The ghost town of Coughran sits down a small country road lined with oak trees, close to Judge Donna Rayes’ house just outside Pleasanton.

If it weren’t for Rayes, of the 81st District Court in Jourdanton, the antique double doors of the two-story Coughran Brothers Mercantile would probably be rotting in disrepair. But instead, people celebrating wedding receptions or 100-year birthdays can sit on the building’s back deck, shaded by massive oaks and gazing at a field of springtime bluebonnets.