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First aidRachel's Gift LbNA #45790

Owner:Lone Star Quilter
Plant date:Mar 7, 2009
Location:
City:Weches
County:Houston
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Bandit Raccoon
Last found:Mar 14, 2020
Status:FFFFFFFFFFaF
Last edited:Mar 7, 2009
Replaced and moved to a different location in this park 8-31-15. Discard any clues printed out before this date.

Jackson Fitzgerald, my great great great grandfather, came to Texas from Tennessee in 1839. His great granddaughter, Rachel Bradberry, was born in San Augustine County in 1898. She grew up on a farm and lived in a log dog-trot cabin. It was there that she learned to make quilts. Quilting was an important part of life in those days, not just a hobby.

Jackson Fitzgerald, my great great great grandfather, came to Texas from Tennessee in 1839. (See the "Texas Roots" letterbox). His great granddaughter, Rachel Bradberry, was born in San Augustine County in 1898. She grew up on a farm and lived in a log dog-trot cabin. It was there that she learned to make quilts. Quilting was an important part of life in those days, not just a hobby. Quilts were not an art form, but a necessity. Homes were heated by the warmth of a fireplace during the day and at night, not at all. When you went to bed on your feather or cotton-stuffed mattress, you would have two or more quilts to keep you warm. When I would stay overnight at my Granny’s house, she turned off all the heat and the only thing that kept us warm was her quilts. I remember playing under the quilting frame in the living room, where Granny and her sisters would meet a couple of times a year to quilt. I learned to love quilting from my Granny, Rachel, and now hardly a week goes by that I’m not involved with the process of quilting, either playing with different fabrics, designing a new quilt or piecing one. Quilting is a special gift from my Granny, Rachel Bradberry O’Neal, and a real Texas Heritage.

Direcions:
This letterbox is located at Mission Tejas State Park, a gem of a park in the Davy Crockett National Forest in East Texas. From Crockett, which is located about 130 miles north of Houston, go northeast on Hwy 21 for 21 miles to Weches. Turn left on Park Road 44 to Mission Tejas State Park. Pay fee and get a map. Drive to the pond and park there.

To the box:
Get a park map and find the intersection of the Olen Matchett Trail and the Steep Step Trail. You'll find a bench there, so sit and take a rest from the long hike. Turn around and notice the 3-trunked oak tree behind you. Behind that tree is a slender pine and in-line with those two trees, further up the hill, is a large pine with blackened bark at the base. The box is in front of the burnt tree with a rock and debris cover.