East Texas / Piney Woods
Gregg County, Texas
A local guide to the county: the stories that give it a shape, practical checks, and a few things worth knowing before they surprise you. Every note points to its source.
17 stories · 16 practical · 3 good to know
The practical part
Gregg County offices and deadlines
Appraisal district & tax office →
The Comptroller's official directory for Gregg County: who sets your value and who sends the bill.
Homestead exemption →
File Form 50-114 with the appraisal district. It is free. The regular deadline is April 30, and late filing is allowed for up to two years.
Protest your appraisal →
The usual deadline is May 15, or 30 days after your notice arrives, whichever is later.
Estimate a tax bill →
Model a bill from local rates, the homestead exemption, and the appraisal cap.
Start here
A little of what makes this place itself
Longview · Walking trail
Boorman Trail follows Grace Creek through Longview
Boorman Trail gives Longview a three-mile creek-corridor walk with quarter-mile pavement markers and emergency location signs.
Kilgore · Trail system
Creekside Trail follows Bighead Creek through Kilgore
Creekside Trail gives Kilgore more than 3.5 miles of paths beside Bighead Creek, with trailheads from Stone Road to Leach Street.
Longview · City park
Lear Park is Longview's big field-and-trail park
Lear Park on H. G. Mosley Parkway puts ballfields, a walking trail, a fishing pier, a playground, and a splash pad in one Longview park.
Practical Kilgore Puts Zoning, Permits, and Site Clues in One Development Path Kilgore's development office ties together zoning, building review, public works, fire review, maps, and permit checklists. Practical South Longview Has a Targeted Homebuilding Incentive Longview's South Longview Incentive Program points new owner-occupied single-family homebuilding toward a specific part of town. Good to know Kilgore Is Strict About Mobile and Manufactured Homes Inside Kilgore city limits, manufactured homes fit limited situations, and mobile homes are not allowed.
All 36 local notes
The full county shelf is mixed so stories and useful checks travel together. Use the filters when you need one kind.
Showing all 36 notes.
- Stories & local character Outdoors Boorman Trail follows Grace Creek through Longview Boorman Trail gives Longview a three-mile creek-corridor walk with quarter-mile pavement markers and emergency location signs. Longview
- Practical Home & Property Kilgore Puts Zoning, Permits, and Site Clues in One Development Path Kilgore's development office ties together zoning, building review, public works, fire review, maps, and permit checklists. Kilgore
- Stories & local character Outdoors Creekside Trail follows Bighead Creek through Kilgore Creekside Trail gives Kilgore more than 3.5 miles of paths beside Bighead Creek, with trailheads from Stone Road to Leach Street. Kilgore
- Practical Home & Property South Longview Has a Targeted Homebuilding Incentive Longview's South Longview Incentive Program points new owner-occupied single-family homebuilding toward a specific part of town. Longview
- Good to know Home & Property Kilgore Is Strict About Mobile and Manufactured Homes Inside Kilgore city limits, manufactured homes fit limited situations, and mobile homes are not allowed. Kilgore
- Stories & local character Outdoors Lear Park is Longview's big field-and-trail park Lear Park on H. G. Mosley Parkway puts ballfields, a walking trail, a fishing pier, a playground, and a splash pad in one Longview park. Longview
- Practical Outdoors Deer hunting rules for Gregg County Gregg County is in TPWD's North Zone, where the 2026-27 white-tailed deer rules allow four deer with limits on bucks, antlerless deer, and legal antlers.
- Stories & local character Outdoors The Longview Arboretum brings a garden walk to Cotton Street The Longview Arboretum and Nature Center sits on 26 acres between the convention complex and a Grace Creek tributary. Longview
- Practical Outdoors The Annual Public Hunting Permit opens land across Texas TPWD's Annual Public Hunting Permit opens listed units around Texas to residents and nonresidents, but the map, schedule, and allowed activities control each trip.
- Good to know Outdoors The Sabine crosses Gregg County before it becomes a state line The Sabine runs northwest to southeast through Gregg County, while flood maps, stream gauges, and water-quality reports each answer a different question about the river.
- Stories & local character Outdoors Walk Kilgore's World's Richest Acre under the derricks On North Commerce Street in Kilgore, the World's Richest Acre turns the East Texas oil boom into a street-level landmark. Kilgore
- Practical Rules & Licenses Getting a marriage license in Gregg County The County Clerk issues marriage licenses from the second floor of the Longview courthouse, and the two things that trip couples up are the appointment and the 72-hour wait between buying the license and saying 'I do.'
