Bee Cave, Texas

The rugged hills around Bee Cave aren't just scenic — they're nesting ground for a bird that breeds nowhere else on Earth but Central Texas. This is the story of the Golden-cheeked Warbler, the only bird species whose…

In 2007, the Texas Legislature declared Bee Cave to be the location of the 'West Pole of the Earth,' a unique and notable designation that sets the city apart from others.

Bee Cave earned its name the honest way. In the early eighteen fifties, Dietrich Bohls settled near the meeting of Barton Creek and Little Barton Creek, in a country of cedar and pale limestone bluffs. Tucked into that…

The cave that named Bee Cave was no accident of geology. The town sits on the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau, where the land drops away at the Balcones Escarpment. The bedrock is Cretaceous limestone, laid down as…

For most of its life, Bee Cave was tiny. In the mid eighteen eighties the community had a steam gristmill, a cotton gin, a general store, a church, a school, and just twenty residents. The post office closed in nineteen…

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.…

The heart of modern Bee Cave sits on land that was once a ranch. In nineteen seventy nine, Robert Baldwin bought roughly one hundred twenty five acres here, long before the highway filled with traffic. Decades later…

As you pass through the entrance to The Hills, you're not just entering a subdivision — you're entering a legally recognized town. The Hills is one of the very few gated communities in Texas that is also its own…

The beautiful landscape you're driving through is at the center of a major ecological story. This part of the Texas Hill Country is the only place on Earth where the endangered golden-cheeked warbler builds its nests,…

The very existence of The Hills, Texas, can be traced back to a single patch of green: the golf course at The Hills Country Club. But this wasn't just any course. Developers brought in Jack Nicklaus, and when it opened…

Lakeway is on Lake Travis and State Highway 620, five miles west of Mansfield Dam in west Travis County. It was founded on the site of a 2,700-acre ranch owned by Houston oilman and rancher Jack (Jake) Josey. In early…

For two decades, this quiet resort town was a capital of professional tennis. World Championship Tennis, one of the main organizing bodies of the men's pro tour, was headquartered at the Lakeway World of Tennis from…

In one Lakeway neighborhood, some driveways lead to hangars instead of garages. Lakeway Airpark, identifier 3R9, sits just south of Lake Travis on land that once held a private ranch airstrip. That earliest dirt strip…

As you look out over Lake Travis, remember that none of this would be here without a monumental feat of engineering just down the river: Mansfield Dam. Built between 1937 and 1942, it was a project of the Lower Colorado…

Lakeway began as a business plan on the shore of Lake Travis. In early 1962 three Houston men tied to the Gulfmont Hotel Company, G. Flint Sawtelle, John H. Crooker Jr., and Lee Blocker, took a sixty-day option on a…

The large resort you might see perched on the hill above the lake is where the Lakeway story began. When it opened in 1963 as the Lakeway Inn, it was the heart of a bold new concept in Texas leisure. The developers…

In the 1970s, before Lakeway was a major residential suburb, it was a map dot for tennis fans around the world. That's thanks to the World of Tennis complex, which opened here in 1973 — a hundred-acre joint venture by…

Nestled in the heart of Texas, the city of Lakeway is defined by its geography. It is situated next to the expansive Lake Travis, with Hurst Creek running directly through the city and emptying into the lake to the…

A native of Hanover, Germany, John Henry Lohmans emigrated to Texas in 1842. He settled in Austin where he opened a large dairy farm. In 1867 he moved into this area west of Austin and cleared a farm out of the abundant…

In the 1860s, the Roberts and Teague families came to the Bee Cave area where, for generations, their skills as farmers, ranchers, cedar choppers, coal kiln burners, and homemakers helped to shape its development and…

The beautiful lake that defines Point Venture is not a natural feature. It's a massive work of civil engineering, and the town itself is an unintentional byproduct. In the 1930s, the lower Colorado River was infamous…

When developers planned Point Venture in the late 1960s on this peninsula in Lake Travis, they knew they needed a signature attraction. A marina was obvious, but they wanted more. So the course laid out here in 1972…

For its first thirty years Point Venture wasn't technically a town. It was an unincorporated community on the north shore of Lake Travis — a second-home and family vacation destination since the early 1970s — governed…

