- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas, makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't Mess with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown.

Making Texas road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.

(upbeat music) - If you head to East Texas and then you keep going, well, soon you'll arrive at our destination, a place so thick with pines, it can be hard to even see the sky.

That's how many folks know of but few truly know.

We'll eat some New Orleans inspired Fair on the Square, and a country buffet serving 40 years strong.

We'll hike through the woods where the springs flow and arrive at one of the creepiest abandoned places in Texas.

They don't call this place the Jewel of the Forest for nothing.

Jasper, and trust me, ju'll love it.

(chuckles) (bright music) (bright music) Jasper sits two and a half hours northeast of Houston, but only 30 miles from the Louisiana border.

And in every direction, well, you'll see some of the prettiest country in the country.

(bright music) So this seems like an easy question, but maybe not.

What region of Texas are we in?

- I wanna say East, but the fact that you asked that makes me question everything.

- So you got East Texas, - Mm-hm.

This is east.

- Sort of encompasses it all, but not exactly.

You got Northeast Texas.

You got where I'm from, Southeast Texas.

And then you have this region, which is deep East Texas.

- Oh, come on.

What?

Are you serious?

- I'm telling you, it's the truth.

As far as the east is from the west, is as far as the deep east from the east.

Okay, so it gets confusing, and many of y'all are likely confused as to why we're even here, and might even be wondering, Chet, are you really tripping to Jasper?

Well, yes indeed I am.

Now, I know this town's reputation precedes it, but don't be so quick to pass judgment, all right.

That'll get you in big trouble when day tripping, because sometimes some of our best destinations lie in our most unexpected places.

(gentle music) Places like right here in the heart of Jasper County, which was one of the original 23 counties created in 1836 back when Texas became its own nation.

The current courthouse dates back to the 1880s.

Although it's very clear the square itself has seen some better decades.

There are, however, some new and hungry small businesses striving to make The Jewel sparkle once again.

And lucky for them, I'm hungry too.

Time to head to the Jewel of the Forest zone, Jewel Bistro.

This is John and Soloria Davis.

Both grew up in Jasper, moved away as adults, but came back bringing all the flavors of their travels with them.

Like we're in New Orleans.

- Absolutely.

- In the French Quarter.

- We got the inspiration from New Orleans, actually.

- Oh, I gotta go.

Hmm.

(Soloria laughing) Oh, they're good.

Oh, it's almost a croissant.

- Yes.

Very similar.

- Y'all added your own little touch of these.

- Correct.

It's a Jewel beignet.

- Ah!

- Ah, enjoy.

(bright music) - Now, this is not their first career, but a new passion project that brought back home.

Although John's previous job did keep him busy on Sundays, just not serving brunch.

John, you spent a little bit of time wearing a helmet, hitting people for a living.

- Nine years of it.

- Nine years in the NFL.

- Nine years.

- I see you back here.

- That was the first real touchdown right there.

Very gratifying.

- Did you ever think after all that travel that you'd end up back in your hometown?

- Yeah, I kind of knew that I wanted to come back home to give back in some type of way, but- - Always.

- She didn't think so.

- Oh yeah.

(all laughing) - Didn't know it would be in this way right here.

Breakfast made all the sense.

There's not a breakfast restaurant in town and- - Everybody loves us.

- We love breakfast.

- Everyone does.

- I mean, come on now.

Well, they're not wrong.

Bacon, eggs, toast, coffee, all the things that make breakfast the most important and maybe most delicious meal of the day.

The Jewel's menu is a little bit country, a little bit southern with a whole lot of soul, much like its owners and Jasper itself.

- You never forget where you come from, so.

- That's true.

- Yeah.

Other places, we were always thankful that we were born and raised here.

So one of the things we wanted to do is help to revitalize downtown.

- You know, someone's gotta take the risk to be the catalyst, to bring you back.

- And now we're the anchor of downtown right now.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(all laughing) Well, I'm expecting to be as heavy as an anchor when I walk out of here.

Bring on breakfast.

