Everything Canyon Lake is known for
Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Canyon Lake.
Canyon Lake holds a certain quiet charm, a Hill Country tranquility that belies the energy that bubbles beneath the surface. You might be forgiven for thinking it’s just another pretty reservoir, formed by the Guadalupe and dotted with Ashe juniper. But listen closely to the country radio, and you’ll hear a connection to something more. FM 306 provides a stunning view, and Jacobs Creek Park offers a scenic bluff.
Canyon Lake, nestled in the Texas Hill Country, is more than just a pretty reservoir – it's a testament to the enduring spirit of adapting to change. For generations, this area along the Guadalupe River was ranching country, dotted with small communities. But everything shifted when the Canyon Lake Dam was completed in 1964. What was once a valley became a sprawling lake, forever altering the landscape and the lives of those who called it home. While ranching still holds a place in the hearts of many, the lake itself became the new lifeblood of the area. The clear waters and rugged beauty draw visitors from across the state and beyond, seeking a tranquil escape. Lakeside communities blossomed, offering a slower pace and a connection to nature. Tourism became a major driver, with boating, fishing, and exploring the submerged remnants of the old towns becoming signature activities. Even the ubiquitous Ashe juniper, blanketing the hillsides, plays its part, contributing to the air's crisp, clean scent that defines the Canyon Lake experience. The spirit of the original settlers, who knew how to work the land, carries on in the folks who now cater to those seeking respite on the water, each writing a new chapter in Canyon Lake's story.
Canyon Lake, for all its modern recreational appeal, whispers stories of the German immigrants who shaped this part of the Texas Hill Country long before the dam was built. You can still see their legacy etched into the landscape. While the lake itself, formed in '64, submerged the original town, the spirit of those early settlers lingers. Drive around, and you'll notice names like "Jacobs Creek," a nod to families who farmed these valleys. The architecture, though often updated, sometimes hints at the sturdy, practical designs these settlers favored. They built to last, using the local limestone, just like you see in older structures around New Braunfels. The language, a dialect of German known as Texas German, wasn't passed down as widely, but you might still hear a phrase or two from older folks in the wider Comal County area. More subtly, their work ethic and determination to build a life from the land still resonate. Even the way people gather, the emphasis on family and neighborliness, feels like an echo of those close-knit communities that once thrived in the valley now beneath the clear waters of Canyon Lake.
In this area, now covered by Canyon Lake, German emigrants were the first settlers. A society of nobles (Mainzer Adelsverein) sponsored the emigration of 7,380 Germans to Texas from 1844 to 1847. They founded New Braunfels in 1845. Moving west, they established Fredericksburg in 1846. Their Comanche Indian treaty opened 3,800,000 acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers to peaceful settlement. Farmers and artisans, scholars and scientists, they triumphed over epidemic and privation to help build Texas and the West. (1968)
The area of Startzville was established at the intersection of Cranes Mill Road and Sattler Road. In 1940 Bruno and Viola Elbel built a cedar yard and store. Curt and Alice Schlameus Startz leased the building in 1944, operated the store and eventually bought the property in 1946. Curt Startz was the grandson of Heinrich and Louise Artzt Startz that settled in the area in the 1850s. The name Startzville was first used in 1950 by artist Dr. E. J. Duffin who completed a painting of the store front. Selling ice was a significant business before, during and after the building of Canyon Dam and Lake. In 1963, James and Lorine Pantermuehl Startz added a café that is still in operation today. (2012)
German immigrants were the first to colonize permanently this area along the Guadalupe River in the 1850s. The dispersed rural community was known at times as Marienthal, Walhalla and Mountain Valley, with the name Sattler assigned when the post office, first opened in 1856 at the Wilhelm Sattler home, was more centrally located in 1880. The Weil-Nowotny-Guenther store, with its complex of buildings-post office, dance hall, cotton gin and bowling alley-served as a gathering place for farm and ranch families who lived in the area. Construction of Canyon Dam in the 1960s hastened the dispersal of the German community, but the heritage of Sattler remains significant in the History of Comal County. 						(2002)	
Gruene was originally three miles north of New Braunfels at a crossing on the Guadalupe River in Comal County. In recent decades it has been brought within the city limits of New Braunfels. The community was once a prosperous commercial and supply center for blackland cotton farmers of eastern Comal County. German farmers settled the area in the 1850s, and the town took shape in subsequent years under the name Goodwin Community. In 1872 the Gruene family purchased 6,000 acres north of the Guadalupe River, and in 1878 Henry D. Gruene built a mercantile store to serve the several dozen families sharecropping his family's land. The profitable river-crossing store was also on the stage route between Austin and San Antonio. Gruene provided land for Thorn Hill School and soon added a cotton gin and dance hall to his business concerns. With completion of the International-Great Northern Railroad through Comal County in the 1880s, the community's commercial development accelerated, and it took the name of its leading citizen. In 1900 Gruene was the banking, ginning, and shipping center for area cotton growers. Its dance hall and saloon became the focus of social activities. By the early 1900s the town was served by the Goodwin post office and by passenger and freight depots for both the International-Great Northern and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroads. Gruene began a decline with the boll weevil blight of the 1920s. It is reported that late in that decade the Gruene family's 8,000-acre holdings failed to produce a single bale of cotton. The mercantile store and rail depots were closed with the onset of the Great Depression . As post- World War II highway construction bypassed the community, its decline was completed. An estimated population of seventy-five in the 1930s had dispersed by 1950, leaving the once thriving community a ghost town. Gruene began a revival in the 1970s with restoration of the nineteenth-century settlement as a center for arts, crafts, and tourism. Within a few years the Gruene Dance Hall-touted as the oldest operating in the state-once again attracted weekend crowds. A live theater company, craft and antique shops, restaurants, a hotel, and a winery occupied historic structures and served tourists attracted by the scenic Guadalupe River. The entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places. Since redevelopment the resident population is estimated at twenty.
Natural Bridge Caverns, the largest known cavern in Texas, was discovered on March 27, 1960, by four spelunkers who were students at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. The cavern is located off Farm Road 1863 in the hill country of Comal County midway between New Braunfels and San Antonio (at 29°41' N, 98°21' W). The name was derived from the sixty-foot natural limestone slab bridge that spanned the amphitheater setting of the cavern's entrance. Commercial development of the cavern began on March 25, 1962, and it was opened to the public on July 3, 1964. During excavation of the entrance trail, arrowheads and spearheads dating from 5,000 B.C. were found; just inside the entrance were discovered jawbones of a species of grizzly bear that became extinct over 8,000 years ago. The cavern is almost 100 percent active and still growing, and the temperature is seventy degrees year-round. Because of constant drips and flowing water, the formations retain a luster that can be seen in few caverns. Under these growth conditions the formations appear to be made of wax, yet are as hard as limestone. The types of formation change from room to room. The largest room, named the Hall of the Mountain Kings, is 350 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 100 feet high. Among numerous formations found here the most distinct is a type called "fried eggs" (because that is what they look like), a rare cave formation. The developed portion of the cave, furnished with a half mile of paved trails and illuminated by 35,000 watts of indirect lighting, extends to as much as 260 feet below ground level. Some portions of the cave are still under exploration. Natural Bridge Caverns became a registered United States natural landmark in 1971.
Located at 8894 FM 1102 in Hunter, Texas, the nightclub Riley’s Tavern is in a structure built in the mid-1800s that at one time housed the Galloway Saloon. Situated near a railroad stop on the Missouri-Pacific line approximately halfway between San Antonio and Austin, it quickly became a convenient and popular watering hole for local cattle ranchers and cotton farmers as well as for train passengers and crews. On September 19, 1933, a local seventeen-year-old resident named James Curtis Riley opened Riley’s Tavern. In the wake of Prohibition , this became the first establishment in Texas to obtain a drinking license. Its strategic location on Highway No. 2 (the Austin-San Antonio Post Road) and just inside the Comal County line catered to travelers and thirsty residents in the region, as neighboring Hays County was a dry county. Riley welcomed a diverse range of customers of different races and ethnicities. J. C. Riley owned and managed the tavern until 1991 when he became too ill to run the business and sold it to Rick Wilson, who added a beer garden and began offering live music seven nights a week. In 1992 Riley died and was buried two miles from the tavern. By 2005 owner Joel Hofmann continued to offer live music throughout the week, and Riley’s Tavern remained a very popular gathering place for locals and tourists alike. In 2008 Riley’s celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary and remained the longest-running establishment to continually maintain a beer license.
Gruene Hall opened in 1878 and has never closed its doors making it the oldest continuously operating dance hall in Texas. The wooden floor is scuffed smooth…
Perched on the haunted limestone ridge that gives the road its name, Devil's Backbone Tavern is one of the great Texas Hill Country dive bars. The first stone…
An artesian spring flows up through a vertical cave in Wimberley so clear and so deep that from the surface you can see straight down a hundred feet into the…
Gruene Hall was built in 1878 by a German cotton farmer named Henry D. Gruene and it has never stopped hosting dances. That makes it the oldest continuously…
Texas' oldest dance hall (1878). Still hosts live music every night.
In 1974 developers had plans to bulldoze what was left of Gruene and build suburban homes. Then a University of Texas architecture student named Chip Kaufman…
Before George Strait was the King of Country he was a young singer playing regular gigs at Gruene Hall in the 1970s and 80s. The tiny dance hall with no air…
Comal Springs in New Braunfels is the largest spring system in Texas -- more than two hundred and fifty individual vents pouring out three hundred million…
Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.