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…

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…

The lake that made Jonestown was engineered under pressure. Groundbreaking for the dam at Marshall Ford came in February 1937, planned as a modest structure. Then a savage flood tore down the Colorado in July 1938,…

The Austin you know today—the 'Live Music Capital of the World'—owes a huge debt to a failed concert hall and a country singer tired of Nashville. In the early 1970s, Willie Nelson moved to Austin, looking for a place…

If you find yourself near the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk, you're in for one of the most incredible wildlife shows in North America. This is an ecology story born from an engineering project. In 1980, the bridge was…

In 1884 and 1885, a deep fear gripped Austin. A mysterious figure, later dubbed the 'Servant Girl Annihilator,' committed a series of horrific axe murders, attacking his victims—mostly women—in their homes in the dead…

For decades, if you spent any time in downtown Austin, you would have seen Leslie Cochran. A formerly homeless man, Leslie became the city's most famous and beloved local character, known for his outrageous…

Before he was a global icon, Stevie Ray Vaughan was an Austin guitar slinger. He cut his teeth in the city's smoky blues clubs, most notably Antone's, the 'Home of the Blues.' It was here, on stages across the city,…

The lake that gives Lakeway its water and its views exists because of a wall of concrete a few miles east. Mansfield Dam sits across a canyon at Marshall Ford on the Colorado River, about 13 miles northwest of Austin.…

Austin sits right on the Balcones Escarpment, a dramatic fault line that marks the edge of the Texas Hill Country. To the west, you've got rolling limestone hills carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries,…

Austin almost wasn't the capital of Texas. In 1842, President Sam Houston, fearing attacks on the frontier city, ordered the government archives hauled off to Washington-on-the-Brazos, where his government was then…

On August 1, 1966, the iconic tower at the center of the University of Texas campus became a scene of unimaginable horror. Charles Whitman, an engineering student and ex-Marine, ascended to the tower's observation deck…

Anderson Mill boasts a rich natural environment with Lake Creek and its tributaries running through the neighborhood. The area features nearly six miles of hike and bike trails, providing residents with an opportunity…

The residential development in Lost Creek began in the late 1970s, reflecting the suburban expansion and land use changes over geological time. This process involves understanding soil composition, erosion, and the…

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…

First settlers arrived in area in 1840s. The community founded here in 1856 was called Live Oak Springs; in 1865 it was renamed Shiloh. Later schools known as Live Oak and Oatmanville Gave names temporarily to the…

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,…

The Lieutenant Clay Crabb Memorial Highway follows U.S. Highway Two Ninety from Circle Drive in Travis County to Hays Country Acres Road in Hays County. Clay Douglas Crabb spent nearly four years with the San Angelo…

About thirty miles west of Austin, on Willie Nelson's ranch, there's a whole Old West town — and Willie named it Luck. It went up in 1985 as Driscoll, Montana, the set for his film "Red Headed Stranger," with a church,…

West of Austin, near Spicewood, Willie Nelson has his own ranch and his own venue, and he calls the place Luck. This past May first, a crowd of heavy hitters came out to pay him tribute — Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Margo…

Spicewood's history dates back to the late 19th century, with many residents tracing their lineage to early 19th-century settlers. The community's name may have originated from the spicewood timber that grew along…

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…

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…

You're driving past Comanche Peak, a name that tells a story of the Numunuu, the Comanche people who called themselves 'the people.' For centuries, they controlled this land, using peaks like this one for navigation,…

Right here in Briarcliff is a golf course unlike any other, thanks to its famous owner, Willie Nelson. In 1979 he bought the bankrupt Briarcliff Yacht and Golf Club — a nine-hole course built in 1968 — for $250,000,…

The very ground Briarcliff is built on exists because of a monumental feat of engineering you can't see from here: Mansfield Dam. Before the 1940s, the Colorado River was notoriously flood-prone, devastating Austin…

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 —…

Briarcliff looks peaceful today, but it began as something else entirely: a resort laid out on a peninsula of Lake Travis in the 1960s, a place people drove out to for the weekend. For its first couple of decades it was…

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…

Westlake High School (Austin, TX): Most recent: 40-21 over Denton Guyer · 2021 6A Division 2 final.

