Glen Rose Square & Barnard's Mill

Glen Rose began as Barnard's Mill — a fort-like grist mill on the Paluxy River raised in 1860 by trader Charles Barnard — and grew into the seat of tiny Somervell County, Texas's second-smallest. The square that fills its center is compact and richly layered: a limestone courthouse, hand-cut stone storefronts, and just down the hill the old mill itself, now an art museum. The town later became famous as the dinosaur-track capital of Texas, and the prints in the riverbed and the mineral springs that drew health-seekers are both part of the downtown's story. This short walk circles the square and the mill, taking in the courthouse, the early bank touched by trail-driver Charles Goodnight, the jail, and the sanitarium that turned spring water into a cure. It's a small square that holds a surprising amount of Texas.