435 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Canyon Lake holds a certain quiet charm, a Hill Country tranquility that belies the energy that bubbles beneath the surface. You might be forgiven for thinking it’s just another pretty reservoir, formed by the Guadalupe…
When the 2002 flood stripped the soil and rubble off the rock below Canyon Dam, it exposed ground no living person had ever seen. Pressed into the freshly scoured limestone of the gorge are the tracks of an…
In the first week of July 2002, almost three feet of rain fell on the Guadalupe watershed, and for the first time since the dam was built in 1964, Canyon Lake rose so high it poured over the emergency spillway. That had…
The water spreading out around you isn't natural. After killer floods on the Guadalupe River in 1936 and 1938, area leaders begged the federal government for help, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers answered with…
There is something below this dam that has no business existing in Central Texas: a cold-water trout river. Canyon Dam draws its releases from deep in the lake, where the water stays near 60 degrees even in August, so…
The dam wasn't built for fun, but it accidentally created one of the great float trips in Texas. Because Canyon Dam releases steady, cool water out of the bottom of the lake, the Guadalupe below it runs predictably…
When Canyon Lake filled in the 1960s, the dead of Cranes Mill faced the same eviction as the living. The town itself went under, but its hilltop burying ground stood high enough to survive, perched off Cranes Mill Road…
If you want a meal with actual roots in this place rather than the resort era, Startz Cafe at 10350 Startz Road is the one. The same family has run it since 1946, which makes it older than the lake itself by nearly…
Canyon Lake, a census-designated place in Texas, is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area. This area, which includes several small communities, began to develop residentially and commercially after the…
In this area, now covered by Canyon Lake, German emigrants were the first settlers. A society of nobles (Mainzer Adelsverein) sponsored the emigration of 7,380 Germans to Texas from 1844 to 1847. They founded New…
The community of Startzville, on the south side of the lake along FM 2673, started as a single building. The Startz family had farmed the Tom Creek valley here since the 1850s, when Heinrich Startz settled in alongside…
The area of Startzville was established at the intersection of Cranes Mill Road and Sattler Road. In 1940 Bruno and Viola Elbel built a cedar yard and store. Curt and Alice Schlameus Startz leased the building in 1944,…
German immigrants were the first to colonize permanently this area along the Guadalupe River in the 1850s. The dispersed rural community was known at times as Marienthal, Walhalla and Mountain Valley, with the name…
You're driving past the site of the Sattler Post Office. Back in 1856, Wilhelm Sattler, a New Braunfels colonist, set up mail service for this area. His son Henry became the first postmaster. The post office operated…
You're driving past the original site of the Mountain Valley School, a place that served this community for over 80 years. It all started back in 1874 when local landowners sold an acre for a schoolhouse. Initially, a…
You're driving past the Sattler Family Cemetery, established in 1854. This small plot holds the remains of German immigrants who settled in this area, seeking a new life in Texas. Many early Texas communities were built…
You're driving past the Hermann Jonas Homestead, a massive four-story farmhouse that was once the largest residence in the early German settlements of Comal County. Hermann Jonas, born in Germany in 1836, and his wife…
Gruene was originally three miles north of New Braunfels at a crossing on the Guadalupe River in Comal County. In recent decades it has been brought within the city limits of New Braunfels. The community was once a…
Natural Bridge Caverns, the largest known cavern in Texas, was discovered on March 27, 1960, by four spelunkers who were students at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. The cavern is located off Farm Road 1863 in the…
Located at 8894 FM 1102 in Hunter, Texas, the nightclub Riley’s Tavern is in a structure built in the mid-1800s that at one time housed the Galloway Saloon. Situated near a railroad stop on the Missouri-Pacific line…
You're driving through Comal County, and right here is Anhalt Hall, a place that's been a gathering spot for German Texans since the late 1800s. Founded by German immigrants who settled the area in 1855, this community,…
You're driving through Texas, a state that's become the heartland for a unique breed of cattle: the Brahman. These aren't your typical longhorns. Originating in India over 4,000 years ago, Brahmans were first brought to…
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here in Comal County, you've passed the Devil's Backbone Tavern. Established way back in 1932, this place is more than just a music venue; it's a local legend.…
You're driving near New Braunfels, right here in Comal County, you're passing through the site of what was once called New Wied. In 1846, a terrible epidemic swept through New Braunfels, leaving over 300 settlers dead…
You're driving through Comal County, and right here is Canyon Lake. It used to be called Canyon Reservoir, and it's a massive flood control and water conservation project on the Guadalupe River. Construction on the dam…
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here, you might be passing by the remnants of a vital part of pioneer life: the limekiln. Especially after the 1840s, German colonists perfected the art of making…
Honey Creek, in far western Comal County, was settled by Catholic German immigrant families in the late 1840s as a result of the mass migration initiated by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels . George Friedrich and…
You're driving through Comal County, near the Balcones Escarpment, an area known for its steep slopes and limestone benches that give the landscape a stairstep look. Back in the 1800s, this was the site of a farming and…
Fischer, twenty miles northwest of New Braunfels in the Hill Country of northern Comal County, developed in the 1850s as a supply center on the Devil's Backbone section of the road between San Marcos and Blanco. The…
Hunter, on York's Creek in eastern Comal County, was named for Andrew Jackson Hunter, who in 1867 settled nearby and operated a thousand-acre cotton farm. The townsite was established and named with the arrival of the…
Smithson Valley is fifteen miles northwest of New Braunfels in central Comal County. The Smithson Valley post office opened in 1857 in the home of Charles Ohlrich and was named for Ben Smithson, who settled in the area…
Perched on the haunted limestone ridge that gives the road its name, Devil's Backbone Tavern is one of the great Texas Hill Country dive bars. The first stone…
You're driving past the site of the Jacobs Creek School Teacherage, a unique piece of Texas history built in 1870. Early settlers started the Jacobs Creek School back in 1867, and teacher Carl Pantermuehl himself built…
You're driving through Fischer, a community of German heritage that got its start with a school. In 1886, Otto Fischer donated land for that school. Just four years later, in 1890, this graveyard was established with…
You're driving past the site of Fischer's Store, a place that became the heart of this Texas community. It all started back in 1853 when brothers Hermann and Otto Fischer, who'd emigrated from Germany, settled here.…
You're driving through Fischer, a town that owes its name and its early success to the Fischer family. Back in 1853, pioneers Hermann and Otto Fischer arrived here. Hermann opened a mercantile in 1866, selling supplies…
You're driving along a razor-thin limestone ridge that drops away on both sides into deep Hill Country valleys. Devil's Backbone is one of the most dramatic drives in central Texas, a winding stretch of Ranch Road 32…
You're driving past the Pantermuehl House, a pioneer home built around 1865. Heimrich and Pauline Pantermuehl, German immigrants, built this place using local limestone and cedar. It’s a great example of the small…
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, near New Braunfels, and you're passing the Smithson Valley Cemetery. This place started in 1876 as a family ranch cemetery, the final resting spot for baby Karl Ohlrich,…
You're driving past the Fischer House in Spring Branch, a rare survivor from the days of German immigration to Texas. About 1860, John Heinrich Fischer, a German immigrant, built this log cabin himself from hand-hewn…
You're driving past the site of the Fischer Homestead, a little piece of German heritage right here in Comal County. John Heinrich Fischer, a native of Germany, bought this land in 1860, but he was likely leasing it…
You're driving past Esser's Crossing, a vital spot on the Fredericksburg Road that served pioneers for nearly 150 years. Known first as Henderson Crossing around 1850, it offered a safe, shallow crossing of the…
Smithson Valley High School (New Braunfels, TX): Most recent: 28-6 over Frisco Lone Star · 2025 5A Division 1 final.
You're near Smithson Valley High School in Spring Branch. Last December, they took down Frisco Lone Star twenty-eight to six to win the Texas 5A Division I state football championship. They wear that crown until this…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town founded by German immigrants in 1845. Just four years later, in 1849, they formed one of the nation's first shooting clubs: the New Braunfels Schuetzen Verein. They brought…
You're driving past the Czichos House, a pioneer home built by hand from cedar logs, chinked with clay. It was constructed in Comal County around 1850. But this house became home to Dr. Adolph Schlameus and his large…
You're driving through Houston, but right here, in what's now the Memorial Villages area, began as a small religious community of German farmers back in the 1840s. Legend has it that a traveler walking with early…
You're cruising along the Guadalupe River Road, just northwest of New Braunfels. This spot, known as Slumber Falls Camp, has been a river getaway since the late 1800s. In the 1930s, it transformed into a tourist court.…
You're driving past the site of Walzem Chapel, built by German immigrants in the Mission Valley Settlement. Johann Walzem, a stone mason, and his sons quarried local limestone and built this chapel around 1870, legend…
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, maybe near Wimberley, and you're listening to the radio. Well, right here in Texas, back in 1932, a radio pioneer named William Parks Johnson had an idea. While working for…
You're driving through Wimberley, a town that owes its very name to the man who made it a hub: Pleasant Wimberley. He arrived in Texas on Christmas Day, 1847, settling first near Brenham. By 1855, he’d moved his growing…
You're driving through the beautiful Texas Hill Country, and right here, the Blanco River has been a lifeline for centuries. Spanish explorers named it back in 1721 for the white limestone that lines its banks. Imagine…
You're driving through Wimberley, a town that literally changed its name three times in less than thirty years, all thanks to one key business: the mill. It started as Winters' Mill in 1856, built by a San Jacinto…
You're driving through Wimberley, a town with roots stretching back to the 1870s. Right here, John Henry Saunders, a Confederate veteran and teacher, arrived in 1870. He settled at Purgatory Springs, just west of San…
You're driving past the site of Miss Lillie Dobie's House, a landmark that tells a story of resilience and community. Lillie and her husband John bought this land back in 1911, running a dairy and raising a family.…
You're driving past the Wimberley-Hughes House, built around 1877 by Zach Wimberley. It was painted pink with red trim, a unique choice for the time. The house is connected to the Wimberley mill, which provided lumber…
The building that houses Longleaf Craft Kitchen + Bar at 314 Wimberley Square has eaten more years than most of the town. It started out in San Marcos and was facing demolition there when it was saved in an unusual way:…
On the night of May 23 into May 24, 2015, Memorial Day weekend, the Blanco River turned into one of the deadliest flash floods in Texas history. Ten to thirteen inches of rain fell upstream in a few hours, and the river…
Just northwest of town, in the bed of Cypress Creek, a perfectly round 12-foot mouth opens straight down into the earth. That's Jacob's Well, and from the surface it looks like an inviting blue swimming hole. Below it…
The town you're rolling into spent decades answering to other people's names before it became Wimberley. In 1848, the year Hays County was organized, San Jacinto veteran William Carvin Winters built a grist mill and…
Jacob's Well isn't just a pretty swimming hole, it's a window into the plumbing under the Hill Country. The water comes up under its own pressure from the Trinity Aquifer, an artesian spring that needs no pump. In 1924…
Generations of Wimberley kids learned to swim in the cold green water of Blue Hole, where Cypress Creek pools up under a canopy of old-growth bald cypress trees. The Dobie family opened it to the public back in the…
