Home is what you take with you, not what you leave behind."

Created in 1848, Van Zandt County is a land of small towns and communities, with unique histories and modern-day character and activities to explore.

The county seat.  Home to First Monday Trade Days, reputed to be the world's largest flea market, which is held the weekend before the first Monday of every month. Its 1930s-era courthouse sits in a charming town square.

Named for its first postmaster, who actually did not live in the town, now a lively town with restaurants and live music.

Once a center for timber harvesting and agriculture, the  town boasts an impressive historic treasure: the Heritage Park Museum of East Texas. 

An agricultural community that slowly evolved into an arts district in the 1970s, due  to the vision of artists who came to the small town and have remained to this day.

A farming center known for its orchards in the early days. Like Wills Point, Edgewood and Grand Saline, it benefited from its location on the rail line.

For centuries, this area was a mecca for indigenous peoples and European settlers seeking salt, which seeped up into brine in nearby waterways. Now, the Morton Salt plant is a major employer.

A farming town, it has remained small but indomitable.  In its early years, the entire town relocated down the road due to damage from a tornado, with the flexibility and energy common to county residents.

Like all towns in the county, Myrtle Springs was an agricultural hub in the early days.  Famed for its springs, for many years the community featured an enormous swimming pool and park that old timers still remember.

A sleepy farm community until oil was discovered nearby in the late 1920s. An explosion of growth and prosperity ensued. Van still celebrates its history, both as an oil boomtown and agricultural center.

Wills Point was named for one of the earliest settlers in the county, William Wills. Later, the Texas and Pacific Railway ran its track through the town, ensuring its vitality as a commercial center.