- We're gonna prepare biscuits and gravy.

- Now, that's a breakfast for me right there.

Let's go.

- We're we're starting with our buttermilk biscuit.

- Ooh.

Now, were you real particular about the biscuit you brought in here?

- Yes.

- A little bit of pan sausage on there?

- Yes.

- Now we're talking.

That's it, Devin.

- If you like grits.

- Cheese grits?

- Cheese grits?

- Yes, we can do cheese.

- I grew up eating sausage, biscuits and gravy and cheese grits.

Never at the same time though, so.

(Solaria chuckles) All right, well, I gotta eat now.

Thank y'all for chatting.

- You're welcome.

Enjoy.

- Now, to dine on the street French Quarter style.

Hmm.

Now look at this plate.

I got a little bit of a mix of lots of cultures.

We got some country cooking in the biscuits and gravy, little bit of Cajun flare with the cheese grits, soul food happening.

I mean, my biscuits are already covered in gravy, but how about this right here?

A little bit of yolky gravy too.

Gravy on top of gravy.

(bright music) Whoa, I've eaten a lot of very bougie, fancy kind of breakfasts, but at the end of the day, give me biscuits and gravy.

Hmm.

It wasn't until I became an adult that I learned grits could be served without cheese, and I thought, well, that's a waste.

(bright music) So it's biscuits and grits.

Would we call that griskets or would it be bisgrits?

Bisgrits and gravy.

- Grizavy.

- Griz, (laughs) we're onto something here.

Just need to workshop it a little more.

(bright music) Not to get cheesier than my grits, but I am downright inspired by the grit of this town.

And to learn more about those who built it, well, let's mossiere full building over to the Jasper County Historical Museum.

And one of the first things you'll learn is the Jasper wasn't this town's first name.

(jazzy music) - This area was originally the municipality of Bevel Port.

John Bevel settled the area in 1820s.

He was given the land grant.

- This is Executive Director Todd Lawless.

- But around 1835, settlers in Texas knew things weren't going well with Mexico and this was not gonna end well.

John Bevel thought that, well, if we're about to get into a fight, Bevel's not a very inspiring name, but people know who Jasper is.

Sergeant William Jasper.

- Err, full confession.

I had to look him up.

But he was a hero of the American Revolution.

And why there are now 13 cities and eight counties across the US also named Jasper.

Hey, we won the war so I guess it worked.

(screen swooshing) Wow, a humble man.

It was named after him.

- Yes.

- And he is like, nah.

- He didn't want that.

- The name changed, but the port stayed active.

Local businessman, Andrew Smyth or Smith, depending on who you ask, operated a riverboat called the Laura, shipping in goods previously inaccessible to the region and making her boiler stacks a famous site to see.

- It kind of became a landmark, well, not a landmark on water, I guess.

- Landmark on water.

- Yeah.

But it was just a fixture of the community.

People always looked forward to the Laura coming into port.

- But as the fell trees of local lumber mills brought trains to Jasper, well, so too fell the ventures of the riverboats.

And eventually the Laura sank to the bottom of the Port of Beaumont.

Ha, but not all was lost.

- So I got a call here one morning at the museum from a lady in Austin.

She said, "We have the safe that was on the Laura."

- No kidding.

- I said, "Well, before I can accept it, I need to be able to verify."

If you look very carefully along the top edge here, you'll see the initials A.F.

and then S-M-Y-T-H.

- Oh, now that's pretty good record.

- So I thought that's pretty solid, yes.

I can go with that.

- I love visiting small town museums because they're always full of so many stories you can't learn any other way.

(bright music) Now, Jasper's history is complex.

Before the Civil War, over a third of its population was made up of enslaved black persons.

And after, the newly freed citizens created Freedom Colonies where African Americans could support one another and thrive.

In the decades that followed, Jasper strived to become a peaceful integrated city.

Far from perfect but trying.

Then in 1998, tragedy struck.

This event is likely the reason you know about Jasper and have never wanted to visit.