Some of the bluegrass that made Sarah Jarosz famous was learned right here in Wimberley. Raised in town, she picked up the mandolin at age 10 and sharpened her playing at the weekly Friday night bluegrass jams that…
Head west out of Wimberley on Ranch Road 12 toward Blanco and you climb onto the Devil's Backbone, a narrow limestone ridge that locals swear is the most haunted stretch of road in Texas. The Spanish reportedly named…
Wimberley isn't just a pretty postcard of Cypress Creek winding through the Hill Country; it’s a place shaped by resilience. You can’t talk about Wimberley without acknowledging the 2015 Memorial Day flood. The Blanco…
Out on Ranch Road 32, in Comal County near a wide spot called Fischer — not quite Wimberley, whatever the map tells you — a honky-tonk called the Devil's Backbone Tavern has stood since 1932, back in the last days of…
On the first Saturday of every warm month, the oak-shaded grounds at Lions Field fill with shoppers for Wimberley Market Days, one of the largest outdoor markets in Texas. It started small and strange. When the Chamber…
The amphitheater and gardens at 1101 FM 2325 carry the name of a teenager who never got to grow up. Emily Ann Rolling, born in 1980, moved to Wimberley with her family in 1993 and threw herself into the drama program at…
You're driving past the site of Wimberley Mills, a business that served this valley for over 85 years! It all started in 1848 when William Winters, a San Jacinto veteran, built a grist and sawmill right here on Cypress…
You're driving past the site of the Winters-Wimberley House, a landmark that grew with this town. William Winters arrived in Texas in 1834, fought at San Jacinto, and eventually settled here. He built a mill on Cypress…
You're driving past Indian Mott Skirmish. After peace talks ended in the disastrous “Council House Fight” in March 1840 in San Antonio, the Comanche increased raids. Returning from a bold attack on…
You're driving past C. W. Burdett. Clarence W. Burdett (1913-2001) helped build his family’s store in Wimberley in 1932, supervising the construction of the building using native and colored stone brought in from…
You're driving past the historic Wimberley Town Square, where about 1880, a young Sidney Pyland arrived with his family from Tennessee. Fast forward to 1895; at 20 years old, Sidney Pyland opens his blacksmith shop…
You're driving past the former home of John Henry Saunders, a man who wore many hats here in Hays County. Born in Virginia in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1850</say-as>, Saunders served in the Confederate…
You're driving past the homesite of Johann and Gertruda Walzem, German immigrants who arrived in Texas around 1851. By 1859, they officially owned the 160 acres they’d settled, including this very spot. Johann was a…
You're driving past the James C. Lane House, built in 1935 by a local Wimberley builder. It's known for its unique 'giraffe rock' exterior, a mix of native rock, poured concrete, and decorative fossils. His wife,…
You're driving past the Peal-Pleasant Valley Cemetery, the final resting place for pioneering families in Hays County. This rural cemetery, sometimes known as Valley Ford, holds twenty-three known graves and is the last…
You're driving past the Herman and Ada Knibbe Home, built in 1910. Herman was the grandson of Spring Branch's first settler. This house, made of locally quarried rock, still stands today, a testament to the family's…
You're driving past the site of the Rebecca Creek School, founded in 1882 on land donated by Julius Bremer. He was the son of German immigrants who helped found New Braunfels. This one-room school served students for…
You're driving past the site of the Kneupper Chapel, built in 1878 by German settlers in the Honey Creek community. They quarried local stone for this one-room building, which served St. Joseph's Catholic Church until…
You're driving past the John R. Dobie house, built around 1892 for the Cock family. The Dobies, John and Martha, bought it in 1899. John R. Dobie, a Scottish immigrant, farmed, ranched, and even served as a Hays County…
You're driving past the oldest cemetery in Wimberley. This land was first patented way back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1847</say-as> by Amasa Turner. Early settlers built a log cabin right here, using it…
You're driving past Jacobs Well Cemetery, a resting place that's been here since 1883. It served the Jacob's Well community, named for a nearby natural spring. Many of the first settlers here came all the way from South…
You're driving past Mission Valley, a community founded by German settlers in the 1840s. For years, kids learned their lessons at home. Then, in 1870, brothers Karl and Julius Brehmer donated land for the first…
Gruene Hall opened in 1878 and has never closed its doors making it the oldest continuously operating dance hall in Texas. The wooden floor is scuffed smooth…
Watch master glassblowers create art in real time. Beautiful Hill Country setting.
You're driving past the site of the original Spring Branch Post Office. Gottlieb Elbel built this cabin in 1852, and by 1867, it was serving as the local post office. Elbel, who kept a detailed postal journal, served as…
A crystal-clear swimming hole fed by Cypress Creek in Wimberley.
You're driving near where Saint Mary's Help of Christians Catholic Church stands. Catholic families first worshipped in homes here in the 1850s. The church itself was built and dedicated in 1889, with stone quarried…
An artesian spring flows up through a vertical cave in Wimberley so clear and so deep that from the surface you can see straight down a hundred feet into the…
You're driving past the Julia Ann Ragsdale house, a testament to a woman's resilience. Julia Ann, a widow and former teacher, brought her family to Texas during the Civil War. After her daughter Mary died young, Julia…
You're driving past the site of the Adam Becker Homestead. German native Adam Becker arrived in Texas in 1845, joining Prince Carl Solms-Braunfels to help establish a colony. After contributing to Fredericksburg and…
An artesian spring that looks like a bottomless blue hole. One of Texas' most dangerous diving spots.
Nestled in the heart of Hays County, Texas, Woodcreek is a city that boasts a total area of 1.1 square miles, all of which is land. The city is located just 2 miles north of Wimberley, 34 miles southwest of Austin, and…
This spring has never stopped flowing. Jacob's Well is a perpetual artesian spring that rises from the Trinity Aquifer through a vertical shaft in the creek bed, twelve feet across and dropping straight down into…
You're driving past the site of the first orphanage in the entire state of Texas! Chartered in 1848 as the 'Western Texas Orphan Asylum,' this place was the dream of Pastor L. C. Ervendberg. Severe epidemics left many…
You're driving past the site of Mission Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, established way back in 1757. Franciscan missionaries set up shop here with a goal: to civilize and Christianize the local Tonkawa, Mayeye, and other…
You're driving past Specht's Crossing, a place that served as a vital connection for early Texas travelers. For decades, settlers in horse-drawn carriages navigated this low water crossing on the San Antonio-Blanco…
Texas' oldest dance hall (1878). Still hosts live music every night.
Gruene Hall was built in 1878 by a German cotton farmer named Henry D. Gruene and it has never stopped hosting dances. That makes it the oldest continuously…
You're driving past the site of the Gruene Cotton Gin, built back in 1878 by H. D. Gruene. This steam-powered gin processed the area's booming cotton crop, vital to the local economy. Though the main gin burned down in…
You're driving through Gruene, Texas, where in 1878, Henry D. Gruene opened his mercantile business right here. By 1904, this impressive brick building went up to handle the growing trade. For over thirty years, this…
You're driving past Gruene, Texas, originally called Goodwin. German immigrants settled here, but it was Henry D. Gruene who built a major cotton operation in the 1870s, complete with a mercantile and a cotton gin. The…
The stretch of the Guadalupe River running past Gruene has become one of the most popular tubing destinations in all of Texas. On any summer weekend thousands…
You're driving past the Erhardt Neuse House, built in the 1880s by Henry D. Gruene. This was the home of Erhardt Neuse, the field foreman for Gruene's massive cotton operations. The Neuse family lived here until the…
Step into Gruene Hall and you're standing in the oldest continually operating dance hall in Texas, built in 1878 by Henry D. Gruene as the social center of a German cotton community along the Guadalupe. For decades the…
Dance where legends like Willie Nelson and George Strait have played at Texas's oldest continually run dance hall, built in 1878! German immigrant Henry Gruene built this hall in the town he founded, Gruene, Texas. It…
This is the oldest continually operating dance hall in Texas, and it hasn't changed much since it was built in 1878. Gruene Hall has no air conditioning. The walls don't quite reach the ceiling. The screen doors let in…
In 1974 developers had plans to bulldoze what was left of Gruene and build suburban homes. Then a University of Texas architecture student named Chip Kaufman…
You're driving past Gruene Hall, built way back in 1878. It started as a saloon and social center for local cotton farmers, and it's believed to be one of the oldest dance halls in Texas. Christian Herry built it under…
In 1925 the boll weevil arrived in Gruene and devoured everything. The Gruene familys 8000-acre cotton holdings failed to produce a single bale. Combined with…
Get ready to step back in time! Gruene, Texas, wasn't always the tourist hotspot it is today. Founded in the mid-1840s by German immigrant Ernst Gruene, it quickly became a thriving cotton-producing town. The Gruene…
You're driving past the site of the original Gruene Mercantile, founded way back in 1878 by Henry D. Gruene. This wasn't just a store; it was the heart of the community, providing everything from food and clothes to…
You're driving past the Gruene Mansion, built in 1872 by Henry D. Gruene, the son of German immigrants. Gruene became a leader in the community, which was later renamed for him. Though the town declined after his death…
Before Gruene Hall became a legendary music venue it hosted some decidedly less refined entertainment. In the early days the hall was used for German singing…
Henry D. Gruene didnt just build a dance hall and a cotton gin -- he built himself a proper Victorian mansion. The home featured elaborate Eastlake detailing…
Gruene Hall was built in 1878 and in all that time no one has ever installed air conditioning. Not once. In the Texas Hill Country where summer temperatures…
On the Guadalupe River in historic Gruene, steps from Texas's oldest dance hall. Chicken-fried steak, river views, and a porch that catches the breeze off the…
Before George Strait was the King of Country he was a young singer playing regular gigs at Gruene Hall in the 1970s and 80s. The tiny dance hall with no air…
You're driving through Comaltown, an area with a rich German heritage. Look for the Ernst and Antoinette Gruene House, built in 1852. This dogtrot-style home, constructed from adobe brick and cedar timber, was where…
You're driving through what was once the sprawling 711 Ranch, established in 1949 by oilman L.A. Nordan and his wife, Pearl. They transformed this land along the Guadalupe River into a world-class operation, focusing on…
Comal Springs in New Braunfels is the largest spring system in Texas -- more than two hundred and fifty individual vents pouring out three hundred million…
You're driving past the site of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Mission, established in 1756. This mission was an extension of another, ill-fated mission called San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas, which had suffered…
You can float the entire length of the Comal River in an afternoon, because it's the shortest navigable river in Texas, running roughly two and a half miles before it spills into the Guadalupe. Locals proudly call it…
The springs feeding Landa Park have flowed for thousands of years, but in the brutal drought of the 1950s they did something they had never done in recorded history: they stopped. From June 13 to November 3, 1956, Comal…
You're cruising past Landa Park, a New Braunfels gem that started in 1859 when Joseph Landa bought this land. He harnessed the power of Comal Springs and the river to run mills, factories, and even an ice plant and…
You're driving past the site of the New Braunfels Gemischter Chor Harmonie, a singing society formed in 1937. Organized by Gilbert A. Becker, this mixed-voice group was recognized as one of the best in the region. By…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a city founded not by Texans, but by Germans seeking a new life. On March 21, 1845, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels established this settlement, naming it after his own estate back…
The same springs and rivers that make New Braunfels a paradise can turn deadly in hours. On the night of May 11, 1972, a stalled downpour dumped more than 16 inches of rain into the hills above town. Floodwater first…
