A Bankhead Vagabond

 Remnants of a tourist camp in Cisco, TX

 

Departure, according to John Jakle, is a "quiet slipping away from the safety and comfort of home into the relative unknown... [Furthermore] it caused exhilaration at starting something new, at beginning adventure" (Jakle, 1985, p.11).

The automobile was more than just a curious new mechanical invention. It was a chance for men, and in some cases in the early years, women, to escape from the confines of industrial life and explore the country. One of the pastimes that evolved from this adventure was auto camping.

A June 1912 issue of Motor Age gave a Jack Kerouac type description of a person who stayed the night along the roadside. "You are your own master, the road is ahead; you eat as you please, cooking your own meals over an open fire; sleeping when you will under the stars, waking with the dawn; swim in a mountain lake when you will, and always the road ahead." Auto campers were originally thought of as gypsies due to their nomadic traveling tendencies. Many people perceived them as hobos, those who traveled and supposedly did not contain much of a work ethic. Nonetheless, the men and women who camped alongside the road were people from all walks of life: from those looking to escape the augmenting industrialization of cities to prominent people, including presidents (Presidential Camping Experience). "For businessmen in need of rest but unable to unwind on conventional resort vacations, the tramp's free and easy style could seem worth emulating"(p.12).

The goal of auto camping, according to Elizabeth Spurge, was to "laze around the road like gypsies and see everything and do everything just as our fancies dictates, not to hurry, but to really enjoy every minute of the trip (Spurge, 1925, p.563).

In Eastland, TX motorists driving along TX Highway 1, later the Bankhead Highway, took their Model T's or Studebakers up a cherry brick road that led them to a Stonehenge like edifice.

They camped, enjoyed one another's camaraderie and cooked in the great outdoors.

Remnants of a kitchen

 

Today, the park continues to be used for recreational purposes.(Park Hill in Eastland) However, it contains more modern conveniences such as a large barbeque pit, play areas for children as well as picnic areas and a water park. Who knows how the men and women of the Roaring Twenties would have adapted to today's mode of travel, but their spirit remains in Eastland, TX.


Sources:
1. Belasco, W. (1981). Americans on the road: From autocamp to motel, 1910-1945. (1st ed., pp. 11-12). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

2. Jakle, J. (1985). The tourist: Travel in twentieth-century north america. (p. 11). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

3. Spurge, E. (1925, February). Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Motor Camper and Tourist, 563.