Norman's Crossing, TX

     At the intersection of FM 3349 and FM 1660 lies Norman's Crossing. Going here was kind of unintentional. You see, I don't actually just get in the car and drive around and miraculously come across old buildings or whatever. I generally pore over Google Maps and look for something out of the ordinary, like Dime Box, or just happen upon something that catches my attention. Then I look it up on Wikipedia or the TSHA site. After that I use Street View to see if there's anything interesting nearby.

St. John's Church, built 1925

     Norman's Crossing didn't really get my attention. What I saw in Street View was, basically, an historical marker set into the ground. I decided, then, to give it a pass and just drive around in the hopes I found something interesting. Shopping had to be done and I didn't want to take up a lot of time, anyway. Also, it looked like it would rain.
     So I fired up the Red Head and took a drive. I found a church at a cross roads and stopped to see if, maybe, it had a marker on it and maybe find out when it was built. That could take a few minutes of my time. Sure enough, it did. I took some pictures which, I swear, were straight when I took them.
     Turning, I looked across the street to see if there was anything over there. That's when I saw this:

It was fate!

     Really. What were the odds of the random left and right turns I took to eventually end up at the place I had decided not to bother with? I won't say it was a wasted trip. It was actually quite nice. And I didn't travel too far from home. And I saw this lovely couple who were eyeing me suspiciously.

"You just keep right on movin'..."

   

They feature live music

 There's also a bar nestled back here call R Brushy Creek Bar. It wasn't open, I think, when I went past. I'd be curious to know what it's like when it is open. Is it busy? Do a lot of people stop by? I had always hoped that when I got to this place in life that I'm at that I'd have a small house next door to a bar like this.
     I'm not sure why; I don't actually drink much these days. I guess it would just be nice to be around a group of people who go on about their lives doing living people kind of things.

New Sweden

     For a while now I've been saying that if you can think of a word, there's probably a town with that name. Or was a town with that name. This is not true as I couldn't find a Jupiter (from the last entry) or a Damn (which I find surprising since there was an Eye Gouge, TX at one time).
     That being said, there's probably a good number of foreign countries and cities used as town names. And there's a New Sweden. Or was. Well, as I've been finding out, towns like New Sweden still exist, they just don't usually have their own school system or post office. It's a little like being a named subdivision in a larger city. This is why, when you're driving through a section of Big City you'll see businesses using the name SmallTownville on everything. As it is now, I guess New Sweden is considered a part of Manor.
     Anyway, New Sweden is on FM 973, northeast of Manor, west of Manda, and south of Cele. I don't think there's very much there besides a church, which gave the town its name.

That steeple is ridiculously high

      It was built in 1922, although it was established in 1876. Perhaps there was an older building there? There's also a cemetery.

     We didn't see very much other than that. FM 973 isn't a particularly busy road on the weekends.

But there were horses