Mount Vernon History and Attractions
The town of Mount Vernon grew up as a settlement near the Fanning Springs (Holbrook Street south of the preasent town square). Affidavits filed to establish land titles soon after the Texas Revolution document the settlement by squatters in Spanish Texas commencing in 1818. By 1848 the United States government established a post office; in 1849 a formal town site was laid out on land donated by Stephen and Rebecca Keith.
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Fire Station Museum
Housed in 1940 WPA-financed firestation; displays of butterflies, bird eggs, violins, wood carings, Indian artifacts and changing exhibits. This museum is one of only 13 museums holding eggs of extinct Carolina Parakeet; Heath Hen and Passenger Pigeon. The Fire Station Museum is located at 111 S. Kaufman St.; Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a. m. To 4 p. m. 903-537-4760. Free Admission.
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Mount Vernon Railroad Depot
1894 restored Cotton Belt Depot; features model train exhibit; working telegraphy and railroading exhibits; 1898 Studebaker covered wagon; open in connection with museum or for special tours.
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1883 Parchman House Museum
Victorian farmhouse has original outbuildings, a small barn, smokehouse, chicken coop, and an outhouse. Picnic tables and grounds. There is also an 1868 log cabin on the property for visitors to study log construction (moved from inundated lake area).
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Dupree Park Nature Center
Opened October 2002. One block west of Main St. and U. s. 37 inter. (On original Bankhead Highway route). A 57 acre nature preserve with winding hiking trails adjacent to the historic association's 1868 home of Henry Clay Thruston,
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Bankhead Highway Visitor Center
1/4th mile west of intersection of State Hwy. 37 on West Main. Free Admission. Restored Thruston House 1868, home of Henry Clay Thruston, at 7 feet 7 and ½ inches the Tallest Soldier in the Confederate Army (and maybe of the Civil War).
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Franklin County Genealogical Society
104 W. Main (south side, town square) in the 1894 Parchman-Meredith store Building. Monday-Friday 10 a. m. To 4 p. m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Exhibits on county history. Free research facilities with regional archives and trained research assistants on duty. 905-537-3931. |
Franklin County Arts Alliance
Operating the Old Jail Art Museum (immediately behind the courthouse on town square) and the Cultural Arts Center (at the corner of Rusk and Dallas Streets, one block west of the town square). The Old Jail Art Museum has changing visual art exhibitions
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Points of Interest