You're driving past the Moeller House, a testament to German craftsmanship right here in New Braunfels. Built by John George Moeller himself, working alone, this home took seven years to complete. Imagine the labor…
You're driving past Riley's Tavern, a business that's been serving drinks since 1933. When Prohibition ended, J.C. Riley and his uncle drove a Model T to Austin to get Texas's first liquor license, number 00001. At…
Pull up a stool at Riley's Tavern, a historic Texas watering hole that has been serving locals and travelers since the 1800s. It was converted into a tavern by James Curtis Riley in 1933. Located near a railroad stop…
You're driving past the grounds of Wurstfest, New Braunfels' annual 'salute to sausage.' It all started in 1961 with Dr. E. A. Grist, who wanted to celebrate the town's deep German sausage-making traditions. Today, this…
You're driving through New Braunfels, where in 1847, William Hunter Meriwether saw potential in these springs. He purchased land, dammed the Geyser Springs, and used slave labor to dig a mill race, powering a grist…
You're driving past New Braunfels, and right here is where history was made for ranchers and farmers across the country. William H. Meriwether, a local plantation owner, was tired of fences that couldn't handle Texas's…
You're cruising through New Braunfels, and right here is the Kloepper House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture built back in 1906. That same year, Richard E. Kloepper and his wife Ella Sodke began…
The ground you're driving on right now is more than just rock—it's the roof of a vast underground reservoir. Bulverde sits directly on top of the recharge zone for the Edwards Aquifer, the primary water source for…
The modern city of Bulverde owes its existence to one of the strangest incorporation fights in Texas. For decades this was a quiet, unincorporated stretch of Comal County settled by German farmers. Then San Antonio's…
You're driving past the site of a true Texas industrial pioneer, John F. Torrey! From 1850, Torrey wasn't just building things; he was building an industrial empire. He ran a saw and grist mill, a sash and door factory,…
You're driving past Comal County Fair. The annual Comal County Fair represents tradition and community in New Braunfels, where it has been an important event since the early 1890s. The fair emphasizes agriculture,…
Bulverde, despite its proximity to San Antonio, has always maintained a distinct character, deeply rooted in the land. While many residents now commute to the city for work, the area’s history is tied to agriculture,…
You're cruising past the resting place of Ferdinand Lindheimer, a man who wore two hats in early Texas: soldier and scientist. Born in Germany in 1801, he fought in the Texas Army in 1836. But after the battles, he…
You're driving past Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in New Braunfels. Back in 1918, a deadly influenza epidemic swept the nation. Father J.M.J. Wack, who served this parish for 38 years, led his congregation in a…
You're driving past Panteon Hidalgo, the Hidalgo Cemetery, established in 1920 by the Asociación Mutualista de Beneficencia. This burial ground served New Braunfels' growing Mexican working-class community, many of whom…
You're driving past the site of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in New Braunfels. German Catholic colonists arrived here in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1845</say-as>, and by <say-as interpret-as="date"…
You're driving past the site of New Braunfels' very first telegraph station, which opened in the 1860s! It started at the Guadalupe Hotel, operated by August Schmitz, a schoolteacher who spoke both German and English.…
You're driving past Windwehen Home. Carl Victor Windwehen moved to New Braunfels with his mother and young daughter after his wife, Charlotte (stocker), had died. He was the only dentist listed in the city’s 1906…
You're driving past the August Dietz Cottage in New Braunfels. Dietz, a German immigrant, bought this lot in 1866 and quickly built this cottage. Though later enlarged, the original two-room structure featured thick…
You're driving past the Vogel Cemetery, established in 1915. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2008.
The town around you owes its name and its existence to a German nobleman who didn't stay long. Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels arrived in Texas in 1844 as the first commissioner-general of the Adelsverein, a society of…
The clear water flowing through Landa Park once ran one of the busiest industrial operations in Central Texas. In 1859 Joseph Landa, a German-Jewish immigrant, bought the land around Comal Springs and harnessed the…
Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels is the birthplace of a genuine engineering breakthrough: the uphill water coaster. A normal water slide only goes down, because gravity is the only engine. In the early 1990s Jeff Henry,…
Every November, New Braunfels throws one of the largest German festivals in America, and it grew out of a meat inspector's idea. In 1961 Dr. E.A. Grist, the city's veterinarian and meat inspector, proposed a sausage…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here is the site of a Texas first! This was the New Braunfels Academy, incorporated in 1858. Now, Texas didn't officially provide for local school taxes until the…
You're driving along a road that's been a vital path for centuries. This is the King's Highway, also known as the Camino Real, or the Old San Antonio Road. It was a crucial route for exploration and settlement, marked…
You're driving past the former site of New Braunfels Veterinary Hospital. Dr. Edgar Alfred Grist, the first licensed vet in Comal County, opened this practice in 1950. He was also the visionary behind the famous…
You're driving past Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery. This historic cemetery was established by Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church to meet the needs of the growing Mexican American New Braunfels population that…
You're driving past New Braunfels. Early inhabitants of this area included Karankawa, Lipan, Tonkawa and Waco Indians. Between 1844 and 1846, the Verein Zum Schutze Deutscher Einwanderer in Texas (Society for the…
On the rise where the Sophienburg Museum now stands, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels laid a cornerstone in 1845 for a hilltop castle he meant to build for his fiancee back in Germany, Princess Sophie. He named the spot…
On Comal Street sits the modest 1852 timber-framed home of Ferdinand Lindheimer, remembered as the Father of Texas Botany. Born in Frankfurt in 1801, Lindheimer fled Germany after taking part in failed political reform…
You're driving past the site of a pioneering educational experiment in Texas! German immigrants arriving in the 1840s were promised schools, and they got them. Classes started in August 1845, just as Texas authorized…
You're driving past the Comal County Courthouse, a Romanesque beauty built in 1898. It was designed by J. Riley Gordon, a famous Texas courthouse architect. Look for the dramatic massing and superb stone detail,…
You're driving past Schmitz Hotel. First portion--of local cedar and limestone--was built about 1851 by Rudolph Nauendorf. Early German immigrant Jacob Schmitz bought building in 1858 as new location of his "Guadalupe…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and just ahead, you're passing the site of the old Eggeling Hotel. Built between 1898 and 1900 by Emilie and Theodor Eggeling, this place was their second hotel venture. It was a…
You're cruising past the Old Schmidt Home, built in the 1850s. Imagine this place going up, constructed from adobe bricks and timbers hand-hewn from cedar, pine, and oak. It's a classic example of "Fachwerk" style…
You're driving past the site of the Joseph Klein House, a survivor from the earliest days of German settlement in New Braunfels. Klein, one of the immigrants who arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
You're driving past the Voigt House, a classic example of 19th-century Texas architecture. This land was deeded way back in 1845 to Hermann Seele, a New Braunfels schoolmaster. But the house you see? It was built in…
You're driving past the site of the old New Braunfels Post Office, built back in 1915. This building was part of a huge expansion of the U.S. Postal System, bringing services like parcel post and airmail to the growing…
In 1845, a 22-year-old German prince named Carl of Solms-Braunfels arrived in Texas with a silver tea service, a library of books, and a plan to build a German colony in the wilderness. He was acting on behalf of the…
You're driving past Phoenix Saloon. Built in 1871, the original Phoenix Saloon building was a two-story brick, rock, and stucco building built by John Sippel located on the corner of west San Antonio Street and Castell…
If you want to taste 19th-century New Braunfels, walk into Naegelin's at 129 South Seguin Avenue, the oldest bakery in Texas. It opened in 1868, when an Alsatian immigrant named Edouard Naegelin arrived in town as a…
This city's story begins in 1845, established by German immigrants organized by the Mainzer Adelsverein, also known as the Noblemen's Society. Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels led the initial settlement efforts, naming…
You're driving past the Ullrich Home, built in 1855 by George Ullrich. But George wasn't just any builder. He was the man who drove the very first wagon carrying German Emigration Company settlers, crossing the…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a vital manufacturing and supply center for the Confederacy during the Civil War. This town's newspaper pushed hard for secession, and over 300 local men enlisted. Comal County…
You're driving past the Krause Building, a structure built around 1860 by master carpenter Friedrich Krause. He used local cedar, cypress, limestone, and adobe brick to construct it. This building has seen life as a…
You're driving past the site of the Eiband and Fischer General Mercantile, a business that grew with New Braunfels. Starting in 1846, it changed hands and names several times, eventually becoming one of the region's…
You're driving past where the International & Great Northern Railroad first rolled into New Braunfels back in 1880. This line wasn't just about moving goods; it sparked tourism, even inspiring Helen Gould to help create…
You're driving past the site of Old New Braunfels High School, a building that served this community for over fifty years. Built in 1913, it replaced the older New Braunfels Academy. Take a look at the architecture – it…
You're cruising through New Braunfels, and right here is the Plumeyer Bakery Building. Built in 1913 by Kathinka Clemens, this spot served as the City Bakery for A.C. and Helen Plumeyer until 1926. For decades after, it…
You're driving past the Stephen Klein Home, built in 1846. This was one of the first homes in Comal County, and it features classic 'fachwerk' construction. It was purchased by Edward Naegelin, Sr. in 1868 and remains a…
You're driving past the Main Plaza Bandstand in New Braunfels, built back in 1905. It was originally a stage for summer concerts by the Waldschmidt Fire Department Band. Later, in 1926, it was raised on a limestone base…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here, this spot was home to The New Braunfels Herald. Established in 1892, it was the first English newspaper in this German-speaking town. From 1896 to 1907, and again…
You're driving past the Louis Henne building in New Braunfels, a Victorian beauty built in 1893. It was constructed by Christian Herry for Louis Henne, who expanded his family's tin shop business right here. The third…
You're driving past Hinmann House. This home’s architecture reflects the German influence of many of the area’s early structures. Heinrich Hinmann purchased the property in July 1855, and he and his wife…
The Faust Hotel opened its doors on October 12, 1929, built by local businessman Walter Faust Sr. as the Traveler's Hotel, a proud six-story landmark for New Braunfels. Then, 17 days later, the stock market crashed and…
Pull over a sec! This gorgeous building is the Brauntex Theatre, and it's way more than just a pretty face. It's a time capsule from the golden age of Hollywood. Built in 1942, right in the thick of World War II, the…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here is the Faust Hotel. It opened its doors in 1929 as the Travelers Hotel, a sign of the booming local economy. It had 63 guest rooms! Then, in 1936, it was renamed for…
You're passing the Carl W. Groos Old Home, built around 1870. It's made of adobe brick with a cypress floor and features original rolled glass windows, plus ruby glass in the front door. This historic landmark has been…
You're driving past the site of New Braunfels' first Methodist congregation, established in 1853 by circuit rider Rev. Henry P. Young. Many German immigrants converted to Methodism here. A church building was…
You're driving past the spot where two important Texas rivers, the Guadalupe and the Comal, meet. This junction has seen a lot of history. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1718</say-as>, Governor Martin de…
You're driving past where the New Braunfels Woolen Mill once stood, a testament to immigrant ingenuity. Originally a distillery in 1864, it became a successful woolen mill, harnessing the Comal River's power. Later, it…
