Driftwood, Texas

Everything Driftwood is known for

2 songs mention this city 0 artists from here

Music in Driftwood

Songs About Driftwood

Texas Overture
Pere Ubu
95%
"Salt Lick in Driftwood is no beer family style"
dark side of town
kelley mickwee
9%

Artists From Driftwood

No artists from Driftwood in the database yet.

Rivers & Roads in Song near Driftwood

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Driftwood.

Blanco River 4 songs Texas State Highway 71 2 songs Interstate 35 43 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs Pedernales River 6 songs Guadalupe River 17 songs

Musical Heritage

Dripping Springs Reunion at Hurlbut Ranch RoadyGoat

In 1972, a crew of Dallas promoters rented Hurlbut Ranch outside Dripping Springs and dreamed big — sixty thousand fans a day, a three-day country blowout somebody billed as the Hillbilly Woodstock. About twenty thousand showed up, total. Willie Nelson figured out why fast: the promoters bought their ads in New York and Nashville, when the crowd they needed was right there around Austin. They lost a fortune. But look what got left in the wreckage. The lineup had mixed Nashville — Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard — with Texas writers like Willie, Waylon, and Kris Kristofferson. A few months later Willie moved home from Nashville to Austin for good. And the next summer, they reused the bones of that failed festival to throw the very first Fourth of July Picnic. Some flops plant seeds.

RoadyGoat → · 4.9 mi away

First Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic, Hurlbut Ranch RoadyGoat

In 1973, Willie Nelson was forty years old and selling maybe a thousand tickets a show. His album "Shotgun Willie" had earned good reviews and thin sales. So he threw a party. On the Fourth of July, out at the Hurlbut Ranch west of Austin, about forty thousand people showed up. He'd hired the crew from the Armadillo World Headquarters to run it, and advertised the whole thing on rock radio; Leon Russell, a genuine rock star then, was the biggest draw. By the accounts after, it was a beautiful disaster — traffic backed up ten miles, water and restrooms nowhere near enough, the sound system blew, a hundred degrees and no shade. Folks straggled out at two in the morning on July fifth. And Willie Nelson had just invented his Fourth of July Picnic.

RoadyGoat → · 4.9 mi away

History of Driftwood

The Salt Lick: Open-Pit Hill Country Barbecue in Driftwood Since 1967 RoadyGoat

1967

The Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, Texas, is one of the most famous barbecue pits in the Hill Country. It opened in 1967, founded by Thurman Roberts and his wife Hisako Roberts, on land the Roberts family had settled generations earlier. The family's method goes back further still: Thurman's great-grandmother, Bettie Howard, came to Texas in 1867 from Mississippi by wagon, and she barbecued meat by searing it and then slow-cooking it over coals, the same way the family still cooks today. The barbecue is cooked over a big open pit built stone by stone in 1967, with brisket, sausage, and ribs smoked over live oak coals. The original Driftwood location is cash only and BYOB, and it is still run by the Roberts family. People drive out from Austin and all over Central Texas to eat here. (Sources: The Salt Lick, Our Story; Wikipedia; Texas Monthly.)

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Driftwood, TX RoadyGoat

Driftwood, a small community in northern Hays County, Texas, has a history that dates back to the arrival of the earliest settlers around 1850. However, it wasn't until the 1880s that the community truly established itself, marked by significant growth and the establishment of a post office. Despite shrinking almost to a ghost town by the early twentieth century, Driftwood experienced some growth by the middle of the century, only to return to its almost-deserted state by the 1970s. Interestingly, Driftwood first appeared as a census-designated place in the 2010 U.S. census.

Driftwood, TX RoadyGoat

The founding of Driftwood can be traced back to the 1880s when the community experienced significant growth, leading to the establishment of a post office. This period marked the true establishment of Driftwood, a community that had seen the arrival of its earliest settlers around 1850.

