176 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
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Dripping Springs, TX
Dripping Springs has always walked a line between small-town charm and big-city proximity, but lately, that line feels more like a tightrope. You can see it in the traffic on 290, thicker every year, and hear it in the…
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First Baptist Church of Dripping Springs
· 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Dripping Springs. It all started back in June of 1872, when Reverend G. G. Rucker and twelve charter members organized this congregation. Just a year later,…
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Dripping Springs Academy
· 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Dripping Springs Academy, a school that began its life in 1881 thanks to W.M. Jordan, a prominent Baptist preacher. This stone building was handed over to the Pedernales Baptist…
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The Marshall-Chapman Home
· 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
Burrell J. Marshall (1826-1872) built this residence in 1871 by adding rooms of native limestone to an existing frame structure. He used his home briefly as a post office while he was postmaster. When Marshall died in…
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Harris, John William
· 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
John William Harris, minister and college founder, son of William David and Anne Evelyn (von Bucknow) Harris, was born on January 12, 1876, in Dripping Springs, Texas. He grew up on his family's ranch near Dilley and…
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Pound, Dr. Joseph M.
· 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
Pioneer settlers Dr. Joseph M. Pound and his wife Sarah Dunbiken Ward lived here and raised nine children. Two log pens made of rough-hewn cypress logs were built in 1854 with slave labor. Additions were added over time…
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Dripping Springs United Methodist Church
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Dripping Springs, where Methodists first gathered for worship way back in 1854. Imagine them meeting in the one-room log home of Dr. J. W. Pound! Two famous circuit preachers, Andrew J. Potter and…
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Phillips Cemetery
· 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Phillips Cemetery, a final resting place that started as a community project. Back in 1880, John and Nancy Phillips donated land for the Methodist Episcopal Church. A church rose, and right next to…
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Tillie's at Camp Lucy
· 2.2 mi · Things to Do
Upscale Hill Country dining at the Camp Lucy resort, 3509 Creek Road. Said to serve the best breakfast in the Hill Country — open to the public, not just…
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Driftwood, TX
· 3.0 mi · Local history
Driftwood wasn't always Driftwood. Before the wineries and the destination barbecue joints, it was just another hardscrabble patch of the Texas Hill Country. The stagecoach rumbled through, sure, following a route that…
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Burns Sons' Gravesite
· 3.9 mi · Historical Marker
Burns Sons' Gravesite Established 1879 Historic Texas Cemetery, 2008
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The Salt Lick: Open-Pit Hill Country Barbecue in Driftwood Since 1967
· 5.4 mi
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…
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Salt Lick BBQ
· 5.4 mi · Things to Do
BYOB BBQ legend in Driftwood. Outdoor pit cooking since 1967. Cash only.
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Driftwood Church
· 5.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past Driftwood, Texas, where a little church has been a beacon for over a century. Early Methodist services kicked off in the area back in the 1850s, but the congregation built this very sanctuary in…
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Driftwood Cemetery
· 5.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Driftwood, and right here is Driftwood Cemetery. This resting place got its start in 1884, when the local Methodist church built a sanctuary on land donated by David and Mattie Dorrah. The…
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Camp Ben McCulloch No. 946
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Driftwood, Texas, where a piece of Civil War legacy lives on. Back in 1896, Confederate veterans and their families gathered near here at Martin Spring to form the Camp Ben McCulloch Chapter of…
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Rogers, Joseph B.
· 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the home of Joseph B. Rogers, a Texas Ranger who fought in the Civil War. His family came to Texas way back in 1831. After the war, in 1869, Rogers bought this land and built this sturdy limestone…
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Ostin, TX
· 8.7 mi
Austin, Texas, hums with a certain energy, a creative buzz that's been drawing people in for generations.