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…

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…

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…

Just down the road from Volente is a place that put this quiet corner of Lake Travis on the map: Hippie Hollow. It's the only legally recognized clothing-optional public park in Texas, and its story is pure Austin…

The beautiful lake defining Volente wasn't a happy accident; it's a massive piece of civil engineering built to solve a deadly problem. The Colorado River used to be dangerously unpredictable. On June 15th, 1935,…

As you look out over the calm surface of Lake Travis, it's hard to picture what's underneath. Volente was here long before the water was. Thomas and Lucy Anderson built a mill on Cypress Creek that ground gunpowder for…

In terms of ancestry, Volente is a diverse village with 41.7% of German, 30.0% of English, 10.9% of Irish, 7.3% of French, 4.9% of American, and 3.9% of Italian descent. Ethnically, 84.4% are Non-Hispanic White, 13.0%…

Volente may feel like an old town, but it only officially became one in 2003. For decades, it was just an unincorporated patch of Travis County. By the late 1990s, the boom in Austin was creeping closer. Residents grew…

If you're driving over Loop 360, you can't miss the iconic Pennybacker Bridge, the gateway to the western hills. Its graceful arch and rusty color make it a landmark, but that rust is actually a brilliant piece of…

The city you're in exists because of a fight, and the fight was won house by house. In 1953 the hills west of Austin were thinly settled and nervous - the worry, as one founder's son put it, was that 'the City of Austin…

Just off Loop 360 is a 227-acre piece of Hill Country wilderness called Wild Basin, and it exists because seven women decided it should. In the early 1970s this canyonland was headed for development. Janet Poage,…

West Lake Hills, locally known as 'Westlake,' was founded by Emmett Shelton and incorporated in 1953. Shelton played a significant role as a land planner for the city. The community developed rapidly in the 1970s and…

You might not see it from the main road, but you're driving through the official 'Wedding Capital of Texas.' How did a small Hill Country town earn that title? It started in the 1990s, when the area's scenic beauty…

As night falls in Dripping Springs, you might notice the stars seem brighter here. That’s not an accident; it’s a deliberate act of science and civic engineering. In 2014, Dripping Springs became the first city in Texas…

A natural swimming hole under a 50-foot waterfall in a collapsed grotto.

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.…

Right in the heart of town, on Mercer Street, sits a simple log-and-lumber house that is essentially the birthplace of Dripping Springs. Built by Dr. Joseph Pound in 1854, this wasn't just a family home. In a frontier…

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…

You're driving through Travis County, not far from where the Pedernales River meets the Colorado. Look for the Maxey Cemetery, a resting place with a poignant beginning. The first burial here in 1873 was little Alfred…

You're driving past the site of Anderson's Mill, built in 1863 by Thomas Anderson. This wasn't just any mill; during the Civil War, it was converted into a powder mill for the Confederate Armies. Imagine the vital,…

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…

Vandegrift High School (Austin, TX): Most recent: 24-17 over Southlake Carroll · 2024 6A Division 2 final.

That was Shakey Graves, the stage name of Austin, Texas musician Alejandro Rose-Garcia, one of the city's most beloved modern americana artists. Born and raised in Austin, he built his reputation as a one-man band,…

You're driving past the former home of Dr. Joseph M. Pound, a man who served both in the Mexican-American War and as a Confederate surgeon during the Civil War. His family built this place in 1854 using rough-hewn…

You're driving through Dripping Springs, and right here is the story of Dr. Joseph Pound. He was a veteran of the Mexican-American War, but he really made his mark here in Hays County. After medical school, he moved to…

While you're technically in the city of Rollingwood, the identity that truly binds this community together is the Eanes Independent School District. Just up the road is the district's only high school, Westlake — home…

Look to the east, and you'll see the single most important piece of engineering in Rollingwood's modern history: the MoPac Expressway, or Loop 1. Before it was built, commuting from here to downtown Austin was a trip on…

You're in a city that had to vote itself into existence. In the mid-1950s, post-war Austin was booming and annexing everything unincorporated within reach. The residents of the new Rollingwood addition - three hundred…

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…

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…

BYOB BBQ legend in Driftwood. Outdoor pit cooking since 1967. Cash only.