You're driving past the August and Karoline Tolle House, a classic example of vernacular Victorian design right here in New Braunfels. August, a German immigrant who arrived in Texas back in 1845, bought this house in…
You're driving past the birthplace of Hermann Seele, a true pioneer of New Braunfels. Born in Germany in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1823</say-as>, Seele arrived in Texas in 1843. Just two years later, he…
You're driving past the home of Dr. Theodore Koester, built in 1859 right here in New Braunfels. This place wasn't just a house; it was a hub of activity. Dr. Koester, a physician for the German Immigration Company, ran…
You're driving past the home of Ferdinand Lindheimer, a man who wore many hats in early Texas. Born in Germany in 1801, he fought in the Texas Revolution and later became known as the Father of Texas Botany. Lindheimer…
You're driving past the former home of Ferdinand Lindheimer, a true pioneer of Texas botany and journalism. Born in Germany, he fought in the Texas Revolution before settling in New Braunfels. Lindheimer became the…
You're driving past Sophienburg Hill, the very spot where Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels planned to build a fortress to protect the new German settlement of New Braunfels. He named it for his fiancée, Princess Sophia,…
You're driving past the site of a master craftsman's legacy in New Braunfels. Johann Michael Jahn arrived here in 1845 with the German Emigration Company. He wasn't just a settler; he was a Tischlermeister, a master…
You're driving past the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library in New Braunfels. This native rock building was the city's public library from 1938 to 1969, a dream spearheaded by Emmie Seele Faust, daughter of a pioneering…
You're driving past the site of what used to be West End Park and Dance Hall, a vibrant hub for New Braunfels' Hispanic community. After serving in World War II, Felipe Delgado and his wife Elisa bought this land in…
You're driving past the Scholl House in New Braunfels, a place where Texas history is built layer by layer. The original section, crafted around 1847, shows off the traditional Fachwerk style brought by German…
You're driving through Comal County, Texas, a place with a complicated history during the Civil War. Back in 1861, ten heavily German counties actually voted against secession. Comal County, though, was an exception.…
You're driving past the Albert and Marie Kopplin House, built in 1892 as their retirement home. It's a beautiful example of Folk Victorian style, with intricate gingerbread trim on the porches. For a time, their…
You're driving through the historic Haag Settlement, southwest of New Braunfels. This cemetery was established for the pioneering Haag Brothers: Friedrich, Peter, and Mathias. They made a long, dangerous voyage from…
You're driving through New Braunfels, the original home of Schlitterbahn, which means 'slippery road' in German. <break time="400ms"/> It all started in 1979 when Bob and Billye Henry opened a family waterpark next to…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town with a story that begins way back on March 21st, 1845. <break time="400ms"/> A group of German immigrants, led by Nicolaus Zink and under the guidance of Prince Carl of…
You're driving through New Braunfels, Texas, where a German immigrant's passion for Mexican food sparked a culinary revolution. William Gebhardt, arriving from Germany in 1885, opened a small café in 1892. He loved the…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here is the original Schlitterbahn! What started as a simple campground called Camp Landa in 1966, purchased by Bob and Billye Henry, transformed into a unique waterpark.…
You're driving through the beautiful Texas Hill Country, and right here, you're passing through an area deeply connected to German heritage. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1844</say-as>, Betty Wilhelmine…
You're driving past the entrance to Natural Bridge Caverns, a geological wonder still forming today. Discovered by college students in 1960, this cave system is named for the rock bridge marking its entrance. Inside,…
In March 1960, four students from St. Mary's University in San Antonio crawled through a narrow opening beneath a sixty-foot natural limestone bridge and discovered the largest cavern system in Texas. They spent eight…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town that owes much of its early 20th-century Mexican American heritage to Gregorio José María Cardona. Arriving in Texas in 1904, Cardona, an educator, quickly set out to serve…
You're driving through Comal County, the heart of Texas Hill Country. Right here, in 1845, German Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels secured title to land around the beautiful Comal Springs. This was the start of New…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here is the Comal River, famous for being the shortest river in the United States. It starts from a series of large springs right in town and flows for just three miles…
You're driving through New Braunfels right now, and just to your northwest are the Comal Springs, the biggest natural springs in all of Texas! For centuries, Native Americans camped here. Spanish explorer Damián…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here in Landa Park, you're passing by the remnants of a Confederate gunpowder factory. During the Civil War, with Union blockades cutting off supplies, the Confederacy…
You're driving through what is now Polk County, but back in 1856, William DeRyee arrived in New Braunfels, Texas. A chemist and inventor from Germany, he was looking for new opportunities. While living with an inventor,…
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the legacy of the Dreissiger. These were intellectual refugees, German liberals who fled repression in the 1830s after failed uprisings. They…
You're driving through Central Texas, perhaps near New Braunfels, where a remarkable minister named Louis Ervendberg arrived in 1839. He held the first recorded German church services in Texas right here, and went on to…
You're driving through Central Texas, a region that's seen its share of innovation. Right here, in New Braunfels, Bertram Giesecke was born in 1892. He followed in his father's footsteps, becoming an architect and the…
You're driving through New Braunfels, the birthplace of Nash Hernández, a trumpet player and bandleader who shaped Texas music for decades. Born Ignacio Hernández in 1922, he started out playing German polka music…
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe not too far from McQueeney, where a popular German polka band got its start. It was the fall of 1948 when three high school friends, practicing just for fun, decided to form a…
You're driving through the heart of Texas German culture, and right here in New Braunfels is where Carl von Iwonski began his artistic journey. Arriving with the Adelsverein colonists in 1845, Iwonski became a…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town with roots stretching back to German pioneers. One of those pioneers was Johann Michael Jahn, a cabinetmaker who arrived in Texas in 1844. He wasn't just a craftsman; he was…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town steeped in German heritage. Right here, on the outskirts, is the Saengerhalle. Established in 1959, it was built from old army barracks moved from Fort Sam Houston. This hall…
You're driving through Comal County, near New Braunfels, on land that was once the wild Texas frontier. Right here, a young girl's life was a mystery. Born in Mexico or Texas, she was orphaned and possibly captured by…
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in what is now New Braunfels, John Frink Torrey was building an industrial empire. Arriving in Texas around 1838, Torrey quickly established himself, first in…
You're driving near New Braunfels, in Comal County. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1845</say-as>, settlers arrived and immediately built a temporary fortress called Zinkenburg. It was named for…
You're driving past a piece of German-Texan history! This is the Breustedt House, a beautiful example of "fachwerk" construction. Imagine cedar timbers framing the walls, then packed solid with sun-baked adobe brick.…
You're driving past the Breustedt Kitchen, a hand-hewn limestone building right here in New Braunfels. Built in the 1860s, this was the detached kitchen for Johann Andreas Breustedt's home. Imagine this: nine sons and…
Driving through New Braunfels, you're passing the historic Hofheinz House. Frederick Hofheinz, a German immigrant who arrived in Texas in 1852, built this beautiful home in 1906 with his wife Emilie. Hofheinz was a…
You're driving through Bandera County, perhaps near Pipe Creek, where Friedrich Wilhelm Dorow once farmed and served the community. He was a German immigrant who came to Texas as a boy, fought for the Confederacy, and…
You're driving through Comal County, and right here in New Braunfels, you're passing through the heart of German Texas. Johann Jacob Groos arrived from Germany in 1845, drawn by tales of opportunity. He settled in New…
You're driving through Comal County, near New Braunfels, the hometown of Alexander Kessler. He wasn't just a businessman, but a key player in early Texas politics. Kessler served in the Texas Legislature from 1874 to…
Right here in New Braunfels, you're driving through a town that was once home to one of Texas's very first German-language newspapers. The Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung, which started in 1852, wasn't just about news. It was a…
You're driving through Guadalupe County, not far from where Ferdinand Weinert spent his life. Born in New Braunfels in 1853, Weinert was a merchant and a public servant for over sixty years. He served as county…
You're driving through Guadalupe County, and right here is the area where Leroy Gilbert Denman got his start. Born in 1855, Denman taught school and then graduated from the University of Virginia's law school in 1880.…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town that was home to John Romberg Fuchs, a prominent judge who served the Twenty-second Judicial District for twenty years. He was elected in 1944 and held that office until he…
You're driving near New Braunfels, the birthplace of Arno "Shorty" Nowotny, a giant in University of Texas student life. Born in a log cabin in 1899, Shorty went on to become Dean of Men, and later Dean of Student Life,…
You're driving past the site of the old Church Hill School Building. For years, pastors at St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church held day school right in the church. But in 1870, this dedicated schoolhouse was built…
The largest bat colony on earth lives in this single sinkhole outside San Antonio -- somewhere between fifteen and twenty million Mexican free-tailed bats…
Henry Gruene built a cotton gin next to the Guadalupe River in the 1870s powered by the rivers current. For decades it processed cotton from surrounding farms.…
Four Saint Marys University students on a lark in 1960 crawled into a sinkhole north of San Antonio and discovered two miles of live limestone caves with…
You're driving through New Braunfels, a town founded in 1845 by Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels. This was the main destination for German immigrants heading into Central and West Texas. During the Civil War, the town…
You're driving past the New Braunfels home of Carl Heinrich Guenther, a Prussian immigrant who arrived in Texas in 1845. He was a teacher, a leader of German singing societies, and even presided over a statewide…
Gruene Hall has been open since 1878, and for almost a hundred and fifty years, staying cool inside meant ceiling fans, a couple of swamp coolers, and whatever breeze came through the open windows. Joe Ely tells it that…
You're driving past a spot that marked the end of a long, hard journey for some of Texas' earliest German settlers. Imagine, six months after leaving Europe, about 200 colonists arrive here at the Guadalupe River…
You're driving past the Faust Street Bridge, a survivor of Texas's early infrastructure boom. For centuries, travelers crossed the Guadalupe River right here on El Camino Real, often waiting weeks for floodwaters to…
You're driving past Stringtown. John Drayton Pitts (1798-1861) was born, according to family lore, on a ship as his parents sailed to America. A civil engineer by profession, Pitts became interested in politics and in…
You're driving through New Braunfels, and right here is the city's first cemetery, dedicated way back on June 23rd, 1845, just months after this town was founded by German immigrants. It saw many colonists laid to rest…
You're driving past Pitts Cemetery, a final resting place for a family whose journey started at sea. John Drayton Pitts was born on a ship in 1798, sailing from England. He eventually settled here in Texas, bringing…
You're driving through Comal County, a place named for its unique river, shaped like a pancake where its springs bubble up. This county was officially created on March 24th, 1846, and organized just a few months later…
You're driving by the Koch Cemetery, established way back in 1874. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2004.