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Huston, TX
· 8.7 mi · Local history
Houston started as a swampy, humid place at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou. The Allen brothers, real estate entrepreneurs from New York, saw opportunity in the flat, low-lying land. They bought up a…
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Anderson Mill, TX
· 8.7 mi · Local history
The landscape of Anderson Mill is a testament to ancient geological forces, primarily the erosion of the Edwards Plateau. This limestone plateau, a vast, elevated tableland, defines the region. The terrain here isn't…
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San Marcos de Neve
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Spring Lake Site
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Cooper, Dillard
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Fourth Texas Infantry
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Friday Mountain Ranch
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Goat Ranching
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Stringtown, TX (Hays County)
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be Stringtown, one of the earliest Anglo settlements in Hays County. It wasn't a town with a center, but a four-mile-long string of houses along the old San Marcos to New Braunfels…
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Hamilton Pool Preserve
· 10.8 mi · Things to Do
A natural swimming hole under a 50-foot waterfall in a collapsed grotto.
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Hamilton Pool
· 10.8 mi · Things to Do
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.…
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Hamilton Pool Preserve
· 10.8 mi · Natural Landmark
Thousands of years ago, the ceiling of an underground river collapsed here, and what it left behind is one of the most surreal swimming holes in the United States. Hamilton Pool is a natural grotto carved into limestone…
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Jacob's Well
· 10.8 mi · Natural Landmark
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…
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Jacob's Well
· 10.9 mi · Things to Do
An artesian spring that looks like a bottomless blue hole. One of Texas' most dangerous diving spots.
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Jacob's Well
· 11.0 mi · Things to Do
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…
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Bee Cave, TX
· 11.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving west of Austin, approaching Bee Cave. This spot got its name from a massive cave right here on the creeks, absolutely buzzing with Mexican honeybees! <break time="400ms"/> In the early 1850s, Dietrich…
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Westcave Preserve
· 11.5 mi · Things to Do
A collapsed grotto two miles down the road from Hamilton Pool with a forty-foot travertine waterfall and a sealed-off ecosystem at the bottom. The temperature…
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Jacobs Well Cemetery
· 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Lake Travis High School (Baker Mayfield)
· 11.8 mi
Lake Travis High School (3324 Ranch Road 620 S., Austin, TX), home of the Cavaliers, is where Austin-born Baker Mayfield won. He led Lake Travis to a 25-2 record over two seasons and the 2011 Texas state championship.…
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Bee Cave, TX
· 11.8 mi
Bee Cave, Texas, isn't just another Hill Country town. It started, as the story goes, with a literal bee cave, a hollow in the limestone hills so packed with honeycomb that early settlers flocked to it. Those hills,…
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2016 UIL 6A Division 1 Football State Champions
· 12.0 mi
Lake Travis High School (Austin, TX): Most recent: 41-13 over Conroe The Woodlands · 2016 6A Division 1 final.
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Baker Mayfield at Lake Travis High School
· 12.0 mi · Sports Alumni
Baker Mayfield quarterbacked the Lake Travis Cavaliers to the final title in the greatest run in Texas high school football history. As a junior in 2011 he threw for three thousand seven hundred eighty-eight yards and…
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Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Lake Travis (Austin)
· 12.0 mi
Lake Travis (Austin) put 2 players on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Cooper Webb had the 6th-fewest hits allowed per inning in the state, and 41 strikeouts (10th in the…
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Ragsdale, Julia Ann
· 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Wimberley Glassworks
· 12.6 mi · Things to Do
Watch master glassblowers create art in real time. Beautiful Hill Country setting.
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Pedernales Falls
· 12.8 mi · Things to Do
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…
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Blue Hole Regional Park
· 12.9 mi · Things to Do
A crystal-clear swimming hole fed by Cypress Creek in Wimberley.
