A Spring sunrise in the Hill Country. Photo by Adam Barker
Things to See & Do in Central Texas
Salado
The Village of Salado is the best small town in Texas! With several bed and breakfasts and only a short drive up I35, between Waco and Austin.
Fayetteville
Fayetteville’s first immigrant settlers were the families headed by John Crier, James Cummins, and James J. Ross three of the Old Three Hundred. The settlement began at the location of a...
Brenham
Brenham, the county seat of Washington County, is on U.S. Highway 290 seventy-two miles northwest of Houston. The Hickory Grove community changed its name in 1843 to Brenham in honor of Republic of...
Lake Belton
Belton Lake is located on the Leon River 16.7 miles upstream of the confluence of the Leon River and the Little River. It is in the northern part of Bell County, Texas about three miles north of the...
Starlite Drive-In in Schertz
The ticket booth and marquee are still standing. In its day, capacity was around 200 cars. photo by Noel Kerns
Frio River in the Hill Country
The word frío is Spanish for cold, a clear reference to the spring-fed coolness of the river.
Between Rosebud And Wilson
The road from Rosebud to Wilson has some of the prettiest ranches and farmland I’ve ever seen. This particular ranch was gorgeous. I saw no cattle there, and the grass has been allowed to grow...
New Braunfels
New Braunfels is situated in Comal and Guadalupe counties. Braunfels means “brown rock” in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city’s population was 57,740 as...
Brazos River
The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers (translated as “The River of the Arms of God”), is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river...
Round Top
The original name was Jones Post Office and named after the town's postmaster John Rice Jones Jr. who also happened to be the first postmaster general for the Republic of Texas.
San Fernando Academy in Pontotoc
A nearly deserted town an hour north of Fredericksburg in Mason County, Pontotoc was on the brink of becoming a boom town before a series of misfortunes. Settled in 1859, there was an established...
Boerne
Founded in 1852 by German settlers and incorporated in 1909, the City of Boerne was one of the area’s most strategic transportation locations on routes for those traveling into San Antonio or...
Driftwood
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...
Colorful Tour of the Hill Country Painted Churches
When immigrants from Moravia found passage into Galveston, the Ellis Island of the South, many headed for the Texas Hill Country bringing a piece of their homeland with them.
Circa 1618-1648 Steinbach Haus in Castroville
The Steinbach Haus was originally built in Wahlbach, France between 1618 and 1648 and lived in until 1988. Centuries after it was built, it was gifted to the city of Castroville.
Giddings
Giddings, county seat of Lee County, is on U.S. highways 290 and 77, fifty-five miles east of Austin and 100 miles west of Houston. The land was originally part of Stephen F. Austin’s colony...
Wimberly
Wimberley is the geographic center and the aesthetic heart of the Wimberley Valley and is located at the confluence of Cypress Creek and the Blanco River.