Discover Paris: Trails, History, and Fishing

Paris offers several distinct points of interest for a stay: the Trail de Paris as a hiking and cycling trail, historical themes centered on the Sam Bell Maxey House and the Paris Commercial Historic District, and Pat Mayse Lake north of the city. The Culbertson Fountain area also features a tree lighting that makes evening activities possible. Whether you focus on outdoor activity, history, or fishing can help shape your choice of vacation rental.

The Trail de Paris: From the City Limits to Downtown

The Trail de Paris is an ADA-accessible hiking and cycling trail with several access points. It runs from the city limits into downtown. This makes it possible to combine time outdoors with a route that leads into the center of Paris. Check the trail’s operating conditions before visiting.

The Trail de Paris is also part of the Northeast Texas Trail, which connects communities between Farmersville and New Boston. These are two different scales to keep in mind when planning: the Trail de Paris runs from the city limits into downtown, while the Northeast Texas Trail provides a regional connection between Farmersville and New Boston. This lets you distinguish between the local trail and the broader connection without treating them as the same destination.

A House, a Fire, and a Historic District

The Sam Bell Maxey House was completed in December 1868 and designed to resemble an Italian villa. Its exact completion date and architectural design offer two distinct points of interest: you may be interested in the house’s place in history or in how its appearance was modeled on an Italian villa. The design makes the building a specific example of an architectural model, not merely a year of construction.

The Paris fire is another chapter in the city’s history. On March 21, 1916, it destroyed 264 acres and 1,440 buildings. The event took place decades after the Sam Bell Maxey House was completed and offers a different perspective on history: here, a precisely dated fire with extensive destruction figures; there, a single house with a recognizable design. The Paris Commercial Historic District is listed as a historic district on the National Register. Together, an event, a house, and a district offer different historical points of reference.

Pat Mayse Lake: Fishing North of Paris

Pat Mayse Lake is in Lamar County on Sanders Creek, 12 miles north of Paris. The lake offers fishing for bass, crappie, and catfish. This is a different way to spend time outdoors than on the hiking and cycling trail: at the trail, the focus is on traveling a route, while at the lake, it is on fishing for the species listed. If you plan to do both, you can include the lake as a separate destination north of Paris; the stated distance provides a specific geographic reference.

Evening Activities at Culbertson Fountain

The Culbertson Fountain area features a tree lighting that makes evening activities possible. This adds another point of interest, at a different time of day, to the hiking and fishing options. You can consider the tree lighting as an evening option in Paris and distinguish it from choosing between the hiking and cycling trail or fishing at the lake. This keeps your plans focused on specific interests rather than combining every experience into a single type of outing.

Choose a Vacation Rental to Suit Your Travel Style

When looking for a vacation rental in Paris, it helps to first decide what you want to focus on during your stay. If the Trail de Paris is important to you, plan your stay around hiking or cycling. For historical interests, the Sam Bell Maxey House, the 1916 fire, and the listed district offer different points of reference. If you want to fish, include Pat Mayse Lake, 12 miles north of Paris, in your outing plans. The tree lighting near Culbertson Fountain offers another option for the evening. The right location for your accommodation therefore depends on which of these activities you want to shape your stay and which you want to add as a separate outing.

For the broader travel overview: Lamar County.