Three white men gruesomely murdered a local black man named James Byrd Jr.

The case is well documented, so I'll spare you the details.

But it was horrible.

And in the minds of many, it forever sealed Jasper's reputation.

- I've had friends who might ask me, "Do you tell people you're from Jasper?"

And I said, "I do."

Because Jasper did not kill James Byrd Jr.

Those three men did it.

- All three already had criminal records, and minds poisoned by the worst kinds of racism.

Todd's father was actually the presiding judge in one of the murder trials.

- Within 48 hours, local law enforcement had him in custody.

And for people who ask, "How has Jasper atoned?"

Well, we put two to death and one in prison for the rest of his life.

- Yeah.

Everyone descended upon Jasper.

- Oh, absolutely.

- The media, the KKK, the Black Panthers.

- Yes.

- And it became this media frenzy.

- It almost traumatized the town, black and white.

People just didn't know what to do.

- There's a lot of people who say it's not safe to go to Jasper today.

What's your response to people who think that?

- I can't change what people believe.

It's not who we were.

It's not who we are.

What we wanted to achieve with this is to make sure that the facts of the story are there.

To me, part of it is as a community, remembering how we united, the ministerial alliance, the Byrd family pulled this town together.

There were prayer assemblies on the courthouse square, black and white together.

It didn't matter.

We're not perfect.

- Yeah.

- We're not a garden of Eden.

We're not Mayberry.

- Yeah.

- But we're not the capital of the new Confederacy either.

- That's an actual quote from a news anchor.

The media unfairly spun this town into the ground.

The murder itself was shocking and left us all with so much to grapple with.

You know, we've stopped at quite a few cemeteries on "The Daytripper," but usually it's to visit historic figures.

Certainly not something that you vividly remember happening in your lifetime, but I definitely wanted to pay respects here to James Byrd Jr.

I lived in Southeast Texas at the time, and that tragedy sent shockwaves throughout all of East Texas.

Racism is real, and all of us have to do everything we can to try to snuff it out.

One way we can honor his memory is by coming here to his graveside and not forgetting the horrible things that happened so we can do everything in our power to make sure they don't happen again.

(gentle music) Sometimes it's important to make hard stops while tripping.

And I've gotta admit, this was one of the hardest we've ever made.

(gentle music) I think it's time for some fresh air and a walk through one of the main reasons to visit this part of Texas, the great outdoors.

East Texas or deep East Texas, is a mix of beautiful forests, flowing rivers and swampy bottoms.

And when you got swamps out here, well, you got something else too.

- So how worried do we need to be about gators, would you say with this- - I've been wondering that too.

- I brought my gator spray.

- Do you good.

It should always be on your radar.

Learn to know that if you're getting in a swimming hole, it could be your last swim.

But you're swimming and that's okay, you know?

Just enjoy it.

No risk, no reward.

If you need something to irrationally fear in East Texas, I suggest gators.

Now, it often gets overlooked, but East Texas has some of the prettiest lakes in the state, and no, they're not full of alligators.

At least not ones that wanna bite you.

So let's take a pit stop and enjoy one of the largest and prettiest lakes in Texas.

All right, so this is Lake Sam Rayburn.

It's sort of a mirage 'cause I know the water is not that blue, but it is darn magnificent.

Look at it.

It's like a big endless deep blue ocean.

I wouldn't doubt it if there were a pot of orcas swimming by very soon.

Just keep watching.

It's East Texas.

Anything can happen.

(Chet and Greg laughing) Well, technically not anything.

All this water comes from the Angelina River.

The fresh water oasis that cuts through the middle of the Angelina National Forest, which is 150,000 acres of evergreen beauty.

Now, there are four national forests in East Texas and they hold some of my favorite hidden gems.

Gems just like the Boykin Springs Recreation Area.

This is one of my favorite parks in all of East Texas.

It all revolves around this spring-fed creek right over here.

And back here, are the actual springs themselves.

All right.

Here they are.

Flowing pretty strong.

Look how much water is coming outta here.