You're driving through Spring Branch, an area that started as a German settlement called Krause Settlement in the 1850s. By 1875, the settlers here formed the Germania Farmer Verein, partly to fight cattle rustling.…
The limestone beneath Comfort is riddled with caves that most people drive right past without knowing. Ranchers have been finding new cave openings after heavy…
You're driving past the site of San Marcos' third oldest congregation, the First Baptist Church. Organized way back on October 25th, 1857, by Reverend Milton Caperton, this church was a real pioneer in church-related…
Halfway down Interstate 35 between Austin and San Antonio, San Marcos became one of the unlikeliest tourist magnets in Texas: a pair of giant outlet malls. The San Marcos Premium Outlets and the adjacent Tanger Outlets…
Long before any Pieper or Bulverdo, hunters worked this country for thousands of years, and they left a signature behind that archaeologists named for this very place. The Bulverde point is a recognized type of stone…
If you've ever heard that cheap, swirling Vox organ riff on Sir Douglas Quintet's She's About a Mover or Mendocino, you've heard Augie Meyers, and in his last years he made his home right here in Bulverde. A San Antonio…
The crossroads you're rolling through started out in 1850 with a plainer name: Pieper Settlement, after Anton Pieper, one of the German pioneers who put down roots along Cibolo Creek in southwestern Comal County. The…
Bulverde grew up as a true crossroads community, the kind of place that lived on the traffic where U.S. Highway 281, State Highway 46, and Farm-to-Market 1863 still meet today. After 1850 the area filled with German…
When the first German families reached this stretch of Cibolo Creek, they threw up quick shelters from what was on hand, post oak and cedar logs. But as soon as they could, they built in stone, because the Hill Country…
One of the great names in college football history spent his final years in this quiet Hill Country town. Felix Anthony Blanchard, known to everyone as Doc, won the Heisman Trophy in 1945 as the bruising fullback for…
Plenty of Texas towns claim cowboy roots; Bulverde actually puts on a rodeo nearly every Saturday night for most of the year. The Tejas Rodeo Company was started by Yancey James, a former bull rider who hung up his rope…
Sitting right on the old Bexar-Comal county line in the Bulverde area, Specht's Texas is one of those Hill Country places that has been serving the community in one form or another since before cars. It began in 1887 as…
For a settlement that spent most of its life as a farming crossroads, Bulverde grew a surprisingly stubborn arts streak. In 1979, two residents, Sharon Knibbe and Betty Baker, floated the idea of a community theater…
You're driving past San Pedro Cemetery, established way back in 1909. It was later recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2007.
You're driving through Blanco County, and you might see the remnants of a community built by freed slaves after the Civil War. Peyton Colony was established in the 1860s by Peyton Roberts, a former slave himself.…
Hey road trippers, look to your right! You're passing the Schoenthal School, built way back in 1872. This building is a fantastic example of German fachwerk architecture, a style brought over by immigrants. It's amazing…
You're driving past the Joseph Scheel House, a classic example of German pioneer architecture in the Texas Hill Country. Built in the late 1860s by Bernhard Joseph Scheel, this home showcases the resourcefulness of…
You're driving past the site of Peyton Colony, a community established in 1865 by freed slaves led by Peyton Roberts. Born into slavery in Virginia, Roberts came to Texas in the 1820s. After emancipation, these families…
You're driving past the San Marcos area, home to Dr. Peter C. Woods. He wasn't just a doctor; he was a Confederate Colonel during the Civil War. Woods learned a revolutionary aseptic technique in New York, which he used…
You're driving through Garden Ridge, in Comal County, passing through a place with roots stretching back to the mid-1800s. This area was settled by German families, some of the first to arrive in Texas in the 1840s.…
You're driving by the San Marcos Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to a Mexican land grant in 1834. While the first recorded burial was in 1876, local tradition says enslaved people were laid to rest here…
You're driving past the San Marcos Cemetery Chapel, a Carpenter Gothic beauty built around 1890. This isn't just any chapel; it's been the heart of remembrance for this community for over a century. Imagine the services…
You're driving through Guadalupe County, passing the Jauer Family Cemetery. This burial ground was likely set aside around 1853, with the death of an unnamed infant daughter. It holds the remains of Johann Carl Ludwig…
You're driving past the site of Wonder Cave, a natural wonder born from a prehistoric earth shift along the Balcones Fault. Legend says this cave was a hideout for robber gangs in the 1820s, who stashed their loot from…
You're driving through what used to be Peyton Colony, just outside Blanco. This area owes its beginnings to Peyton Roberts, who was born a slave in Virginia. After gaining his freedom at the end of the Civil War, he…
You're driving along what was once known as the King's Highway, or the Camino Real. This old San Antonio Road was a vital route, marked way back in 1918 by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the State of…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the Belvin Street Historic District. It was named in 1876 for Reverend R. H. Belvin, who led the Coronal Institute right here in town. By the 1870s, San Marcos was…
You're driving past the Malone house in San Marcos, a home that's seen more than a century of Texas history. Built in 1891 for James Lafayette and Eliza Pitts Malone, this house was home to sixteen children! The Malones…
You're cruising past the former home of Lloyd G. Johnson, a local banker who built this place with his wife Katherine back in 1919. Designed by the famous architect Atlee B. Ayres, it's a cool mix of Mediterranean style…
You're cruising past the former home of Ike Wood, a man who built a life and a legacy right here in San Marcos. Wood arrived around 1886 and quickly became a major player in town – a merchant, a banker, and a civic…
You're driving past the J.H. Barbee House in San Marcos. Born in 1854, John Howard Barbee was a successful businessman, rancher, and developer. In 1906, he built this Classical Revival home for his wife, Abbie, who was…
You're driving past the Augusta Hofheinz House, built in 1908. Augusta was the widow of Daniel Hofheinz, who ran a San Marcos hotel back in the 1870s. Their son Walter oversaw the construction of this beautiful…
Driving past San Marcos, you're looking at the Kone-Cliett House, a home with deep roots in Hays County history. Edward Reeves Kone, a man who wore many hats – county attorney, sheriff, judge, and education…
You're cruising through San Marcos, and right here is the Kone-Yarbrough House, built in 1886. Look for its really unusual central chimney – a Victorian touch for a growing family. Sam R. Kone, Jr., a successful…
You're driving past the John F. McGehee house, built in 1889. McGehee himself was a veteran of Hood's Brigade during the Civil War. He hauled the pine for this home all the way from Bastrop, adding cypress siding and…
You're driving past the former home of James Gray Storey, a man who wore many hats in Hays County. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1830</say-as>, Storey served as district clerk and then captain of…
You're driving past the George Henry Talmadge house, a beautiful Victorian built in 1889 right here in San Marcos. Talmadge himself was a Union Army veteran who moved to Texas after the Civil War. He was also a…
You're driving past the San Marcos home of Alexander Gates and Lillian Johnson Thomas, a couple who blended their passions for Texas folklore and art into their very own dwelling. Alexander, an English professor, and…
You're driving past a building that started as one of the first schools in San Marcos, built around 1859. By 1875, it became a family home for Rev. Robert H. Belvin, president of Coronal Institute. Later owners expanded…
You're driving past the former home of Joseph W. Earnest, a man who arrived in Hays County as a boy in 1854. Earnest served with the Texas Rangers and the Confederate army before becoming a merchant and cattleman. In…
You're cruising past the Sanders-Grosgebauer House, built around 1913. It's a prime example of the American Foursquare architectural style, a design rarely seen in San Marcos back then. But this house holds a…
You're driving past the former home of O. T. Brown, built way back in 1878. Brown, a Civil War veteran and lawyer, bought this place in 1882. He'd been a prisoner of war, but found success here in San Marcos as a civic…
You're driving past the Caldwell-Kone-Hyatt House, a place that's seen three prominent Texas families live within its walls. Robert M. Caldwell, son of early colonists, built this home in 1869. Later, it was acquired by…
You're driving past the former home of George Thomas McGehee, a true pioneer who arrived in San Marcos way back in 1846. He wasn't just a settler; McGehee fought with Terry's Texas Rangers in the Civil War and later…
You're driving past the Robert Early McKie House in San Marcos. Built in 1906 for two thousand dollars, this home was constructed by local contractor H.C. Leffingwell for McKie himself, a San Marcos native, attorney,…
You're driving past the former home of Eliza Pitts Malone, a woman who saw Texas through immense change. Arriving in 1842 as a young girl, she became a charter member of San Marcos' First Methodist Church and a devoted…
That beautiful stone building in the middle of the square is the Old Blanco County Courthouse. It looks like the proud heart of the town, and it is now, but it holds a history of a major civic defeat. Built with local…
The Blanco River, which you see flowing so peacefully through town, is capable of unimaginable power. On Memorial Day weekend in 2015, the science of hydrology became a terrifying reality. A stalled weather system…
If you follow the river through town, you’ll find Blanco State Park, a narrow little park that hugs the water for about a mile. It might look modest, but it’s a living piece of American history. The park was built in…
In the mid-1990s, if you wanted a craft beer in Texas, your options were slim. But here in Blanco, something was brewing. In 1996, a small operation called Real Ale Brewing Company set up shop in the basement of an…
You're driving through Hays County, near the San Marcos River, the site of a Spanish settlement called San Marcos de Neve. Founded in 1808, this small villa was meant to be a buffer against American expansion and a…
Right here in Hays County, you're looking at Spring Lake, a place where history stretches back over 12,000 years. Imagine this: between 9,000 and 10,000 BC, the very first people known to live here, the Clovis people,…
Blanco's always been a place where the beauty of the Texas Hill Country meets a certain hardscrabble reality. The river, that Blanco River we're named for, the one that carved its way through the limestone and gave us…
You're driving past the site of the Coronal Institute, founded back in 1868 by O. N. Hollingsworth. This private school, coeducational and even offering military training for boys, got its name because it sat like a…
You're driving through Hays County, or maybe Colorado County, and you're passing the land of Dillard Cooper. He came to Texas in January of 1836, part of the Red Rovers, heading straight for the fight. Cooper was with…
You're driving through what was once Hays County, Texas, where in 1861, a camp of instruction on the San Marcos River became the birthplace of the Fourth Texas Infantry. These Texans, originally planning to enlist for…
You're driving through Hays County, just southwest of Austin, and you're passing near a place called Friday Mountain Ranch. This wasn't just any old ranch. Back in 1852, it was the site of the Johnson Institute, a…
You're driving through Texas, the undisputed king of mohair production in the United States. But did you know it all started with a few goats brought here back in the late 1850s? William Walton Haupt, right here in Hays…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the site of a church with a powerful story of resilience. In 1866, Rev. Moses Johns organized San Marcos' very first African American congregation, the Colored…
Stringtown, in southern Hays County, was one of the earliest Anglo-American settlements in the county. The community got its name from the approximately four-mile-long string of houses that were built facing the old San…
You're cruising through San Marcos, and right here is the story of Dunbar School. While private lessons for Black children might have started way back in 1847, the first public school opened its doors in 1877, serving…
