Walking around Watauga and Restaurant Review

Watauga City Hall

Watauga is a tiny town sandwiched among Keller, Fort Worth, Haltom City and North Richland Hills. However, this hamlet has an interesting history beginning with its name: Watauga is the Cherokee word for ‘village of many springs’. Early Anglo settlers built farms and ranches, creating a rather successful agrarian area. Following these pioneers came folks from Watauga, Tennessee; they eventually formed a small town. This town included the establishment of the Willow Springs Presbyterian Church in 1867, which is still in operation, today. With the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway, the Watauga population grew. This railroad actually brought the people from the east and west coasts to Fort Worth with freight cars transporting cattle across the US. Although this industry was a boon to the city, two tragedies are associated with it. The first came in 1909 when the depot was completely lost in a fire; evidently no one was injured. The second disaster was the ‘Great Watauga Train Wreck’ of 1917. Completely ignoring warnings from stations along the way, a Katy passenger train rammed head-on into a Katy bound freight

Watauga Presbyterian Church

train. The impact threw both trains off the tracks. Most people in Watauga arrived shortly after the wreck to help survivors and to begin cleaning up the wreckage. Industry in the surrounding areas has helped increase the population to its current level.

Since it’s next door to where we live, we’re in Watauga all the time for shopping. We also have to drive through this hamlet any time we head south so it’s no wonder that I was curious about its roots and decided to add it to the list of places Near-Normal Travelers visit. Watauga has more than its share of places to shop along the Old Denton Highway and some good places to eat. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.