I mean, it is crystal clear.

The smell though, not so much.

These are sulfur springs.

So the water's clean to drink, but it don't smell that way.

At least I think it's clean to drink.

- Oh boy.

- Pretty good.

Pretty good.

I grew up camping at this park and have many fond memories.

I don't wanna get nostalgic about it, but when I was a kid, the springs float out of these pipes, all of them, and they were like fire hoses.

Stick our head underneath it in the hot summer day, oh, it was heaven.

- Are you sure that that used to be a spring?

- I mean, maybe it was just a municipal water faucet.

I don't know.

- There's RVs up there.

It could have been the sewage pipes.

- Okay, so maybe it wasn't so fresh, Daniel.

(Daniel chuckling) At least now we're hydrated, even if a little disillusioned.

Now, there is a great lake for swimming and fishing, but one of the most popular reasons to visit this park is to set off on the Sawmill Trail, a five mile hike into the heart of the forest.

So we're hiking to a sawmill that went outta business basically a hundred years ago.

And at that time it would've clear-cut this entire forest.

So all of these pine trees have sprouted up basically in the last a hundred years or so, which in tree terms is very new growth.

Because when this was all virgin forest, many of these trees had, you know, diameters of six feet wide.

You would've had the redwoods of Texas out here.

Just be patient, give it 500 years then it'll get really nice.

You think this is pretty?

You stick around and wait.

But more than just beautiful trees, you're sure to encounter a critter or two.

A little excitement on the trail.

He is a local.

Do you see him?

It's just a water snake.

He was out here sunning.

Hey buddy, why are you running away?

I wanted to hang out with him for a little while, but he had other ideas.

(upbeat music) So where exactly are we headed?

Well, let me just prepare you.

It's creepy.

- Chet, like how creepy are we talking here?

- I mean, imagine the scariest thing we've ever done on "Daytripper" and then multiply that by, meeh, a thousand.

Whoa, that stick was creepy.

I hope you brought an extra pair of pants, if you know what I mean.

Oh, here it is.

Oh, I tell you, this is one of the most terrifying places in Texas, ooh.

- I mean, yeah, I guess it's kind of terrifying.

Kinda like scary maybe, I guess.

- I think it's kind of neat.

(adventurous music) - Welcome to the abandoned Aldridge Sawmill.

Originally built in 1905, this mill supported an entire town out here at the edge of nowhere.

So at its height, this sawmill produced over a hundred thousand board feet of lumber a day.

I mean, are y'all not freaked out?

This place is so scary.

- Eh, maybe a little scary.

It's kind of cool.

- What's that?

Wait, something had moved over there.

- No, you threw a stick.

- By the 1920s, they depleted the surrounding forest.

The mill closed and soon the town died, disappearing beneath the forest new growth.

Today all that's left are these crumbling concrete buildings that have become a tapestry of sorts for artists and a favorite destination for explorers of the strange and abandoned.

Into the magic portal.

I wonder where this leads.

- You know what?

Let's scare him.

Let's leave.

- Huh, guys, there's like a whole nother building back here.

Come on through.

Guys?

Daniel?

Okay, guys, joke's over.

Where are y'all?

Come on, guys.

For real.

Oh no, maybe it was a portal to another dimension.

Guys, no, the nightmares of my childhood have come back.

Don't leave me in this dimension.

(crying) Oh no.

(crying) - Guys, I do kind of feel bad about that.

Like it was started as a joke, and the next thing I know, he's like spiraling outta control.

- He's coming.

He's coming.

(belt thudding) - You gotta take your ti- (door banging) - New number one rule for road tripping, do not trick your host into thinking he's lost in another dimension, Daniel.

And you know what?

Rule number two, make it up to your host with a buffet full of fried food and pie.

And luckily you can secure both of those at the beloved Cedar Tree Restaurant.

(upbeat music) A local mainstay for 40 years.

Cedar Tree is owned and operated by the appropriately named Treat family.

And Jason Treat is here to introduce me to some incredible looking onion rings.