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Lakeway, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Lakeway, a community born from dreams of a lakeside resort. It all started in 1962 when Houston investors bought a 2,700-acre ranch. They envisioned a luxury inn and residential community, naming it…
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Levi Rock Shelter
· 13.2 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine standing where people stood 10000 years ago! Right here, near Lick Creek, is the Levi Rock Shelter, an archeological site that gives us a peek into the lives of some of the earliest Texans. Discovered in the…
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Wimberley, TX
· 13.3 mi
Wimberley, perched up here at 866 feet, a bit higher than Austin, has always drawn folks seeking something special. It started with the lure of Cypress Creek, its clear waters and cypress trees promising a good life to…
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Wimberley Mills
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Winters-Wimberley House
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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The Century-Old Wimberley Cemetery
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Oak Hill
· 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oak Hill, a community with a name that's changed more times than a chameleon! It started as Live Oak Springs in 1856, then became Shiloh. Later, it was known by school names like Live Oak and…
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Pyland, Sidney J.
· 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Saunders, John Henry
· 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Dobie, John R.
· 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Shady Hollow, TX
· 13.5 mi · Local history
Development began in 1972 on a large tract of land. By 1978, residents had organized the Shady Hollow Homeowners Corporation. They felt the developer, Austin Savings and Loan Owners, had misrepresented the density of…
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Miss Lillie Dobie's House
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
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.…
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Lakeway, TX
· 13.6 mi · Local history
Lakeway began as a vision for a resort community. In early 1962, businessmen from Houston saw potential in the 2,700-acre ranch owned by oilman Jack Josey. They secured an option to buy the land with plans for a hotel…
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Hays, John Coffee
· 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, Texas, named for a man who became the legendary face of the Texas Rangers: John Coffee 'Jack' Hays. Born in Tennessee, Hays arrived in Texas in 1836, just in time to help bury victims…
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Spicewood, TX
· 13.9 mi · Local history
Spicewood exists because of a few happy accidents of geography and commerce. The stage route came through here first, naturally, carving a path through the rolling hills, but it was really the granite that gave…
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Mt. Horeb Baptist Church
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Old Rock Store
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Old Rock Store in Austin, a building that tells a story of German influence and local grit. Built in 1898, its stone walls were laid by a German mason, echoing the style of early German rock…
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Roberts-Teague Cemetery
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Roberts-Teague Cemetery, established in 1898 when Joseph Roberts donated this land for an infant's burial. It holds the stories of the families who farmed, ranched, and worked these canyons for…
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Johnson, William Parks
· 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Wimberley, Pleasant
· 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Blanco River
· 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Wimberley, TX
· 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Lohmans Crossing
· 14.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Lohmans Crossing, named for John Henry Lohmans. He came all the way from Hanover, Germany, in 1842, settling first in Austin. But in 1867, he moved out here, cleared land, and started…
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Czichos House
· 14.2 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Saunders, John Henry
· 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
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Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps
· 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Johnson City, and just ahead is the site where a young couple met a tragic end. Thomas C. Felps had come to Texas in 1850 and settled in this area by 1856, working as a freighter and serving with…
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Peyton Colony Lime Kiln
· 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
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.…
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Barton Creek, TX
· 14.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Barton Creek, a community that started in 1974 as a high-end development. It quickly became the center of a fierce battle between developers, environmentalists, and citizens. The fight was all…
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Luck Ranch — Willie Nelson's Old West Town
· 14.6 mi · Local history
You're rolling near Luck Ranch, Willie Nelson's 500-acre spread in Spicewood on Bee Creek Road. In nineteen eighty-five the production crew for Willie's film Red Headed Stranger built a full Old West town as the set —…
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Barton Creek, TX
· 14.6 mi
Barton Creek, a ribbon of limestone and cypress cutting through Austin, has long been a muse and a training ground. Before it was a destination, it was a backdrop for those honing their craft, whether it was a riff on a…
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Kincheonville
· 15.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Kincheonville, a community born from freedom after the Civil War. Thomas Kincheon, a former slave, founded this place around 1865. Unlike many freedmen's communities, Kincheonville…
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Manchaca, TX
· 15.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Manchaca, a community named for the springs where José Antonio Menchaca once camped. It might seem quiet now, but this spot got a jolt of life in 1881. That's when the International-Great Northern…
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Education in Manchaca