San Marcos de Neve

1808

San Marcos de Neve was a small Spanish villa (1808-1812) of approximately eighty-two persons located at the junction of the Camino Real and the San Marcos River. The Spanish government authorized the founding of San Marcos de Neve shortly after the United States's purchase of Louisiana in an effort to halt Anglo expansion, arrest contraband trade from the United States, and promote a ranching economy within Texas. The population of San Marcos de Neve consisted almost entirely of persons born in New Spain. After receiving approval and funding from Gov. Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante , a number of families from Refugio in Nuevo Santander departed for the San Marcos River on the Camino Real in December 1807. Led by Spaniard Felipe Roque de Portilla , these families arrived at the future site of the villa on January 6, 1808, and quickly set about building homes and a central plaza. They were joined shortly thereafter by a small contingent of soldiers from San Antonio under Juan Ygnacio de Arrambide, who issued thirteen town lots to residents in April 1808. By the following year, a number of additional families had joined the original settlers. The people of San Marcos de Neve made their living primarily by raising livestock, with the vast majority of workers in an 1809 census listing herder or stockman as their profession. The ranchers raised cattle, horses, oxen, burros, and other forms of livestock for personal use and export. Although only one person on the 1809 census listed his profession as carpenter, it is possible that other residents of the villa had a skilled trade, but considered it secondary to their primary profession. From the founding of San Marcos de Neve to its eventual abandonment in 1812, the settlement faced a litany of problems. On June 5, 1808, just a few months after the villa's founding, the settlement was overcome by a flood that washed through its plaza and destroyed a number of citizens' homes. Although settlers made preparations to rebuild the settlement on higher ground, they apparently never followed through with the idea. This same year, an almost complete crop failure forced residents to depend on their cattle herds. In 1809 settlers at San Marcos de Neve complained that Tonkawa attacks on the villa were so frequent that it was almost impossible to cultivate their land. On July 27, 1812, a combined group of Comanche and Tawakoni Indians invaded San Marcos de Neve and ran off with some 205 horses. The small detachment of soldiers in the villa was powerless to stop the attack and unable to pursue the raiding Indians . Making matters worse for the civilians at San Marcos, a number of Comanches reported to Spanish officials in San Antonio that the attack was only a small part of a larger, multi-tribe effort to make war on the Spanish. Fearing that foreigners had been inciting natives, then Texas Gov. Manuel María de Salcedo recalled the soldiers of San Marcos in order to defend San Antonio. With no one left to guard against Indian raids, the people of San Marcos abandoned their homes, never to return. It appears that most of the settlers returned to Mexico. Shortly after the abandonment of San Marcos, the commandant general of the Eastern Internal Provinces, Joaquín de Arredondo, ordered a massive fort built in the area to defend Spanish settlements against Indian raids. Workers quickly abandoned the project, however, because Comanches attacked them every time they went to chop wood for its construction. In 1995 an archeological team under Nancy Kenmotsu located the remains of San Marcos de Neve in Hays County. Kenmotsu's inspection-and subsequent investigations in 1997 and 1998-found that although the villa contained a plaza, most of San Marcos's residents lived outside the town's center. Archeologists speculate that this could either be due to the villa's ranching focus or to residents rebuilding their homes on higher ground after the 1808 flood. In any case, the settlement pattern made it more d

Tsha Handbook → · 5.0 mi away

Spring Lake Site

-9000

The Spring Lake Site is so named because it is one of several areas of archeological debris under the lake of the protected property known as Aquarena Springs . Other sites exist all around the lake, which is located in San Marcos in southeastern Hays County. Spring Lake (at 29°53' N, 97°56' W) is produced from San Marcos Springs , which has an average daily flow of 150 to 300 million gallons a day, half a dozen other large outlets from the giant Edwards Aquifer, and a great many small seepages. These combine to form the San Marcos River. The lake lies at the foot of the Edwards Plateau , some thirty miles south of Austin and fifty miles north of San Antonio. Between 9,000 and 10,000 B.C. the Clovis people took up residence at the springs; they were apparently the first people to live there and appear to have located by the springs because of the relative warmth of the water, which is a constant 72° regardless of season. Also, springside trees, grasses and water plants are constantly succulent and could be expected to attract browsers and grazers to the springs as well as to the first few miles of the San Marcos River. Whether the Clovis lived at the site recurrently or permanently, we do not know. The residue of their activity is abundant, especially in flaked stone tools and chipping debris. Huge mammoths, mastodons, and bison were killed away from the main camp with only selected parts, primarily the teeth, brought home. Those fragments had been broken away from the jaw bones with a hammerstone; however, the teeth include interior pulp and dentine. Thus, poor preservation cannot be blamed for the absence of larger bones. By Archaic times bison leg bones and whole teeth appeared in the camp debris. Excavations in Spring Lake were directed by Joel L. Shiner of Southern Methodist University beginning in 1978. The work was sporadic since no significant support was received except from private sources. The Aquarena Corporation, tuition from private underwater classes, and grants from business firms kept the research alive. On the average, small crews were in the water about two days per month. In the 1990s anthropology graduate student Paul Takac continued the archeological research begun by Shiner. A cultural sequence has been blocked out for 12,000 years of occupation. Following the Clovis people, there was a group that made and discarded large numbers of as yet unnamed long slender lanceolate spear points. These are presumed to date from 7,000 to 9,000 B.C. The two early occupations are followed by the typical Archaic Phases and their distinctive points. About A.D. 1000 the bow and arrow and crude pottery appear. In the 1700s numerous Spanish expeditions passed by but made no permanent settlements. In the 1840s Anglos began settlement. The collecting from the site has been done by scuba divers, because in the late nineteenth century the early Texans dammed the river immediately below the springs and inundated the ancient villages with ten to twelve feet of water. Because of the water, preservation has been excellent. Teeth, wood, and bones already "walked" into the mud at the spring banks have been protected by lake deposition from modern collectors, industry, and roads. In 1994 Aquarena Springs Resort, including Spring Lake, was formally purchased by Southwest Texas State University. The school's Anthropology Department, headed by James Garber, played an increased role in the study of the site and its artifacts. In 1995 the resort featured a new natural history exhibit containing artifacts from the 1978 dig.