- Stories & local character History & Culture Downtown Longview Still Works From the Original 100 Acres Longview's Main Street district keeps the city's early downtown blocks active with museums, the library, local businesses, and weekend events. Longview
- Practical Rules & Licenses If your Gregg County business stores chemicals, you may owe a Tier II report A facility holding hazardous chemicals above the state thresholds has to file a Tier II inventory every year by March 1, and in Gregg County a copy goes to the local emergency planners, not just the state.
- Good to know Home & Property Flooding is a real risk in parts of Gregg County FEMA maps high-risk flood areas along the Sabine River and several Gregg County creeks. That does not put every parcel in those communities in a floodplain.
- Stories & local character History & Culture Gladewater Went From Railroad Stop to Oil Boom to Antique Streets Gladewater's city history runs through an 1873 railroad stop, a 1931 oil strike, Lake Gladewater, and a downtown antique-shop identity. Gladewater
- Practical Money & Taxes Lower your tax bill with a homestead exemption If you own an interest in a Gregg County home and use it as your principal residence, a homestead exemption can lower its taxable value.
- Stories & local character History & Culture Kilgore's Cultural District Links Downtown and the College Kilgore's Cultural District pulls historic downtown, Kilgore College, museums, landmarks, food, shopping, and performance spaces into one close cluster. Kilgore
- Practical Cars & Driving No emissions test required to register your car in Gregg County Gregg County requires no safety or emissions test for a noncommercial vehicle. Commercial vehicles still need a commercial test.
- Stories & local character Outdoors Cherokee Lake's record bass comes with private-water rules Cherokee Lake straddles Gregg and Rusk counties, and a 1987 largemouth bass still holds its TPWD water-body record, but the lake is privately owned and access is controlled.
- Practical Home & Property Rural Gregg County Septic Starts With the Health Department For a home outside sewer service, Gregg County points owners toward an on-site sewage facility application, site evaluation, checklist, and permitting process.
- Stories & local character Home & Property Old Longview Buildings Can Need Landmark Review Longview has local landmarks and historic overlay areas where old-building work may need city review before it starts. Longview
- Practical Money & Taxes Senior, disability, and veteran tax breaks use different rules Older homeowners, people with a qualifying disability, and disabled veterans use separate Texas tax rules. One benefit does not grant the others.
- Stories & local character History & Culture Railroads built Longview — and Gregg County Longview was founded in 1870 as a railroad town, and the arrival of multiple rail lines shaped the early economy of Gregg County.
- Practical Rules & Licenses When you can burn brush in unincorporated Gregg County Before you burn brush outside Gregg County city limits, check the Fire Marshal page or call 903-234-3144. The answer can change with local orders and dry weather.
- Stories & local character History & Culture Indigenous peoples lived in Gregg County before Anglo settlement The area that is now Gregg County was home to Caddo peoples and later Cherokee immigrants before Anglo settlers arrived in the 1840s.
- Practical Money & Taxes Who handles each part of a Gregg County property tax bill Gregg CAD appraises taxable property and handles exemption applications, while an independent review board hears formal appraisal protests and tax collectors handle bills.
- Stories & local character History & Culture Industry came to Gregg County after World War II After World War II, major industrial employers, including LeTourneau and Texas Eastman, set up in Gregg County and built an economy beyond oil.
- Practical Money & Taxes You can protest your property value in Gregg County Gregg County owners can protest an appraisal to the review board. The usual deadline is May 15 or 30 days after the notice arrives, whichever is later.
- Stories & local character History & Culture The East Texas Oil Field transformed Gregg County The discovery of the East Texas Oil Field in 1931 turned Gregg County from a quiet farming area into one of the most active oil regions in U.S. history.
- Practical Money & Taxes Your Gregg County tax bill follows a stack of local boundaries A Gregg County tax bill adds the amount due to each unit that covers the parcel. Exemptions can give each unit a different taxable value.
- Stories & local character Rules & Licenses The Railroad Commission map is only a first clue about a Gregg County well The Railroad Commission is Texas's main oil and gas regulator. Its well map cannot fix a Gregg County parcel line or show who owns the minerals.
- Practical Rules & Licenses How to reach Gregg County's game warden Game warden assignments change. TPWD's live Gregg County directory shows the current phone number.
- Stories & local character History & Culture How Gregg County got its name Gregg County was created in 1873 and named after John B. Gregg, a Confederate general killed during the Civil War.
- Practical Cars & Driving Gregg County's boat counter handles renewals, not every boat transaction Gregg County residents can renew a Texas boat registration at the county tax office. New registrations, titles, and transfers go to a full-service TPWD office.
- Stories & local character History & Culture Gregg County's city map still carries the oil boom Gregg County has nine cities wholly or partly within it. Kilgore and Gladewater tell two versions of the oil-boom story.
Nearby counties