· 15.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be the heart of education in Manchaca. This community, named for Tejano Officer Jose Antonio Menchaca, got its first post office way back in 1851. But learning didn't really get going…
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Barton Cemetery
· 15.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Barton Cemetery, a quiet resting place that started with a baby's grave. James Barton brought his family to Texas in the 1850s, settling on land originally granted by Mexico. In 1873, his infant…
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Haupt, William Walton
· 15.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County right now, near Mountain City. This area owes its name to William Walton Haupt, a man who was so much more than just a farmer. Haupt was an inventor, a scientist, and an innovator. He…
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Mountain City, TX
· 15.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, and right here is the site of Mountain City. It was a bustling supply center before the Civil War, serving farmers and ranchers. This spot even hosted one of the earliest stagecoach…
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Antioch Colony, TX
· 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through eastern Hays County, not far from Buda. Right here is the site of Antioch Colony. In 1859, a man named Joseph Rowley bought this land. After the Civil War, he sold tracts to freed slaves, and they…
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Buda, TX
· 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Buda, a town with a name that might just be a linguistic accident. It was officially established in 1881, but the area had been settled earlier. The railroad pushed through in 1880, and the…
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Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame
· 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and maybe you've got some classic western swing on the radio. Well, right here in Buda, Texas, a nonprofit was founded back in 1988 to honor the legends of that sound. Al Dressen, a…
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Hughson, Cecil Carlton, Jr. [Tex]
· 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Buda, where Cecil 'Tex' Hughson Jr. was born. He wasn't just any kid; he became a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. In 1942, Hughson had an absolutely…
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Antioch Colony
· 15.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hays County, near Buda, where formerly enslaved African Americans forged a new life after the Civil War. In 1870, a businessman named Joseph Rowley began selling parcels of land to these freedmen…
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Mountain City, TX
· 15.9 mi · Local history
Mountain City, Texas, isn't exactly nestled in the Rockies. But back in the 1850s, when the town was first established, its hilltop location was enough to earn it that ambitious name. At 774 feet above sea level, it…
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Buda United Methodist Church
· 16.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Buda, and right here is the site of the town's first church. Established in 1880 by Reverend Thomas Garrett, a pioneering Methodist circuit rider, this congregation was the very first in the new…
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Buda Christian Church
· 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Buda Christian Church, organized way back in 1893. They met in another church until they built their own in 1903. Disaster struck in 1909 when a storm ripped it apart, but they…
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First Methodist Church of Buda
· 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Buda, and right here is the site of the first Methodist Church. It all started back in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1882</say-as>, just a year after this town was founded. A few…
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Buda, TX
· 16.4 mi · Local history
Buda's always been a place where the quiet hum of small-town life meets the wider world. You can feel it walking down Main Street, past that old water tower – a reminder of when the International-Great Northern Railroad…
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Cypress Mill, TX
· 16.4 mi · Local history
Cypress Mill, nestled deep in the Hill Country, has always lived in rhythm with the Pedernales River. But the floods of recent years, especially the one in the fall of '18, felt different. It wasn't just the water…
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Buda
· 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Buda, a town with a name that sparks curiosity. It all started back in 1881, when Cornelia A. Trimble donated land for the townsite along the railroad. Back then, it was called Du Pre. The name…
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Sunset Valley, TX
· 16.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Sunset Valley, a community that started in the early 1950s with a simple idea from the Flournoy brothers: a residential development. Nestled in a wooded valley, the name Sunset Valley just fit. It…
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McElroy-Severn House (Stagecoach House and Onion Creek Post Office)
· 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what was once a vital stop on the old San Antonio road. Back in 1875, this bluff above Onion Creek was home to the Onion Creek Post Office and a stagecoach house. Imagine travelers…
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Live Oak Cemetery
· 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Live Oak Cemetery, a resting place that started with land donated by James M. Turley and Andrew Jackson Hammett. The oldest grave here belongs to Tennessee Belle Hart and her baby, who died back in…
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Eanes-Marshall Ranch
· 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Eanes-Marshall Ranch, a place with roots stretching back to the mid-19th century. Alexander Eanes arrived in Texas in 1845, building up this ranch by 1857. His brother Robert took over…
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Westlake High School (Brees, Foles, Tucker)
· 17.3 mi
Westlake High School in Austin, Texas (4100 Westbank Drive) sent an extraordinary trio to the pros. Drew Brees led the Chaparrals to the 1996 state title, then won Super Bowl XLIV MVP with the Saints. Nick Foles broke…
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UIL 6A Football State Champions — 3 titles
· 17.3 mi
Westlake High School (Austin, TX): Most recent: 40-21 over Denton Guyer · 2021 6A Division 2 final.