That was Quiet Company, an Austin, Texas indie rock band led by singer and songwriter Taylor Muse. Built around big, anthemic hooks and layered power-pop energy, they pair soaring melodies with unusually personal,…

Across the water from Lago Vista is one of the most famous and unusual parks in Texas: Hippie Hollow. Located on the shores of Lake Travis, it's the only legally recognized clothing-optional public park in the state.…

The beautiful lake that gives Lago Vista its name and purpose is not a natural feature—it's a massive feat of civil engineering. Welcome to Lake Travis, created by the construction of Mansfield Dam. Before the 1940s,…

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…

The very existence of Lago Vista is a story of ambitious, larger-than-life Texas development. In the 1960s a northern homebuilder called National Homes spun off a branch named National Resort Communities and turned this…

Lago Vista, Texas, was incorporated in 1984 following attempts by the City of Austin to annex the area in the early 1980s. The city's council-manager system of local government has been in place since its incorporation,…

The highest point in Austin is only seven hundred and seventy-five feet but the view over Lake Austin and the hills rolling west is the best sunset in the…

You're driving past James and Leanna Walsh House. Located in Tarrytown, this Mission Revival style house features limestone quarried from a nearby source and red, Spanish-style clay roof tiles. Built for James Martin…

In June 1865, a former slave from Mississippi named Thomas Kincheon settled this stretch of land, bordered roughly by what's now Paisano Trail, Davis Lane, Brodie Lane, and Longview Road. Unlike most freedom colonies of…

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…

Here is something worth chewing on as you pass a town literally named for dripping water. That same drip, the slow seep of mineral-loaded water over limestone, is the exact process that builds the great cave formations…

The springs that give this town its name are not just pretty water. Across the Hill Country, spring-fed creeks and the aquifers behind them shelter some of the rarest animals in Texas, creatures so specialized they live…

About a dozen miles southwest of downtown, off Hamilton Pool Road, is one of the most photographed natural spots in Texas, and it exists because the ceiling caved in. Hamilton Pool was once an underground river running…

The city you're in right now, Sunset Valley, exists because a handful of people said 'no' to Austin. Back in 1954, Austin was growing fast, annexing surrounding farmland. The families who lived here on their large,…

Look around at the shopping centers lining the highway. You're looking at the reason residents of Sunset Valley don't pay city property taxes. For decades, Sunset Valley was just a tiny, quiet town. But by the 1990s, it…

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…

You're rolling into a town named for water you can still watch fall. In 1853 and 1854 three families from the South stopped their wagons near a creek-side ledge here in northern Hays County and stayed: Dr. Joseph Pound…

On a ranch outside town, over three days in March 1972, country music quietly changed. The Dripping Springs Reunion was supposed to be the Hillbilly Woodstock: organizers booked Nashville royalty like Loretta Lynn, Tex…

This town wears its name honestly. Back in eighteen fifty-three and eighteen fifty-four, three families rolling west out of Mississippi and Kentucky, the Pounds, the Mosses, and the Wallaces, stopped their wagons in…

So what makes a spring drip out of a limestone ledge in the first place? Here in the Hill Country, the ground under your wheels is soft, dissolvable rock, and geologists call this landscape karst, a word borrowed from a…

People look at a Hill Country spring, so clear you can count the pebbles on the bottom, and figure it must have come from somewhere clean and untouched. Here is the fuller truth. That water is clear largely because the…

There is a reason Dripping Springs calls itself the Gateway to the Hill Country, and it goes back to the way people and freight actually moved across this land in the eighteen hundreds. The settlement sat right on the…

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…

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…

Look up here on a clear night and you'll see more stars than almost anywhere else this close to a big city, and that's by deliberate design. As Austin's glow crept westward, Dripping Springs residents realized the thing…

Driving west on US Highway 290, this is the spot where the suburbs of Austin finally let go and the limestone hills take over, which is why Dripping Springs calls itself the Gateway to the Hill Country. The label is…

The town that three Mississippi families settled in the 1850s is, a century and a half later, one of the densest clusters of craft distilleries, breweries, and wineries in Texas. Proximity is the reason: close enough to…

The oldest house in Dripping Springs sits at the Dr. Pound Historical Farmstead off Founders Park Road, built in 1854 by Dr. Joseph Pound, one of the town's founders and its frontier physician. For generations the Pound…

