So You Want To Explore Texarkana Off The Beaten Path
Texarkana is small enough that most people drive through it without noticing much. The real spots are tucked behind ordinary buildings, behind old gas stations, in neighborhoods nobody drives down unless they live there. I’ve spent years figuring out where these places actually are, and what makes them worth stopping for. The trick is understanding how this city is layered. You’ve got the historic district near thequare, which gets its share of visitors. Then you’ve got everything three miles east or west of I-30 that still has people working, shopping, and gathering. That’s where the actual gems sit.
Texarkanas Hidden Gems Exploring The Citys Lesserknown Treasures
I’m going to walk through six places most visitors miss, along with what you should actually look for when you get there. Not every one of these is going to wow you on first visit. Some need you to know what you’re looking at. Everyone knows the old mill structure off Highway 82. What most people don’t do is walk the perimeter trail that loops around the back. There’s a concrete foundation from the original 1920s construction that barely shows up from the road. You have to get out of your car and walk the dirt path between the chain link fence and the creek bed. The stonework is exposed there in a way it isn’t from the parking lot. I learned this by accident in 2019 when I was trying to find a place to photograph the sunrise. The trailhead isn’t marked. You pull off onto a gravel access road behind the abandoned textile warehouse, next to a blue mailbox that hasn’t been touched in years. Don’t cross the fence. Stay on the public easement trail. If you step into the creek bed during spring rain, the mud will ruin your shoes. I’ve done that twice.
The Underground Tunnels Beneath Downtown
Texarkana has a network of service tunnels under part of the downtown core, built during the 1930s WPA projects. Most people assume these are sealed off completely. They’re not all sealed. A section behind the old post office connects to a storm drain system that’s partially accessible. You’ll find brick arches, original tile work, and some graffiti that’s actually interesting if you bring a good flashlight. Here’s the problem: the city recently installed motion sensors in several sections. If you’re caught inside without a permit, you’ll be asked to leave and may get a citation. The workaround I use is visiting during the annual Historic Texarkana walking tour in October. They give you supervised access to one tunnel route, and the guide knows about the sections most people miss. I signed up five years running. It takes about forty minutes.
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The Japanese Garden Near the Reservoir
There’s a small Japanese garden maintained by a volunteer group near the Texarkana reservoir. It’s not on most tourism sites. The address is easy to find if you search for "Kilgore Park Garden," but the actual garden entrance is behind the baseball fields, not near the main park sign. You’ll see a weathered wooden gate with a padlock. Sometimes it’s unlocked between 8 AM and dusk. Sometimes it’s locked. I encountered a specific issue last spring when the volunteer maintenance crew missed the season. The path was overgrown with blackberry brambles thick enough to stop a car. I had to trim a section back with pruning shears I keep in my trunk for this exact reason. If you go in late March or early April, check the condition first. Late May through September is usually clear. Bring water. The shade cover is thin and the temperature runs fifteen degrees higher in there than on the surrounding pavement.
The Vinyl Record Shops On Arkansas Side
Most people think about the Texas side of Texarkana when they plan a visit. The Arkansas side has better record stores. Dusty Groove on Jackson Street has a used section that’s organized by genre rather than alphabetically, which sounds like chaos until you understand the system. They group Southern Soul with Gospel, and Jazz with R&B from the sixties. It makes finding exactly what you want surprisingly fast once you know how they sort it. The problem is inventory shifts daily. I went there specifically looking for a pressing of a 1974 Isaac Hayes album I’d seen listed online. It was gone. Two weeks later I drove back and found it sitting in the bargain bin under "Miscellaneous Soul." The online listing system is three months behind reality. Call before you drive. The number on their Facebook page works better than any directory listing.
The Mural Trail Behind The Historic Hotels
Texarkana has a growing mural scene, but the ones behind the hotels on Arkansas Avenue get almost no attention. These are side and rear alley murals painted over the last five years by regional artists. The best one is a four-story piece depicting the old railway switching yard, located behind the building that used to house a diner called Marie’s. The diner is gone. The mural remains. Getting there requires walking through a parking lot owned by a church that doesn’t advertise an alley entrance. I figured it out by noting which gap between buildings had fresh paint stains on the ground and no security cameras pointing at it. That’s usually how you find these places. No cameras means someone already has permission or nobody noticed yet. I documented these murals in a spreadsheet and keep it updated. A few have faded in two years because the property owners haven’t applied sealant.
The Antique Train Cars At The Railroad Museum
The Texarkana Railroad Museum is small. One building. Thirty pieces of rolling stock outside. Most visitors spend twenty minutes and leave. The thing nobody mentions is the private observation car on the south track that you can enter during certain hours. It has original wood paneling from 1941 and a view of the rail yard that’s better from that car than anywhere else in the city. The catch is the museum is run by volunteers on a limited schedule. They’re open Thursday through Saturday, 10 AM to 2 PM. Random. I went once on a Tuesday and the door was locked with a handwritten note saying "call ahead." I called the number on the note, spoke to a volunteer named Dale who told me the schedule was changing due to weather damage to the roof. He gave me a Wednesday appointment instead. Show up without calling. You’ll waste an hour.
What To Do When Things Don’t Work Out
Sometimes the garden is locked. Sometimes the tunnel tour isn’t running. Sometimes the record store sold the album the week before. The workaround I’ve developed is keeping a local contact. There’s a Facebook group called Texarkana History and Preservation with about four thousand members. People there answer questions within hours. I asked about the tunnel access after the October tour got cancelled one year and someone messaged me with a contact at the public works department who pointed me to an alternate route. This isn’t a perfect system. A lot of these places exist in a gray area between public and private. The city doesn’t officially promote them because liability is a concern. You’re exploring at your own risk. Some areas have unstable flooring, exposed rebar, or seasonal flooding. I’ve seen boots disappear into mud near the mill trail that was deeper than it looked. Don’t wander into areas that clearly shouldn’t be entered. The reward isn’t worth a broken ankle or a trespassing charge. The best time to explore is April through June and September through October. Summer heat makes the outdoor spots unpleasant and the tunnels feel like ovens. Winter brings wind through the older structures that makes standing still uncomfortable. I’ve photographed the old mill at 6 AM in November and the air was cold enough to fog my lens. Bring layers regardless of season.
If you want a single rule: go slow and look at what’s already there instead of what you expect to find. These places don’t announce themselves. They reward patience and a willingness to walk an extra block away from the main road.