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Eanes Cemetery
· 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Eanes Cemetery, a final resting place for folks in eastern Travis County who didn't have their own family plot. Established in 1874, the land was a donation from early settlers William and Sophia…
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Eanes School and Chapel
· 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Eanes School, which started as a humble log cabin back in 1872 on Robert Eanes' property. Just two years later, it moved to this very spot, in a one-room frame building on land…
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Hudson Bend
· 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be Hudson Bend, named for Wiley Hudson who settled here with his family in 1854. Imagine this bend in the Colorado River, a place where pioneers like Wiley, his wife Catherine, and their…
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Agricultural Society of Fischer
· 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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The Broken Spoke
· 17.9 mi · Things to Do
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…
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Willie Nelson's Luck Ranch
· 17.9 mi · Things to Do
Willie built his own ghost town on his Spicewood ranch for the 1986 movie Red Headed Stranger -- a whole frontier village with a saloon chapel livery and…
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Devil's Backbone Tavern
· 18.1 mi · Things to Do
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…
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Bunton Branch Bridge
· 18.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bunton Branch Bridge, a survivor from the dawn of Texas highways. Built in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1915</say-as>, this 42-foot concrete arch was part of the very first federal aid…
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Hartson, Mary Lucy Kyle
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kyle, Texas, a town that made national headlines in the late 1930s. Right here, Mary Lucy Kyle Hartson, a great-grandmother, was elected mayor by a write-in vote in 1937. A picture of her appeared…
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Nance, Ezekiel Edward
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving west of Kyle, Texas, near the Blanco River. Right here, in 1852, Ezekiel Nance arrived, seeking a new start. He bought over 10,000 acres and began building a life. Nance wasn't just a farmer; he built a…
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Devil's Backbone Scenic Drive
· 18.2 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Kyle, Claiborne
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, and right here is the town of Kyle, named for Claiborne Kyle. He and his family came to Texas around 1844, facing financial ruin after Kyle posted bond for a friend who then skipped…
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Kyle, Fergus
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kyle, Texas, a town named for Fergus Kyle, a Confederate captain and a Texas legislator. Kyle was born in Mississippi in 1834 but moved with his family to Hays County in 1844. He served with…
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Kyle, TX
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kyle, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to a railroad and a bit of political savvy. Back on July 24, 1880, land was deeded to the International-Great Northern Railroad, and the town of…
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Nance's Mill, TX
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, not far from Kyle. Right here, back in 1850, Ezekiel Nance arrived and built a mule-powered gristmill and cotton gin on the Blanco River. This riverside operation became the hub for…
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Nance, Jeremiah Milton
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, Texas, not far from Kyle. Right here, Jeremiah Milton Nance was building a Texas ranching empire. In 1877, he gathered 2,300 head of cattle, forty ponies, and ten cowboys, and headed…
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Cathedral of Junk
· 18.2 mi · Things to Do
Vince Hannemann started welding junk together in his South Austin backyard in 1988 and forty years later it is a sixty-ton three-story tower of bicycle parts…
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Hudson Bend, TX
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving along Lake Travis, and right here is Hudson Bend. This community started in the early 1850s when Wiley Hudson and his family settled near a bend in the Colorado River. They secured a land grant, and soon,…
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Jackman, Sidney Drake
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, Texas, near Kyle, where Confederate Brigadier General Sidney Drake Jackman ended up after the Civil War. Jackman led his own band of guerilla troops, known as Jackman's Missouri…
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Kyle, Edwin Jackson
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kyle, a town named for Edwin Jackson Kyle's family. But Kyle himself was a giant of Texas agriculture and education! He graduated from Texas A&M, where he was the only student to ever hold both…
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Mather, Samuel E.