Walk down Mercer Street and you're standing in the original commercial heart of Dripping Springs, a stretch of storefronts built mostly between 1870 and 1940 that has survived where dozens of small Texas downtowns…

Dripping Springs sits right where the land starts to get interesting. You're not quite in the flatlands anymore; the terrain begins to roll and heave, covered in that scraggly Ashe juniper we call cedar. Highway 290…

You're driving through the heart of Texas, maybe not far from where John William Harris was born in Dripping Springs back in 1876. He grew up on a ranch, worked as a cowboy, but a pivotal experience led him to the…

You're driving past the former site of Mt. Gainer, a community that grew up around a prominent hill. It all started in 1858 when Joseph P. Gainer, known as Grandpa Gainer, settled 320 acres right around here. The…

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,…

As a tiny residential enclave of about 750 people, Sunset Valley isn't really known for famous residents. Its story isn't about celebrity, but about community. The most 'famous' people in its history were the original…

You're driving through Dripping Springs, the town that W.T. Chapman helped build! After fighting in the Civil War, Chapman arrived here in 1872. He became postmaster, a stagecoach operator, and even donated land for the…

If you want to eat where locals actually eat rather than a polished tasting room, Rolling in Thyme and Dough at 333 US Highway 290 West is the longtime answer. It's a from-scratch bakery and cafe, the kind of place…

You're driving past the Marshall-Chapman Home, a limestone addition to a frame house built in 1871. Burrell Marshall used it as a post office before he died in 1872. His widow Martha remarried William Thomas Chapman,…

Ever wonder who saved the Alamo? You're driving near the former home of Clara Driscoll, the woman who did just that. In the early 1900s, the Alamo was falling apart and about to be sold to developers. Clara Driscoll, a…

You're driving past Laguna Gloria, a Mediterranean-style villa built in 1916 for Henry and Clara Driscoll Sevier. Clara, who also led efforts to preserve the Alamo, donated the property in 1943 to the Texas Fine Arts…

This Mediterranean style villa was built in 1916 for Henry H. and Clara Driscoll Sevier. Named Laguna Gloria for a nearby lagoon off the Colorado River, the stuccoed home features a decorative window at San Jose Mission…

That was the Dirty River Boys, an americana band that formed in El Paso, Texas before relocating to Austin and joining the Central Texas music scene. Founding members Nino Cooper, Marco Gutierrez, Travis Stearns, and…

You're driving past the Donnan-Hill House in Austin, a home with a story that spans over a century. It started in 1876 when Gustavus Johnson, a carpenter, built this house for his daughter, Jennie, as a wedding gift. It…

You're driving past Mount Bonnell, a limestone peak that's been a local landmark for generations. It's named for George W. Bonnell, who arrived in Texas for independence in 1836. He served as Commissioner of Indian…

You're driving past the site of the Taylor Lime Kiln, built back in 1871 by Scottish immigrant Peter C. Taylor. His patented design allowed for continuous firing, producing a superior lime used in many late 19th-century…

You're driving past the site of the Broken Spoke, a legendary Austin honky tonk that opened in 1964. It started as a dance hall and restaurant in a former lumberyard, quickly growing to host country music giants like…

You're driving past Deep Eddy Bathing Beach. Swedish immigrant Charles Johnson built a large home for his family on 39 ares of land in this vicinity in the 1850s. In 1902 two of his children, Mary and Henry, opened Deep…

Welcome to Park on Doe Run in Shady Hollow, Texas. This park was created as part of an agreement between Austin Savings and Loan Owners and the Shady Hollow Homeowners Corporation in 1984, to provide recreational…

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…

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,…

You're driving through Austin, and just passed the Rainey House. Built in 1957, this home is a fantastic example of mid-century modern architecture. Architect B.D. 'Pat' Riley designed it for Dr. J.R. Rainey, a…

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…

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…

You're driving past the Johnson Home, built right here in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1858</say-as> by Charles Johnson. He brought fellow Swedes to build this home of native stone, with walls eighteen inches…

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…

Out on Bell Springs Road, Dripping Springs Distilling has spent two decades turning Midwestern corn into award-winning vodka, and the how is a small lesson in chemistry. Brothers Gary and Kevin Kelleher launched…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