Tsha Handbook → · 5.0 mi away

Cooper, Dillard

1836

Dillard Cooper, pioneer settler, was born in South Carolina about 1814. He and his wife, Lucinda, lived in Alabama and Tennessee before moving to Texas. Cooper traveled to Texas with Capt. John Shackelford 's Red Rovers . The company landed at Copano Bay in January 1836 and shortly thereafter was sent to join James W. Fannin 's command. Cooper was slightly wounded at the battle of Coleto but escaped the Goliad Massacre . After Texas independence, he lived in Hays County and subsequently settled on a tract of land on the east bank of Cummins Creek in Colorado County, granted to him by the Republic of Texas . The 1860 census described him as a farmer with a personal estate of $3,500. His account of the Goliad Massacre was published in the Columbus Citizen on July 30, 1870. Cooper and Lucinda were the parents of five children. After Lucinda's death Cooper married a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth E. Gholson, in October 1878, and they moved to land in northwest Llano and southwest San Saba counties. After Elizabeth's death, he married Amanda Talk in Llano County on July 19, 1883. He died around 1896 and was buried in the Llano City Cemetery. In November 2008 the Texas Historical Commission placed a marker on Dillard Cooper's grave.

Tsha Handbook → · 5.0 mi away

Driftwood Church

1884

Early Methodist church services in Driftwood were held in the Reaves School (1 mi. N) by the Rev. John Alexander Garison (1849-1933), who served other small Hays County communities as well. The congregation began meeting here in 1884 after this small frame sanctuary was completed. When the local Baptist church building was destroyed in 1911 the Methodists shared this structure with the Baptists. Both congregations have continued to hold services here and provide a Union Sunday School. Descendants of pioneer church members still worship at the Driftwood church. (1983)

Historical Marker →

Camp Ben McCulloch No. 946

1896

Hays County Confederate veterans and their families gathered for a reunion in the summer of 1896 and formally organized the Camp Ben McCulloch Chapter of the United Confederate Veterans. The gathering took place near this site at the Martin Spring and campsite on Onion Creek. The reunion grounds were purchased by the organization in 1904 and have continued as the site of the annual reunion with the exception of one year during World War I. The first commander of Camp Ben McCulloch was Capt. Martin Luther Reed. Other officers elected at the first meeting were Jacob C. Quick, W. M. Weaver, W. W. Davis, W. T. Chapman, Dr. J. M. Pound, and Santa Anna Cruze. The camp was named for Confederate General Ben McCulloch, also a veteran of the Texas Revolution, who died in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in 1862. The reunion grounds and other responsibilities were transferred to the care of the Confederate Sons after Burl Nash, the last veteran in the county died in 1947 at age 108. The Sons in turn deeded the camp to the grandsons and other descendants of the Confederate veterans. Reunions continue to be held, illustrating the ongoing impact of the Civil War on Texas history. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Historical Marker →

Rogers, Joseph B.

1833

The son of settlers who came to Texas in 1831, Joseph B. Rogers (1833-1912) served with Terry's Texas Rangers in the Civil War. In 1869 he bought this land and in early 1870s hired local workmen to build this native limestone house. Like many pioneer homes, it had a central hall and a chimney at each end. The wooden porch was replaced with concrete in 1916. Rogers' son, Martin Oldham Rogers (1899-1975), and his wife, Minnie Lea Posey Rogers, have preserved the structure. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1975

Historical Marker → · 3.8 mi away

Things to Do in Driftwood

food 20.6 mi away
Franklin Barbecue

Legendary Austin BBQ with 2-3 hour waits. Obama waited in line here.
quirky 8.7 mi away
Jacob's Well

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…
historical 15.4 mi away
Devil's Backbone Tavern

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…
nature 15.4 mi away
Hamilton Pool Preserve

A natural swimming hole under a 50-foot waterfall in a collapsed grotto.
quirky 15.4 mi away
Hamilton Pool

A domed grotto of limestone where an underground river collapsed thousands of years ago and left a fifty-foot waterfall spilling into a jade-green pool.…
historical 16.4 mi away
The Broken Spoke

James White built the Broken Spoke out of cinder blocks on South Lamar in 1964 and stubbornly refused to let Austin grow up around it. Willie Nelson Bob Wills…
nature 17.6 mi away
Pedernales Falls

The Pedernales River drops over a staircase of tilted Cretaceous limestone here -- the rock layers dip about three degrees to the southeast and the river…
nature 17.7 mi away
San Marcos Springs

San Marcos Springs is the second-largest spring system in Texas and the longest continuously inhabited site in North America. Archaeologists found evidence of…

Everything Near Driftwood

611 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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