· 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hays County, near where the town of Kyle now stands. Right here, Samuel Mather faced a setback in 1854. A flood washed away the gristmill he'd built on the North San Gabriel River, a mill that had…
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Fischer Cemetery
· 18.2 mi · Historical Marker
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…
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Boggy Creek Masonic Cemetery
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Boggy Creek Masonic Cemetery, a place that started with a tragic accident in the winter of 1859. Twenty-three-year-old John Davis was on a wagon train when he was sprayed by a skunk. In the…
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Fischer Store
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
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.…
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Goeth Ranch House
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Cypress Mill, not far from where Carl A. Goeth settled back in 1865. He was a German immigrant who, in 1882, built this very house you might see nearby – a two-story limestone home built in the…
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Johnson City, TX
· 18.3 mi · Local history
Johnson City, nestled in the heart of the Hill Country, carries a quiet history woven into its very fabric. While the town takes its name from James Polk Johnson, a generous land donor, its story is also one of hardy…
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Cementerio Mexicano de Maria de la Luz
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cementerio Mexicano de Maria de la Luz, a vital link to Austin's Hispanic history. Tradition says a family buried a child named Maria de la Luz here in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
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WPA Projects at Kyle School
· 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Kyle Public Free School, a place that got a major boost from the federal government during the Great Depression. By the 1930s, the school needed new facilities, so the school board…
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Katherine Anne Porter House
· 18.6 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Ever heard of Katherine Anne Porter? This unassuming house in Kyle is where the acclaimed writer spent her childhood. Built in 1890 by Porter's widowed grandmother, the house became home to the Porter family after the…
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Kyle, TX
· 18.7 mi · Local history
Kyle sits right on I-35, and for years, that meant a steady stream of traffic, but not a whole lot else. The town was always there, a little pocket of Hays County with its own identity, but Austin, just up the road,…
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Bunton, John Wheeler
· 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hays County, past the resting place of John Wheeler Bunton. He arrived in Texas back in 1833, and by 1836, he was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Bunton also fought for Texas…
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Young, D. A.
· 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Kyle's first permanent store, built in 1881 by D. A. Young. Young was one of many Hays County men who fought in the Civil War, even suffering a wound. When the railroad arrived, he and…
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Kyle
· 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kyle, a town founded in 1880 when the railroad pushed through. Fergus Kyle and David Moore donated land for the townsite, and the very first lots sold at auction that October, right under a liveoak…
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The Veracruz Family of Kyle
· 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kyle, where the Veracruz family carved out a legacy in the Texas cattle industry. Pedro Veracruz arrived in Texas as a boy, guarding mule trains for General Santa Anna's troops during the Battle of…
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Cathedral of Junk
· 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
In 1988, Vince Hannemann started piling junk in the backyard of his South Austin home. He has not stopped. The Cathedral of Junk is now a multi-story, labyrinthine sculpture made from over 60 tons of salvaged materials:…
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Cathedral of Junk
· 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
In a backyard in South Austin sits a thirty-foot-tall cathedral built entirely from junk. Vince Hannemann started construction in 1989 with a small archway made of scrap metal and never stopped. He has welded, wired,…
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Cathedral of Junk
· 19.1 mi · Things to Do
A 60-ton sculpture made entirely of junk in someone's Austin backyard.