You're driving past the Ragsdale-Jackman-Yarbrough House in San Marcos, built in 1868 by a veteran of the Texas Republic army. His wife actually ran a school for girls right here after he passed. Later, this house…
You're driving past the Heard-Baker House in San Marcos, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture. This home was built around 1889 by William Green, but it's named for the rancher Samuel McGehee Heard, who bought…
You're driving past a real San Marcos landmark, the former Cumberland Presbyterian Church, now known as Fort Street Presbyterian Church. Look for its stunning Gothic Revival windows and those unique octagonal towers…
You're cruising past the Rylander-Kyle House, built between 1912 and 1913. Agriculturalist Ignatius Bramwell Rylander commissioned this impressive Colonial Revival home, designed by architect Roy L. Thomas. Notice the…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the site of the First Presbyterian Church. Back in 1848, Presbyterian settlers gathered in the old log courthouse to hear sermons from Reverend Nathaniel P. Charlot,…
You're driving past the John Matthew Cape House, built in 1902. Cape was a big deal in San Marcos, owning cotton gins along the river and helping start both the San Marcos Utilities and the State Bank & Trust Company.…
You're driving past Eddie Durham. The Texas influence on jazz history, especially through the careers of individual artists, is well documented. The efforts and influences of African American jazz musician Eddie Durham…
The community of Lake Dunlap, nestled in Guadalupe County, Texas, owes its name to the former Lake Dunlap, a small reservoir on the Guadalupe River. Despite the dam's failure in 2019 that drained the lake, the…
You're driving past what locals called the Calaboose, the first jail in Hays County, built way back in 1873. For years, it held prisoners, but it also served a different purpose. In the 1940s, this brick building got a…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the story of Ulysses 'Boots' Cephas. Born in 1884, the son of freed slaves, Ulysses learned the blacksmithing trade from his father. He became so skilled that he…
You're driving past Wesley Chapel A.M.E. Church, believed to be the oldest African American congregation in San Marcos. Its history traces back to 1875, and the first church building rose on this very spot in 1879. For…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the site of the first church in Hays County. Organized way back in 1847 with just nine members, this Methodist congregation met in homes and even a log house that…
You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of San Marcos. It all started way back in 1853 with just two members and Reverend Henry Thomas. By 1856, the congregation had grown to fifty. After the Civil…
Lyndon B. Johnson attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University) 1927-1930. Took 1928-29 year off to teach at segregated Mexican-American Welhausen School in Cotulla as teacher + principal.…
Under the calm green water of Spring Lake, just north of downtown, sits one of the most important archaeological sites on the continent. Fed by more than 200 openings where the Edwards Aquifer surfaces, the San Marcos…
For decades this was where Texas families came to watch a pig dive into a lake. The story starts in 1926, when A.B. Rogers, a San Marcos furniture and funeral-home owner, bought the land around the springs; his son Paul…
The springs feeding the river here are home to animals found nowhere else in the world, and a federal lab in San Marcos exists to keep them from vanishing. The strangest is the Texas blind salamander, a ghost-pale,…
The red-roofed Victorian building crowning the hill above campus is Old Main, finished in 1903 as the first building of what was then a small teachers' school. It opened with 303 students. Two decades later one of them…
If you're on the San Marcos River around eleven in the morning, sun overhead, you just might see the Sun God. His real name is Dillon Scott, born in 1956. He grew up in a San Antonio military family and swam this river…
On the Texas State campus in San Marcos, there's a place where the Southwest keeps its memory. The Wittliff Collections — an archive and museum built by the writer Bill Wittliff to preserve the creative legacy of this…
Go up to the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University, and the Wittliff Collections keeps a piece of music history most people never knew was recorded. In August of 1973, Jerry Jeff Walker cut "¡Viva…
The springs that feed the San Marcos River have been drawing people here for at least 12,000 years, making this one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in North America. Archaeological excavations from the lake…
You're cruising past a piece of presidential history in San Marcos! This beautiful house, designed by German architect Charles S. Sinz, was built in 1896 for the Beverly Hutchison family. But it earned its place in…
That was George Strait -- now here's a deep cut from his world. Down in San Marcos there's a band called the Texas Jamm Band, and it's pretty much George's band on their night off. A few of the Ace in the Hole boys…
The town you're rolling through carries a name handed down through three different stories. Spanish explorers on Alonso de Leon's 1689 expedition reached a river east of the Guadalupe on April 25, the feast day of St.…
After dark, the hill below Old Main has a reputation. The 1903 building is the heart of one of campus's oldest ghost stories: a young woman, by legend a student, is said to have fallen, jumped, or been pushed from the…
The story of San Marcos is really the story of its river. For thousands of years, the springs that feed the San Marcos River have drawn people here. We know that even very early peoples were here, following the water…
The stately domed building in the middle of downtown is the Hays County Historic Courthouse, and it's the fourth one the county has built. Designed by Austin architect Charles H. Page in the Classical Revival style and…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the story of La Sociedad Mutualista Cuauhtémoc. In the early 1900s, Mexican Americans here sought better social and educational programs. This led to the formation of…
You're driving past the site of Hays County's long line of courthouses, a story of rebuilding and resilience. From a log church-schoolhouse in 1848, the county has seen courthouses built, burned, damaged by earth…
You're driving past the site of the Farmers Union Gin Company in San Marcos. In 1908, local farmers pooled their resources to buy this land and establish the gin. Led by Oscar Calvin Smith, it became the first…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here, in the log house of John D. Pitts, something historic happened on August 5th, 1847. Circuit rider A. B. F. Kerr organized the very first church in Hays County. This…
On Cheatham Street, right by the railroad tracks, sits an old weather beaten warehouse that birthed modern Texas country music. In June of nineteen seventy four, a man named Kent Finlay and his partner Jim Cunningham…
This low building by the railroad tracks at 119 Cheatham Street launched one of the biggest careers in country music. It went up in 1910 as a grocery warehouse, taking in goods off the trains, until 1974, when Texas…
You're driving past the heart of San Marcos, where a local legend in banking got its start. Back in 1879, Ed J. L. Green opened 'Green's Bank' right here on the Courthouse Square. It wasn't just a bank; he rented out…
You're driving past Old Main, the original administration building for Southwest Texas Normal School, completed in 1903. This Victorian Gothic structure, built on land donated by the city of San Marcos, still stands…
You're driving past the site of one of Texas's very first Anglo-American settlements in Hays County. William W. Moon was orphaned just two days after his birth in Alabama, but he made his own way to Texas. He first saw…
At 400 East Hopkins Street stands the oldest surviving home in San Marcos, a square limestone house built in 1867 by Charles S. Cock from pine, elm, cedar, and native stone, with walls two feet thick. It's the last…
You're driving through Blanco County, and just ahead is the final resting place of Jesse L. McCrocklin. Born in Kentucky in 1800, McCrocklin came to Texas in 1833, just in time to fight for its independence. He saw…
You're driving through the former Clear Spring Community, just outside Seguin. This area was settled by German immigrants back in the 1840s and 50s. The community itself never quite became a town, but this spot was the…
You're driving past the former home of Charles S. Cock, a prominent figure in early San Marcos. He built this limestone, elm, pine, and cedar house in 1867. Cock wasn't just a farmer; he also served as the city's mayor…
You're driving past the site of Hays County's very first public building, right here in San Marcos. Imagine this: back in 1847, early settlers threw up a simple log house. Built from elm, cedar, and cypress, it started…
You're driving past Zions Kirche, a testament to German heritage in Comal County. Organized in 1871 with 52 German members by Reverend William Felsing, this Methodist Episcopal Church began with a simple limestone…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here, you're passing the legendary Cheatham Street Warehouse. <break time="400ms"/> This is where Kent Finlay, a true Texas music guru, nurtured countless careers. <break…
You're driving through San Marcos, the birthplace of a legendary sound. Back in 1975, right here, George Strait, then an agriculture major, auditioned for a band called Ace in the Hole. They met at Southwest Texas State…
You're driving through Hays County, and right here in San Marcos is where James Dell Cummings, known as 'Mr. Pipeliner,' spent his later years. Born in Kansas, Cummings was a farmer who hated seeing men struggle with…
You're driving through San Marcos, the hometown of Eddie Durham, a titan of the Swing Era. Born here in 1906, Durham wasn't just a musician; he was a groundbreaking composer and arranger who shaped the sound of jazz. He…
You're driving through San Marcos, Texas, the birthplace of Cleto Luna Rodríguez. Back in February of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1945</say-as>, during the brutal battle for Manila, Sergeant Rodríguez…
You're driving through Hays County, and right here, you're passing the San Marcos Springs, the second largest natural springs in Texas! These waters, first seen by Europeans in 1709, were a vital stop on the Old San…
The low stone dams and shady riverside terraces in this little park are the work of young men who needed a job in the worst year of the Great Depression. When private landowners deeded this ground along the Blanco River…
You're driving through Kendalia, and right here is the story of George Wilkins Kendall, a man who knew how to spin a yarn – and wool! Born up in New Hampshire, Kendall learned the printing trade and ended up co-founding…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here are the famous Aquarena Springs. Long before it was an amusement park, these springs were known to the Tonkawa Indians as 'warm water.' Explorers likely stumbled upon…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here is the site of Gary Air Force Base. It started as San Marcos Army Air Field back in 1942, training thousands of navigators during World War II. After the war, thanks to…
You're driving through San Marcos, a city founded by a man named William F. Lindsey. Lindsey arrived in Texas in 1836, and after surveying Galveston Island and serving as a surveyor in San Antonio and Fayette County, he…
You're driving past San Marcos, and right here is where the town itself got its start, thanks to a doctor named Eli T. Merriman. He was the very first physician in town, arriving in 1847 and building his log cabin. But…
You're driving through Hays County, and right here is where William Washington Moon, a man who saw his share of Texas history, decided to settle. Born in Alabama in 1814, his parents died shortly after his birth. He…
You're driving through Hays County, and right here is the San Marcos River. For over 10,000 years, people have called this place home, from ancient Clovis hunters to the Tonkawa Indians. When Spanish explorers arrived…
You're driving through San Marcos, and right here, you're experiencing a living piece of Texas music history. This is the home of the Texas Natural and Western Swing Festival, an annual celebration born in 1988. It…
You're driving through Hays County, and right here is San Marcos, the hometown of Colonel Peter Cavanaugh Woods. When the Civil War broke out, Woods raised a cavalry company from this area, which became Company A of the…
You're driving past Amenthal, a home built in 1882 by Irish craftsman Laurence Wall for a thousand bucks. It was purchased in 1887 by John and Ruth Huffman Baines, who were Lyndon B. Johnson's grandparents. They named…