Woo-ooh!

I mean, you walk in, your eyes go straight to that massive buffet.

- That's what we're known for.

85% of our business is the buffet.

We have it every day, 363 days a year.

We're only closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

- No kidding.

That's the way Jason's parents started it.

And he has no intentions of bucking the family tradition.

(upbeat music) - My parents started at 1983 and they would work every day from dawn till dark.

The philosophy they instilled in me is I'm gonna make food that I wanna eat and the quality that I want.

Anytime I have a customer come in, they're coming into my kitchen at my house.

(bright music) - I gotta say, it does feel like the family Thanksgiving dinners I knew as a kid.

I mean, it even has my aunt's crazy salt and pepper shakers.

- Yeah, I don't know if you notice, but all these salt and pepper shakers, that was my aunt's- - I was gonna ask.

- Collection.

- Oh, I guess Jason had one of those aunts too.

- I had some corn cob over there somebody offered me like 500 bucks for, I don't know why.

It's some Rockwood product pottery- - You said sold.

- No, I said, "I don't want to have to open up these cases.

That's a job in itself."

- Oh, okay.

Oh, they're like nailed in.

Jason's gotta stay focused on the food, not peddling pottery.

(bright music) - We try to do everything from scratch.

Not only does that help keep the price low, but it also helps keep the quality high.

- That's amazing.

- It's all about that connection with each other.

And, you know, we have definitely been blessed.

The community has blessed us.

God's blessed us.

Very happy with everybody.

- Food brings people together.

(bright music) And now I think I'll bless myself with a bit of country fried everything, and I do mean everything.

Catfish and fried pork loin are on the daily, but everything else rotates.

And whew, It's more than one plate could handle.

(laughs) Who wants to carry two plates?

Oh, they do have little bowls.

All right, Greg, here's my cabbage.

- For you or me?

- You don't eat on shoots.

Don't be presumptuous.

Come on.

Here, keep 'em coming.

- He does have some expensive equipment down there.

- Ah, it'll be fine.

A little butter never hurt anybody or any gear.

(bowls clinking) (bright music) We'll be right back.

Good news, y'all, butter beans do not ruin sound equipment.

Back to our regular programming.

This is how you eat when you're in deep Eat Texas.

And I'm not sure how to get to the actual food under the roll, so I'm just gonna have to eat the roll first.

Mm, pork cutlet, cream gravy versus brown gravy.

It's a gravy showdown.

Oh, that's good.

There ain't a bad bite on this plate.

When you find out a restaurant's been around for 40 years, chances are there's a reason why.

I mean, you already got three generations of people working here.

The same amount of generations of people eating here.

These people in East Texas know what they're talking about.

(bright music) I could definitely go back for a second plate, but dessert is calling my name.

All right, Jason, I'm barely able to stand, but I saved a little bit of room for dessert, so I need you up here so that I don't make the wrong decision.

- Okay, first off, there's no wrong decision.

We got our coconut pie here, which is probably our most popular.

- Okay.

I'll take one of those.

- We've been making that for 40 years; it hasn't changed at all.

We also got our newest item, which is our apple pie.

That's one of my recipes - I'll get one of these too then, ah!

- We've got peach cobbler, we've got strawberry shortcake, we've got chocolate cream pie, chocolate pudding.

- Jason, I'm gonna ask a favor, will you please hide your eyes over in the corner?

I think I'm gonna make some poor decisions.

(upbeat music) If you're pining for the pines or pining for pie, Jasper truly is the Jewel of the Forest.

It's a place with the history as deep as the East, full of wonderful people, stunning nature and is much more than what you think you know.

Just steer clear of any interdimensional portals and you'll do just fine.

You know, I didn't want to eat all these desserts, but I'm doing it for you guys, (Daniel chuckling) and because Jasper has great urgent care.

So I will see all y'all out on the road.

Vaya con dios, amigos.

(upbeat music) Oh, no, know that's, oh, come to Papa.

- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas, makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't Mess with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown.

Making Texas road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.