Leigh, Texas

Everything Leigh is known for

0 songs mention this city 2 artists from here

Music in Leigh

Songs About Leigh

No songs reference Leigh yet.

Artists From Leigh

L
Lead Belly
blues
C
Colton Hagler
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Leigh

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Leigh.

Interstate 20 13 songs U.S. Route 59 9 songs Interstate 49 4 songs US Route 71 2 songs Red River 87 songs Sabine River 13 songs

Musical Heritage

Boogie Woogie Fest RoadyGoat

That rolling, hard-driving piano — the boogie-woogie — they'll tell you it was born right here in Marshall. It came up out of the East Texas logging camps, where formerly enslaved men sat down at whatever piano they could find and played. Two of the greats came straight off these streets: Floyd Dixon and Dave Alexander. So it fits that Marshall finally got its own Boogie Woogie Fest — an idea Dale Watson floated and Alan Loudermilk, who runs the restaurant Gnocchio in town, talked him into making real. One September weekend, the lineup runs Dale Watson, Linda Gail Lewis, Wayne Hancock, Scott Biram, Jason D. Williams, and more. It's a party, sure. But it's also Marshall finally taking a bow for something it handed the whole world.

RoadyGoat → · 14.3 mi away

Dale Watson RoadyGoat

Dale Watson's got the pompadour, the truck-driving country, the rockabilly snarl — and after decades in Austin and a stretch in Memphis, he landed in Marshall, East Texas, in twenty twenty. His thirtieth studio album is called "Starvation Box" — that was the name Lead Belly's father used for his son's guitar. And Lead Belly is the through-line here: Watson is helping build a Lead Belly museum right there in Marshall, and he kicked off the town's first Boogie Woogie Fest. The album itself is built around a nineteen fifty-seven twelve-string his wife gave him. One song, "Streets of Gold," came straight from his own father's stories of coal-mining life in Hazard, Kentucky. Thirty albums deep, and the man is still writing his roots into East Texas ground.

RoadyGoat → · 14.3 mi away

Marshall RoadyGoat

Marshall, East Texas — twenty-three thousand people, deep in the Piney Woods, a town a lot of freedmen made home after the Civil War. You'll hear it called the birthplace of boogie woogie. Careful with that one: that claim traces back to a single researcher, who ran the numbers and figured Marshall sat closest to the center of gravity for all that early piano playing. What's not in doubt is the music itself — boogie woogie came up out of Black communities in the East Texas railroad and logging camps in the late eighteen hundreds, born on barrelhouse pianos. And Marshall still keeps the beat: third weekend of every month, live blues rolls through Telegraph Park downtown, in a hundred-and-sixteen-year-old city hall that plays music now instead of politics.

RoadyGoat → · 14.3 mi away

Marshall as the birthplace of boogie-woogie RoadyGoat

1841

Marshall, Texas, founded 1841, calls itself the birthplace of boogie-woogie — and sure, a few other towns raise a hand at that. But hear Marshall out. The Texas and Pacific Railway rolled in about thirty years after the town went up and became one of the biggest employers around. Boogie-woogie got born in that world: African American workers in the late-1800s logging camps and rail yards, taking the chug and clatter of the trains and moving it onto a piano keyboard. Caddo Lake's just twenty minutes northeast. But here's the tell — one of the bedrock bass lines in the whole style is simply called "The Marshall." A rolling left hand, named after this town. Contest the birthplace all you like. Somebody in a rail yard here left their name on the low end.

RoadyGoat → · 14.3 mi away

History of Leigh

A Name With No Certain Origin RoadyGoat

You're in Uncertain, Texas, so here's the uncertainty tangent behind the name: the town's naming story is appropriately unresolved. One tradition says steamboat captains found the Caddo Lake landing difficult to moor at. Another points to uncertainty over whether residents belonged to the United States or Republic of Texas before the boundary was settled. Former officials offered still another version involving uncertainty during the town's nineteen sixty one incorporation. These are traditions, not one proven answer. The useful lesson is that honest history sometimes ends with competing explanations, and choosing the catchiest one would create confidence without evidence.

6.6 mi away

A Thirty Percent Forecast Is Not a Broken Promise RoadyGoat

You're in Uncertain, Texas, so here's the uncertainty tangent behind the name: probability describes patterns or degrees of belief under stated assumptions, not a guarantee for one event. A thirty percent precipitation forecast does not mean the forecaster was wrong if it rains. Over many comparable forecasts, rain should occur about three times in ten if the system is well calibrated. Risk is often used when possible outcomes and probabilities can be estimated; uncertainty is broader when outcomes, probabilities, or even the model are unclear. Insurance works by pooling many partly predictable risks, not by predicting exactly whose roof will be hit.

6.6 mi away

Two Famous Uncertainties That Are Not the Same RoadyGoat

You're in Uncertain, Texas, so here's the uncertainty tangent behind the name: Schrodinger's cat is a thought experiment designed to expose the strangeness of applying quantum superposition to an everyday cat; it was not a proposal to test physics by harming cats. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says certain paired quantities, such as position and momentum, cannot both have arbitrarily precise values in a quantum state. It is not merely bad instruments or an observer bumping a particle. These ideas are often recruited as metaphors for ordinary doubt, but quantum uncertainty has a precise mathematical meaning that indecision over lunch does not.

