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Fort Washita |
The West Barracks scenic ruin once was home to the Colbert family, prominent Chickasaw leaders, but the home burned down in 1917. |
Inside the west barracks ruin at Fort Washita. The iron bars hold up the stone walls that were covered in ivy (vandals may have partially destroyed the ivy). The stone was quarried from the bromide-heavy roocks underlying the area. |
The Military Road (with reconstructed administration building and parade grounds in the background) also served as a pioneer trail, which met up with the Coffee's Trading Post at Preston,Texas (now under Lake Texoma's waters). The road doubled as the Butterfield Overland Stage Coach and Mail route. |
The area surrounding Fort Washita is allegedly haunted. Ghosts and spirits have been sighted on many occasions, even by seasoned park personnel. I had my own ghostly encounter at Boggy Depot, a nearby ghost town that was once the seat of the Chickasaw Nation. To celebrate this spookiness, Fort Washita hosts ghost stories on the weekend before Halloween. |
In Fort Washita, you can marvel at the old ruts along the "gold road" - an emigrant trail that ran through California that was also used by the Butterfield Overland Stage Coach. |