St. Olaf Kirke, commonly referred to as The Rock Church, is a small Lutheran church located outside of Cranfills Gap in an unincorporated rural community known as Norse. St. Olaf Kirke is situated on...
Things to See & Do in Central Texas
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.
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...
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...
Lady Bird Lake in Austin
Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Downtown Austin. It was created in 1960 by the construction of Longhorn Dam and is owned and operated by the City of Austin...
St. Michael’s Catholic Church
Located in Weimar. Established as a Mission in 1888, by Father Edward Brucklin, who became first resident priest in 1892. An earlier frame structure was replaced by this stately sanctuary in 1913...
Bryan-College Station
Bryan-College Station, a community rich in tradition and history, set deep in the heart of Central Texas. Bryan, the county seat of Brazos County, is located in west central Brazos County and is...
Fredericksburg
Located in Gillespie County, Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Old-time German residents often referred to Fredericksburg as Fritztown, a nickname that...
Bluff Dale
Bluff Dale, on U.S. Highway 377 and the North Paluxy River in northeastern Erath County, was originally called Bluff Spring by the pioneers who settled near the site’s artesian wells. Bluff...
Johnson City Feed Mill
I don’t know the story behind the shoes on this wall, but here in Texas we have boots on fence posts, bicycles on barns, trees and on fences… seems anything is fair game to try out a new...
St. Stanislaus in Chappell Hill
In 1888, Rev. James Grabinger, announced that a church would be built in Chappell Hill — St. Stanislaus. The great hurricane of 1900 that devastated Galveston destroyed this first church. The...
Navasota
Navasota was founded in 1831 as the stagecoach stop of Nolansville. Its name was changed in 1858 to Navasota, a name perhaps derived from the Native American word nabatoto (“muddy water”).
Old barn in New Bielau
Photo Rob Sneed
Lake Belton Sunset
Belton Lake is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Leon River in the Brazos River basin, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Belton, United States. The lake extends into both Bell...
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.
Sunset in McKinney Falls
Sunset in McKinney Falls State Park, located at the southeastern edge of Austin around the confluence of Onion and Williamson Creeks and is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department...
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Fredericksburg
Several black families were residing in Gillespie County by the 1870s. A schoolhouse was built in 1877 on property adjacent to this later church site. Blacks probably met in the school for worship...
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...