Goodnight Cemetery Traditional Geocache
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(regular)
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Named for famed cattleman Charles Goodnight, who settled here, the first building in town was reportedly Goodnight's ranch house, built in 1887. Goodnight moved to Texas in 1846 with his mother and stepfather, Hiram Daugherty. In 1856, he became a cowboy and served with the local militia, fighting against Comanche raiders. A year later, in 1857, Goodnight joined the Texas Rangers.
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At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Confederate States Army. Most of his time was spent as part of a frontier regiment guarding against raids by Indians.
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Following the war, he became involved in the herding of feral Texas Longhorn cattle northward from West Texas to railroads. This "making the gather" was a near state-wide round-up of cattle that had roamed free during the four long years of war. In 1866, he and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of cattle northward along what would become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail.
Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight, with the help of the Goodnight Baptist Church opened Goodnight College (1898 until 1917). Charles Goodnight died in 1929, but up until his death he was, for all intents and purposes, the town of Goodnight. His house and his buffalo herd remain.
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He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle."
By long custom, visitors to the Goodnight Cemetery tie a bandana to the fence in front of Goodnight's grave. Faded and torn, the bandanas are periodically removed, but new ones soon appear.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU GEODADS! SPECIAL THANKS FOR THOSE PASSING ALONG THE GEO-TRADTION TO THE KIDS.
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