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Kyle, Claiborne
· 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a home built by John Claiborne Kyle, a pioneer who came to Texas from Tennessee in 1844 with his wife Lucy. They built this hand-hewn cedar log house soon after buying land in 1850. This…
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Kyle Cemetery
· 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kyle Cemetery, a resting place for many of Hays County's earliest settlers. The first recorded burial here was in 1849, for Willie Parks, adopted son of Colonel Clairborne Kyle. But local legend…
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Blocker, John Rufus
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas cattle country, and right here, you're passing through the territory once roamed by legendary trail drivers like John Rufus Blocker. Blocker wasn't just any rancher; he was a…
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Hye, TX
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hye, Texas, a tiny community with a big presidential connection. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1880</say-as>, Hiram G. Brown, known as 'Hye,' built a store and house, and…
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Blocker, William Butler
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, maybe near Blanco County, where the legend of Bill Blocker comes alive. Born in Alabama in 1850, Blocker was practically raised on a ranch south of Austin, starting on…
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Cypress Creek (Blanco County)
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, near the Pedernales River. Right here, the waters of Cypress Creek have been a lifeline for centuries. Back in 1849, Mormon settlers tapped into the springs along this…
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Deer Creek, Battle of
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Blanco County, not far from where a fierce fight happened back in August of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1872</say-as>. Ten local men, spurred by recent raids, spotted an Indian scout…
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Fuchs, Adolf
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, perhaps near Marble Falls. Right here, in what was once the frontier, lived Adolf Fuchs. He was a Lutheran minister, a musician, and a pioneer who arrived from Germany in…
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Healer, John W.
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Blanco County, Texas, but back in the 1830s, this land was part of the Republic of Texas. Right here, John W. Healer, a soldier in the Texas Revolutionary Army, was granted land for…
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Krueger, Max Amadeus Paulus
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Blanco County, and right here is the land where Max Krueger built a life, lost it, and started all over again. He came to Texas from Germany in 1868, seeking a warmer climate for his health. He…
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Peyton, TX (Blanco County)
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Blanco County, near the community of Peyton. Right here, around 1865, this area was known as Freedman's Colony. It was founded by Peyton Roberts, an ex-slave from Lockhart, who acquired land and…
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Roberts, Daniel Webster
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, a place Daniel Webster Roberts knew like the back of his hand. Born in Mississippi in 1841, his family moved to Texas three times, finally settling near Round Mountain in…
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McCrocklin, Jesse Lindsay
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Blanco County, an area that once held one of only four Mexican land grants issued here. That grant belonged to Jesse Lindsay McCrocklin, a farmer who arrived in Texas in 1833.…
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Montgomery, Robert Hargrove
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Blanco County, not far from where Robert Hargrove Montgomery was born. He became a University of Texas economics professor, known for his captivating lectures and colorful anecdotes. But…
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Twin Sisters, TX
· 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Blanco County, heading south on Highway 281. You're passing Twin Sisters, a community named for a pair of hills that have been a landmark for miles. This area was first homesteaded in 1854 by Joel…
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The Full-Moon Howl
· 19.5 mi
There's a long-running Austin tradition at Barton Springs Pool in Zilker Park: on full-moon nights, crowds gather along the grassy bank of the spring-fed pool, and at moonrise the whole place tips its head back and…
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Barton Springs
· 19.5 mi · Things to Do
Barton Springs is the main outflow of the Edwards Aquifer right in the middle of Austin. Thirty-one million gallons of sixty-eight-degree water pour out of a…
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Barton Springs After Dark
· 19.5 mi
Barton Springs Pool sits in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas — a spring-fed swimming hole about three blocks long, fed straight from the Edwards Aquifer and holding steady around sixty-eight degrees every day of the year.…
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Barton Springs
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past Barton Springs, a place so cool, it's drawn people here for centuries. Spanish friars set up shop nearby back in the 1730s. Then came William 'Uncle Billy' Barton in the late 1830s, patenting this…
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Fort Magruder, C.S.A.
