Driftwood, seventeen miles northwest of San Marcos in central Hays County, grew up in the 1880s as a supply center for neighboring ranches and farms. Pioneers settled in the area, then known as Liberty Hill, as early as 1850, but most settlers arrived in the early 1880s.
The community grew rapidly in that decade, perhaps as a result of its access to the new rail terminals at Kyle and Buda. By 1890 Driftwood had a post office, a school, churches, a cotton gin, and a general store. From a low of ten in 1925, the population grew to nearly 100 during the middle years of the twentieth century, then dwindled to fewer than twenty-five by the 1970s.
In 1945 Driftwood became part of the Buda school district. A century after its founding, the community remained a quiet Hill Country crossroads served by a general store and post office. In 1990 the population was twenty-one.
Driftwood has always been a quiet place. Too quiet for many; just right for a few. This is a part of Texas where (depending on gasoline prices) aimless driving is a recreational activity. Driftwood never fails to produce feelings of discovery when it first comes into view.
reprinted from Texas Escapes and Texas State Historical Association | photo by Dave Wilson
