Texas' Once-Thriving Sawmill Now Sits As An Abandoned Beauty In A Breathtaking National Forest

The most prominent scenes that come to mind when you think of Texas landscapes might be cattle ranches or dusty plains, not dense pine forest. However, East Texas is an exception. It's here that you'll find the Angelina National Forest, one of four national forests that make up the region of Texas known as the Pineywoods. In fact, Texas used to have a lot more forest, but it was significantly depleted during the lumbering boom from the 1880s to the 1930s. Sawmills popped up all around the Pineywoods, which led to towns being built for the people who owned and operated them. In the Angelina National Forest, one of those sawmills, long abandoned, has been preserved as the Aldridge Sawmill Historic Site. You can still see its early 20th century remains and get a glimpse into the operations that relied on the surrounding forest for its existence.

The Aldridge Sawmill was a juggernaut in its prime, and it produced up to 125,000 board feet of lumber in a day. The sawmill became active in 1905 but had a short lifespan, meeting its fate because (no surprise) it ran out of forest after exhausting its vicinity. What's left of the mill today is its concrete shell, with imposing, overgrown walls covered in graffiti. You can also see some of the ruins and foundations of buildings that encircled the mill, like a power plant and kiln, plus some traces of a former railroad. There was once a small town made up of the mill's workers and their families, but nothing significant remains of those dwellings.

You can get to the Aldridge Sawmill site by driving up to it along County Road 34, from which it's a short walk to the mill. However, if you're a hiker, it's worth considering making the 2.75-mile trek along the Sawmill Hiking Trail through the steadily restoring Angelina National Forest. To reach the trailhead, you can drive from the pretty city of Zavalla, known as the "gateway to the Angelina National Forest." The trail starts at Boykin Springs Recreation Area, which itself is a well-reviewed campground for its woodsy scenery, about a 15-minute drive from town. Setting off on the trail, you'll walk among pines and cypresses, crossing a creek along the way. The trail also partially skirts the old tramway.

If you'll be flying into the state with America's most abandoned towns, the closest commercial option is the Jack Brooks Regional Airport, about a two-hour drive away. For an airport with more connections — or if you plan to base yourself in Houston for a trip — then you could also fly into Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and drive two hours and 15 minutes to the site. Outdoorsy travelers interested in spending more time in the Angelina National Forest might find that the Boykin Springs Recreation Area is a convenient spot to camp out, not only because of its proximity to the sawmill trail, but also because it has over a dozen campsites, showers, and toilets. Plus, it puts you within a 30-minute drive of Lake Sam Rayburn, famous for its top-tier fishing and sandy beaches.