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Fort Magruder, a Confederate defense built right here to protect Austin during the Civil War. Named for General John Bankhead Magruder, it was one of three forts planned to keep Union…
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McGill, Ashford, House (Zilker Park Refectory)
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Austin's Zilker Park, and right here, you're passing the Ashford McGill House. Built in the 1870s by a pioneer named Ashford McGill, this limestone home has seen quite a transformation. In 1931,…
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Deep Eddy Pool
· 19.6 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine escaping the Texas heat in the oldest swimming pool in the state! That's Deep Eddy Pool. It started as a swimming hole in the Colorado River. Then, in the 1920s, it was developed into a resort. During the…
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Swedes of Texas
· 19.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a piece of Texas history that started way back in 1838. That's when Swen Magnus arrived, the first Swede to settle in Texas. He made his mark, first on the coast and then right here in Austin, where…
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Millbrook (Roy-Hardin House)
· 19.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Millbrook, the historic Roy-Hardin House. In 1894, William Carroll Roy and his wife Annie bought this old mill site. They raised five children here before selling it in 1939 to Ernest and Maurine…
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Lago Vista, TX
· 19.6 mi · Local history
This lakeside community sits on the northern shores of Lake Travis, nestled within the rugged terrain of the Texas Hill Country. The land here is characterized by steep limestone hills and canyons, some of the highest…
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Green Pastures
· 19.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Green Pastures, a Victorian home built back in 1894 by Dr. E.W. Herndon. For decades, it was the family home of lawyers and judges, including Henry Faulk, his wife Martha, and their five children.…
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Travis County
· 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Travis County, named for a legendary Texan. William Barrett Travis was born in South Carolina in 1809, arriving in Texas in 1831. He became the commander at the Alamo, where he died fighting on…
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Trail Drives, Blanco County
· 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Johnson City, and right here is the former headquarters of one of the biggest cattle operations in the Texas Hill Country. In the 1870s, brothers J.T. and Sam Ealy Johnson ran thousands of cattle…
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Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre Expedition
· 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near the approximate site of a 1709 expedition, a goodwill trip sent by Spain to check on its claim to Texas. Spain was worried about French traders sniffing around, so they sent Captain Pedro de Aguirre…
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Mary Street Stone House
· 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mary Street Stone House in Austin, a home built in the 1890s by developer Nichols Dawson. He and his sister, Mary, a prominent educator, partnered in a real estate venture here. These houses were…
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Johnson City, TX
· 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Johnson City, a town named for James Polk Johnson. He and his neighbors thought the county seat at Blanco was too far away. So, in 1876, they tried to move it. When that failed, Johnson decided to…
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Johnson, Samuel Ealy, Jr.
· 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of the Texas Hill Country, not far from where a significant figure in Texas history once walked these dusty roads. Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., father of President Lyndon Baines Johnson,…
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Johnson, Samuel Ealy, Sr.
· 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and you're passing through the area where Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. once built his life and his cattle empire. He was the grandfather of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, and…
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Blanco County
· 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Blanco County, a land carved out of the Texas frontier. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1853</say-as>, Captain James Hughes Callahan was apparently impressed by the land along the…
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Pedernales Electric Cooperative
· 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, and right here in Johnson City, a revolution in rural life sparked in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1938</say-as>. Frustrated by a lack of electricity from private…
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Dawson Stone House
· 19.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Dawson Stone House, a testament to Austin's early real estate boom. Built around 1900 by sisters Mary and Nannie Dawson, this home was part of their ambitious South Heights expansion. These…
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Johnson, Rebekah Baines
· 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Hill Country, maybe near Johnson City, and right here is where Rebekah Baines Johnson worked to shape a future president. Born in McKinney in 1881, she moved around Texas, studied at Baylor…
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Matt's El Rancho
· 20.0 mi
Matt Martinez opened his Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin in 1952. The Bob Armstrong dip — a mound of queso topped with guacamole, ground beef, and sour cream — was invented on the spot when Texas Land Commissioner Bob…
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Austin High School
· 20.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Austin High School, a place that represents a century of public education right here in the Texas capital. Back in 1881, Austin became the first in Texas to offer tax-supported public…
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Becker School
· 20.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through south Austin, passing the site of the Becker School. What started as a simple donation of land in 1935 by the Becker Lumber Company, named after Herman Becker and his downtown cafe, quickly grew…