Region: Piney Woods
Although only one family was living here in 1846, the site was chosen as the
seat of Cherokee County. Named after Thomas Jefferson Rusk, a signer of the
Texas Declaration of Independence, the town is famed as the birthplace of James
Stephen Hogg and Thomas Mitchell Campbell, who were the first and second
native-born Texans to serve as governor.
While in town, take in a round of golf, view the post office mural or visit
the hiking trails and picnic sites at historic Butler Park. Birmingham Forest
Golf Course is a scenic and challenging nine-hole course. Tee times:
903/683-9518. The post office lobby contains a mural painted in 1939 by Bernard
Burch Zacheim. The paints used were mixed from clay native to the East Texas
area.