Gilmer.

Gilmer is Upshur County's seat, and the homes around the courthouse square and out along the farm-to-market roads are mostly older stock: houses that need roofs after hail, windows and siding that have seen decades of East Texas humidity, and kitchens and bathrooms that have not been touched since they were built.

The acreage and lake properties around Gilmer, toward Lake Gilmer and Lake O' the Pines, bring the other side of the work: additions, decks, and spray foam on metal shops and barns that were never insulated in the first place.