Scenic Route: Boots ‘n’ Barb

Heading six miles southwest along Texas 39 from Hunt, travelers encounter a barbed-wire fence with wooden posts capped by upside-down cowboy boots and other footwear. Most of the boots run along a roughly eighth-of-a-mile section on the west side, but a few pop up along the fence on the east side. Country lore holds that folks would put their boots on a fence to prevent rain from rotting the posts, honor the passing of a person or horse, or (before telephones) indicate that a rancher is home.