Brenham is a small-town stop rather than a sightseeing weekend. The Blue Bell Creamery — Texas's oldest and most loved ice-cream brand — is the obvious draw, and a scoop in the visitor center parlour is the standard reason most people detour off Highway 290. The 1939 Washington County Courthouse and the surrounding Downtown Historic District make a pleasant hour's walk afterwards, with antique shops and Czech-German bakeries scattered around the square. A few miles out of town the Antique Rose Emporium is one of the South's best small display gardens, and in spring the surrounding pastures fill with bluebonnets — the wildflower drive is a March-April rite of passage for Houstonians.