible. Pampa City Hall is a Beaux-Arts-style building listed as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. It was completed in December 1930 and features triumphal-arch entrances with classical detailing. The Gray County Courthouse is also a Beaux-Arts building, features Georgian ornamentation and was dedicated on April 19, 1930. The Combs-Worley Building combines Art Deco influences with Pampa's “million dollar row.”

In Pampa, the Art History Wall tells the story of the local area through marble fragments, student tiles and mosaics. The presentation ranges from Native Americans to agriculture and the oil industry, as well as the World War II military airfield. Near MK Brown, there is also the sculpture “This Land is Your Land.” The steel structure is 150 feet long and 10 feet high and depicts the refrain of Woody Guthrie's song “This Land is Your Land.”

Activity, Water and Landscape

For trip planning with different daily rhythms, the Pampa Hike-N-Bike Trail offers additional options. It includes Central Park, an outdoor amphitheater and miles of trails. The Pampa Aquatic Center features a lazy river, a funnel slide and a lap pool. This makes it possible to give cultural sightseeing and active activities different levels of emphasis in your personal plans, without reducing Gray to just one travel theme.

At Lake McClellan, the recreation area has 60 campsites, including sites with full hookups, as well as 25 picnic areas. White-tailed deer and mule deer are common in the grassland described here; they also visit the campsites during the day. Those wishing to plan nature observation and picnic breaks will find another clear focus here alongside the museums and historic buildings.

Choosing the Right Accommodation Location

When searching for a vacation rental or vacation home in Gray, it is worthwhile to organize your main interests in advance. Those interested in culture can place the museums, musical history and architecture at the forefront. For a trip with changing points of focus, the Pampa Hike-N-Bike Trail, the Aquatic Center or the recreation area at Lake McClellan can additionally serve as planning points. What matters is not a blanket classification, but which places you actually want to include in your trip.

More destination pages for orientation: Bailey County, Johnson County, Dewitt County, Duval County, Llano, Swisher County and Kaufman.

For the higher-level travel overview: Texas.