You're driving through San Marcos, a city with roots stretching back to Spanish Texas. Long before it was a bustling hub on I-35, this area was the site of ambitious Spanish colonization attempts. In 1755, the San…
You're driving past the site of the first federal fish hatchery in Texas, right here in San Marcos! Established in 1893 on the old W. D. Wood place, this facility wasn't just about stocking local streams. Early on, it…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in San Marcos is where Boston P. Grant, Jr. got his start. Born in 1924, he grew up to be a decorated army medic in World War II and later, a legendary track and field…
You're driving through Hays County, a place with a history stretching back thousands of years. Indigenous peoples were farming here by 1200 AD, drawn by the abundant springs, especially the San Marcos Springs, the…
Right here in San Marcos, you're driving past the site of Coronal Institute, founded in 1868 by Orlando Newton Hollingsworth. After fighting in the Civil War and being wounded at the Battle of Corinth, Hollingsworth…
You're driving through San Marcos, a town that played a small role in the Civil War and later became a political battleground. William Oscar Hutchison arrived here in 1859, setting up a law practice. He fought in the…
You're driving through San Marcos, a town that owes a lot to John Drayton Pitts. He arrived in Texas in 1841, calling it a 'land of plenty' and encouraging eleven families to join him. Pitts was a government official,…
You're driving west of San Marcos on Ranch Road 12, heading towards a unique Texas institution. Right here is the San Marcos Baptist Academy, founded back in 1907 by the Southwest Texas Baptist Conference. It started…
You're driving through San Marcos right now, and just ahead, in the spring-fed headwaters of the San Marcos River, lives a plant found nowhere else on Earth: Texas wild rice. It's a rare, endangered aquatic grass,…
You're driving through Hays County, not far from San Marcos, where in the late 1870s, Samuel Bender McBride was deeply involved in local education. He helped establish a free public school right here, serving both boys…
You're driving through Hays County, near San Marcos, where Anne Cooper made her mark. She wasn't your typical politician; she was a mom, a teacher, and a fierce advocate for education and conservation. Cooper, a former…
You're driving through Central Texas, and you might be passing through San Marcos, the birthplace of Albert Sidney Burleson. He wasn't just any politician; he served as U.S. Postmaster General under President Woodrow…
You're driving through San Marcos, a town that was home to Dudley Richard Dobie, Sr. He started collecting books in the winter of 1927, a passion that would define his life. He became a bookseller in 1935, even scouting…
You're driving through San Marcos, home to Southwest Texas State College, now Texas State University. For twenty-two years, this campus was led by John Garland Flowers. He took the helm in 1942, guiding the college…
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in San Marcos, you're passing the birthplace of a true Texas educator. Thomas Green Harris arrived in Texas in 1879, and over the next few decades, he shaped the…
You're driving through San Marcos, a town that was home to Isaac Hoover Julian, a newspaper editor who arrived here in 1873. He was already a seasoned publisher, having edited papers in Indiana that advocated for…
You're driving through San Marcos, home to Texas State University. Right here, historian James Taylor served as a professor. But during World War II, he joined the Army Air Forces, documenting history in the Pacific.…
You're driving past the original office building of the San Marcos National Fish Hatchery. Established in 1893, it was one of the first federal fish hatcheries in Texas, right near the headwaters of the San Marcos…
Every summer, tens of thousands of people show up in San Marcos to do something almost no other Texas town offers: float down a clear, spring fed river at a constant seventy two degrees, in an inner tube, with a beer.…
You're driving past what used to be the industrial heart of San Marcos. This land, originally granted in 1831, was bought by Edward Burleson in 1844. He was quite a character – a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, a…
Check out that impressive building on the corner! That's the Old Blanco County Courthouse, a survivor with quite a story to tell. Built in 1886, it was designed by Frederick Ernst Ruffini in that fancy Second Empire…
You're driving past Blanco State Park, just off Highway 281. Right here, the land was deeded to the state in 1933, kicking off a major project during the Great Depression. Company 854 of the Civilian Conservation Corps,…
You're driving through Blanco, a town that owes its existence to a bit of frontier rivalry and a name change. Back in 1853, settlers were already building cabins here along the Blanco River, ready to defend against…
You're driving through Kendalia, a community with roots going back to the late 1800s. Look for the Kendalia Community Church. It all started in 1882 when Carl Gustav Vogel and his wife Ettie bought land here. They later…
The grand limestone building on the square was built to last centuries and served as a courthouse for just four years. Blanco County accepted it on January 29, 1886, a two-story Second Empire showpiece of native…
On the night of May 23, 2015, Memorial Day weekend, the rivers that make San Marcos beautiful turned deadly. A thunderstorm cluster stalled over the Hill Country and dumped as much as 10 to 13 inches of rain in a few…
Locals will tell you the old limestone courthouse on the square keeps a few residents who never checked out, though you should take this one as the campfire tale it is. The most repeated legend describes a woman in a…
You're driving past the site of Mission San Francisco Xavier de los Dolores, a Spanish outpost established way back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1746</say-as>. Franciscan missionaries hoped to convert and…
You're driving past the Hector Family Cemetery, a quiet resting place with a story of love and loss. Astyanax Troy Hector, born in 1823, came to Texas with his family and became a farmer, hatmaker, and surveyor. He…
You're driving past the site of the second home built in San Marcos by Dr. Eli T. Merriman. He graduated from Yale in 1838 and settled in Texas that same year, becoming the area's first physician. Merriman was also one…
You're driving past the site of Post San Marcos. Back in 1838, the Republic of Texas Congress ordered military roads and forts built from the Red River all the way to the Nueces. A vital road was planned, connecting…
You're driving past the San Marcos River, and right here, you're passing Thompson's Islands. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1850</say-as>, William A. Thompson and his family arrived in Texas. Using slave…
You're driving past the Adrian Edwards Conn home, built before 1873. Imagine this place with walls a full sixteen inches thick, built to last. It still boasts a hand-dug well, a rock-walled cellar, and even an…
You're driving through Blanco, where the Methodist Church you see was organized way back in 1854 by circuit rider Daniel Rawls. It took six charter members to get things started. The current building, made of native…
Underneath San Marcos lives a creature that has never seen daylight and never will. The Texas blind salamander, scientific name Eurycea rathbuni, exists in exactly one place on Earth: the San Marcos pool of the Edwards…
San Marcos Springs is the second-largest spring system in Texas and the longest continuously inhabited site in North America. Archaeologists found evidence of…
You're driving past San Marcos Springs, the source of the San Marcos River. For thousands of years, this incredible water has been a magnet for life. Indigenous peoples knew it well, and so did the Spanish explorers. In…
If you want a meal that's older than the outlet malls and rooted in town life, Herbert's Taco Hut at 419 Riverside Drive is the one. Herbert Rizk Sr. and his wife Dora opened it on May 19, 1976, in a modest spot near…
You're driving past the site of Schumannsville Cemetery, a final resting place for German immigrants who settled here in the mid-1800s. August Wilhelm Schumann arrived from Germany in 1846, buying a large tract of land.…
The river running through this town gave the place its name long before anyone built a cabin here. Back in 1721, members of the Aguayo expedition crossing the Hill Country looked at the pale limestone in the banks and…
Two friends put down the first stakes here, and one of their names is still on the map. In 1853 Eli Clemens Hinds and James Hughes Callahan rode up the Blanco River and built cabins on its north bank, becoming among the…
The kid who grew up to anchor a pennant-winning lineup came out of Blanco High School. Willie Clay Upshaw was born here on April 27, 1957, and the New York Yankees drafted him in the fifth round in 1975 straight out of…
Blanco smells like Provence in June for a reason that traces back to one photographer's hunch. In the late 1990s National Geographic photographer Robb Kendrick was shooting a story in the south of France when he…
Out at the lavender farms ringing Blanco, the real magic happens inside a steaming copper still, and it is pure chemistry. A lavender flower stores its scent in microscopic oil glands on the surface of the buds. When…
If you want to stand in the field that started Blanco's whole lavender story, this is it. Hill Country Lavender, out on FM 165 northwest of town, was the first commercial lavender farm in Texas when Robb Kendrick and…
You're driving past the home of Edward Burleson, Jr., a frontier fighter who built this place in the 1850s. It was right here that A. S. Burleson was born. He went on to serve as a member of President Woodrow Wilson's…
You're driving past the site of Thompson's Island, named for Dr. William Alexander Thompson. Back in 1850, Thompson and his neighbors agreed to harness the San Marcos River. With his sons and slave labor, they built a…
You're driving past the Old Lex Homestead, built between 1873 and 1874. Peter Lex, a German immigrant pioneer, and his wife Carolina built this stone cottage. Every rock in the original structure was hand-cut and faced.…
You're driving past the site of an old lime kiln, right here near the San Marcos River. This spot was part of a land grant way back in 1834. Later, General Edward Burleson, a big name in early Texas, owned the land and…
You're driving past the site of Riverhead Farm, established in 1905 by William Green. He envisioned a massive truck-farming operation, using irrigation from the San Marcos River and powered by hydroelectricity. Although…
One of the better-known craft breweries in Texas got its start under an antique store in downtown Blanco. In 1996 Philip, Diane, and Charles Conner began brewing English-style ales in the basement of that shop, naming…
You're driving past the site of Blanco High School. Chartered in 1883, it began as a mix of private and public education, with a limestone building opening here in 1884. The school has grown and built new facilities…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Blanco. Organized in 1859, the congregation shared a union church until purchasing land and building their own sanctuary in 1902. The current facility was…
You're cruising through San Marcos, and right here are the Sink Springs, a vital part of this city's history. Since the late 1800s, these springs, pushed to the surface by artesian pressure, have been the lifeblood for…
For most of its life this was a sleepy farm town of a few hundred people. As late as the 1950s only about 350 people lived here, and when Schertz incorporated as a city in 1958 the count was just 351. Then the…
You're driving past the Burns Sons' Gravesite, established in 1879. This site was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2008.
You're driving past the Blanco County Courthouse, a grand Victorian structure designed by F. E. Ruffini. It was built in 1886 as the county's first permanent courthouse, but its time as the seat of power was…
You're driving past the site of the Cheatham-Hohenberg Cemetery, a quiet resting place with a story stretching back thousands of years. Originally known as Indian Hill, this knoll was a strategic lookout for native…
Keep your eyes peeled as you drive through Seguin, because you're passing the site of a community that started with a Jamaican immigrant and ended with a singing group. In 1851, Jacob De Cordova, a land agent who sold…
You're driving through Kendalia, and right here we're passing the final resting place of Samuel Boyd Patton. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 who moved to Texas in 1837, serving in the Congress of the Republic.…
You're driving past the San Marcos-Blanco Cemetery, a resting place for the African American citizens of the Blanco community. Established in 1893, though burials began as early as 1886, this site served not only as a…