6.6 mi away

Johnson, Lyndon B., Mrs.

1912

(Wife of 36th President of the United States) On December 22, 1912, in the family home 2.7 miles south, was born Claudia Alta Taylor. She was third child (only daughter) of Thomas Jefferson and Minnie Pattillo Taylor. Her father had a general store in Karnack for many years. Young "Lady Bird" (a pet name originated by her nurse, Alice Tittle) attended public schools in Fern community, near here, and in Jefferson and Marshall, and earned Bachelor of Arts and Journalism degrees at the University of Texas. On November 17, 1934, she married Lyndon Baines Johnson, congressional staff member who became head of National Youth Administration in Texas in 1935. The Johnsons are parents of two daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines. During her husband's rise to world leadership-- as United States Congressman, Senator, Senate Majority Leader, Vice President, and President-- Mrs. Johnson added to role of wife and mother that of hostess to many of the greatest statesmen of the world. As First Lady of the United States, she is true to her East Texas heritage of love for gardens, trees, unspoiled natural scenery, and historic sites. She sponsors vital national programs of conservation, beautification, and historical preservation. Outstanding Women of Texas Series, 1967.

Historical Marker → · 4.9 mi away

Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant

1941

In 1941, as the United States prepared for eventual entry into World War II, the U.S. Army Ordnance Department approached Monsanto Chemical Company of St. Louis about operating a local plant for production of explosives. Initially called Longhorn Ordnance Works, the plant produced over 400 million pounds of trinitrotolulene (TNT) from 1941 to 1945. After the war, the Army placed the plant on standby status. During the Korean War (1950-1953), the need for munitions rose again, and the Universal Match Corporation, also of St. Louis, managed the site, producing propellant fuel.In 1956, Thiokol Chemical Corporation began manufacturing solid fuel rocket motors here. This highly guarded and classified site grew in a series of five expansions. In 1964, its name changed to the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant and employment rose to a high of nearly 3,000 personnel. The numbers declined with the end of the Vietnam War and the easing of tensions with the Soviet Union, and employment dropped to less than 1,000 by 1975.In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Intermediate Nuclear Forces, beginning the elimination of an entire class of missiles. In 1988, the first destruction on American soil of U.S. Pershing I and II rocket motors occurred at the site. Observed by Soviet and U.S. officials, the demolition project continued until 1991. Following official deactiviation in 1995, pollution abatement has steadily provided for adaptive reuse of the former wartime site, now part of the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge. (2007)

Historical Marker → · 4.8 mi away

Port Caddo

1806

Ancestral home of Texas Caddo Indians, this region gained a distinctive character in the 19th century. From 1806 to 1845 it lay in an area disputed by various countries and designated, from 1819, as the "neutral ground." Settlers living here were far from neutral, however. They became independent and resisted paying taxes levied by any "outside" authority. Port Caddo, founded 1838 on Caddo Lake, soon grew to importance, and its rowdy reputation grew too, as ship's crews, gamblers, and Indians filled its streets. Meanwhile, new towns and roads sprung up nearby. Continuing upheaval led to the assassination of the tax collector in 1840 and the townsmen joined in the factional "Regulator-Moderator War" from 1840 to 1844. When Texas proposed to join the Union in 1845, Port Caddoans saw a chance to end their problems and voted strongly in favor of statehood. From 1845 to the 1850's Port caddo thrived, growing to 500, but then declined as the Port of Jefferson and the county seat of Marshall drew away business. With the end of the great plantations after the Civil War, falling of the water level in Caddo Lake, and coming of the railroad to nearby Karnack (1900), Port Caddo gradually faded out of existence.

Historical Marker → · 5.8 mi away

Uncertain, TX

Uncertain, also known as Uncertain Landing, is an incorporated community on the shores of Caddo Lake seventeen miles northeast of Marshall in northeastern Harrison County. The site was once known as Uncertain Landing, so named, according to one local tradition, because of the difficulty steamboat captains in earlier days had in mooring their vessels there. Another tradition has it that the town name came from the uncertainty that residents had about their citizenship before the boundary between the United States and the Republic of Texas had been established. The latter uncertainty was a substantial benefit to residents who did not like paying taxes. In the early 1900s the site included a hunting, fishing, and boating society called the Uncertain Club. During the 1940s the community had scattered dwellings, a sawmill, several camping lodges, and some five other businesses. In a bid to promote tourism by providing an area with legal alcohol consumption, the community was incorporated as Uncertain in 1961. Former city officials claimed that uncertainty at the time of incorporation led to the community name. That year many of its 213 citizens were fishing-camp operators. The population of Uncertain was estimated at 189 in 1988, and the town limits were irregularly shaped, as they were designed to include most of the restaurants and fishing camps along that part of the Caddo Lake shoreline. Beer Smith's Caddo Lake Airport, known as the Fly and Fish, also lay within the boundaries of the community. In 1990 the population of Uncertain was 194. The population was 150 in 2000, but fell to 97 by 2015.

Tsha Handbook → · 6.7 mi away

Caddo Lake

The only natural lake in Texas, originally formed by the Great Raft log jam on the Red River. A mysterious bald cypress swamp draped in Spanish moss.

Natural Landmark → · 8.3 mi away

Scott, William Thomas

1840

William Thomas (Colonel Buck) Scott, legislator and planter, son of Thomas and Mary (Keller) Scott, was born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, on December 14, 1811. His father had arrived with his widowed mother and other family members in Louisiana about 1808. After his marriage to Mary Keller, the family moved first to Wilkinson County and then to Copiah County, Mississippi. Thomas Scott never fully recovered from wounds he received at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, and he died in 1823, leaving his widow and several small children. William Thomas Scott was forced to go to work at an early age at the store owned by Judge Buckner Harris in Gallatin, Mississippi. Hard work and perseverance resulted in his gaining a lucrative partnership with Harris. Profits from the business also enabled him to acquire land and additional capital. On March 8, 1834, he married Mary Washington Rose, daughter of William Pinckney Rose . Scott and his brothers were accused of the murder of Robert Potter by the state of Mississippi in July 1839, but the charges were not proven. William and Mary Rose Scott had three children while living in Mississippi. The Scott family, along with several members of the Rose and Scott families, immigrated to Texas in June 1840 and settled in Harrison County. He built the first wood frame plantation style home in Harrison County, which was maintained by the Bettie Scott Youree Foundation. Scott reserved nine acres for the Rock Spring Methodist Church, a community cemetery, and a slave cemetery. He later provided an additional three acres for a Methodist tabernacle to host the annual Methodist Holiness Camp Meeting. Scott quickly acquired several large parcels of land totally nearing 25,000 acres and established five cotton plantations, including Scottsville Plantation, near Scottsville, a town he founded. He was the largest slave owner in the county and his family grew to include nine more children. His production in 1859 of 356 bales of cotton was the largest in Harrison County. In addition to his agricultural pursuits Scott was a partner in a New Orleans cotton-brokerage firm. For several years before the Civil War he maintained a home on Apollo Street during the winter as he worked with the firm. This also enabled his children to take advantage of the schools in the city. Scott was elected to the House of Representatives of the last Congress of the Republic of Texas and was a member of the Senate of the First Texas Legislature in 1846. He declined reelection the next term because of an eye affliction, but he was elected to the state Senate in 1851 and served until 1856. He was a member of the Secession Convention of 1861. After his disfranchisement was lifted by President Andrew Johnson he again entered political life. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1879 to 1883. During his legislative career Scott championed the cause of railroad construction. In 1852 he introduced the bill chartering the Vicksburg and El Paso Railroad. He, along with eight other men, was listed as an incorporator of the company. A charter amendment in 1856, achieved over the veto of Governor E. M. Pease , renamed the company the Southern Pacific Railroad Company (no connection with the modern company of the same name). Scott served on the board of directors of the company and as vice president from 1859 to 1861. Only about twenty-seven miles of track were actually laid before the onset of the Civil War, but the railroad survived the war and by 1872 extended from the Louisiana state line to Longview in Gregg County. In the early 1870s, however, most of the incorporators, including Scott, lost most of their assets. Stock and control of the line were sold to other investors, who then began construction under the reorganized company called the Texas and Pacific Railway. Scott died at Scottsville Plantation on November 1, 1887, and he was buried in the Scottsville Cemetery next to his wife.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.7 mi away

Things to Do in Leigh

quirky 7.9 mi away
Caddo Lake

The only natural lake in Texas is also the most haunted-looking -- twenty-five thousand acres of bald cypress swamp draped in Spanish moss straddling the…
quirky 16.3 mi away
Jay Goulds Curse on Jefferson

When railroad baron Jay Gould rolled into Jefferson in the 1870s he had a simple proposition: let me bring my railroad through town. The city fathers flush…
historical 16.4 mi away
The Great Raft That Built a City

For centuries an 80-mile logjam called the Great Raft choked the Red River so completely that it backed water all the way up into Caddo Lake. That accidental…
historical 20.0 mi away
The Diamond Bessie Murder

On a winter day in 1877 a well-dressed couple crossed the bridge over Cypress Bayou carrying a picnic basket. He was Abraham Rothschild heir to a jewelry…
nature 7.0 mi away
Caddo Lake

The only natural lake in Texas. Spanish moss-draped cypress trees and alligators.
quirky 16.4 mi away
Spielberg Fled the Excelsior House

The Excelsior House has been hosting guests since the 1850s and most of them sleep just fine. Steven Spielberg was not one of them. The story goes that the…
historical 16.4 mi away
Last Confederate Powder Magazine in Texas

In 1863 with the Civil War grinding on the Confederacy needed a safe place to store gunpowder and ammunition deep in the Texas interior. They built an ordnance…
quirky 16.5 mi away
The Grove — Americas Most Haunted House

Built in 1861 in the middle of Jeffersons boom years The Grove looks like any other graceful Southern home from the outside. Inside is another story entirely.…

Everything Near Leigh

421 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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