You're driving past the former stomping grounds of sisters Lilia and Josephine Casis, who came to Texas from Jamaica in 1890. Josephine taught at Austin's Palm School for over three decades, while Lilia became the…

You're driving past Andrew Jackson Zilker. Voted Austin's most worthy citizen twice, Indiana native Andrew Jackson Zilker (1858-1934) grew up with a strong respect for the laborers along the Ohio River. He came to…

You're driving near where Spanish Franciscan missionaries established three missions back in 1716. They were called San Francisco de Los Neches, Nuestra Senora de la Purisma Concepcion, and San Jose de los Nazonis.…

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…

You're driving past the site of the Confederate Men's Home, a place that opened its doors in 1886. This wasn't just any home; it was a refuge for disabled and indigent Confederate veterans who had served honorably. They…

You're driving past the resting place of Major John B. Jones, a man who shaped the Texas Rangers into a force for order. Born in South Carolina, he arrived in Texas in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

You're driving past the Hezikiah Haskell House, a key part of Clarksville, one of Texas's earliest freedman's communities. Founded in 1871 by Charles Clark, it was a place for former slaves to reunite and practice their…

You're driving past Clarksville. Historic Black neighborhood. Settled in 1871 when Charles Clark, a freedman, bought two acres of land on present Tenth Street. This formed the nucleus of the community that Clark,…

Pull over for a second; you’re about to drive through history! This is Clarksville, one of the first freedomtowns west of the Mississippi. It was founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. In 1871, Charles Clark, a…

You're driving past the site of a man who served two nations: William Steele. Born in New York, he graduated from West Point and fought in the Seminole and Mexican Wars for the United States. But when the Civil War…

You're driving past Camp Mabry, a military hub that's served Texas for over a century! It started in 1892 as a gift from Austin citizens for the Texas Volunteer Guard. They loved it so much, they named it after Adjutant…

You're driving past the site of a crucial, but often overlooked, Civil War office: the Adjutant General. While 90,000 Texans fought for the Confederacy, this office had the tough job of defending the state's massive…

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…

You're cruising through Austin, and right here, we're looking at a piece of Texas history that goes against the grain. When Texas seceded and joined the Confederacy in 1861, not everyone agreed. Many Texans, often those…

You're driving past the Mathews School in Austin, a survivor from a trio of elementary schools built in 1916. Architect Dennis R. Walsh designed this building and its twin, Metz, on the east side. While Metz is gone,…

You're driving past the former family home of Dr. R.K. Smoot, a key figure in Austin's Presbyterian history. This house, built in 1877 with bricks made right here on Barton Creek, was more than just a home. It was the…

Ever wonder where Texas governors kicked back before the Capitol was built? This is it. Woodlawn, also known as the Pease Mansion, was home to two of them. Elisha Pease, who served as governor twice in the 1850s, bought…

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…

You're driving past the John M. King Log House, a piece of Texas history that might date all the way back to 1859. John M. King, a farmer who came from Alabama, bought this property in 1879 and lived here with his…

You're driving through Austin, past the former estate of Malcolm and Margaret Reed. Malcolm Reed built his fortune as a leading cotton exporter. In 1929, he and his wife, Maggie, moved into this stunning home they had…

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…

You're driving through Austin, past the homesite of Gordon and Margaret Catterall Mills. Margaret, born in Galveston, married Gordon in 1933. They moved to Austin, where Gordon took over his father-in-law's company,…

You're driving past a 1931 home in Austin, designed by architect Hal Thomson for Emma Levison Davis, the widow of a pioneer grocer. This Spanish Eclectic-style house features a unique arcade and a square tower. Notice…

You're driving through Austin, and right here is the site of one of the most infamous mass shootings in American history. On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman, a former Marine and University of Texas student, ascended the…

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…

You're driving through Austin, the birthplace of one of the most influential psychedelic rock bands of the 1960s: the 13th Floor Elevators. Formed in 1965, this group, fronted by the electrifying Roky Erickson and…

You're driving through Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World, and right here, you're passing the legendary Antone's. For forty years, this club has been a sanctuary for blues music. Opened in 1975 by Clifford…

You're driving through Austin right now, and you might be cruising past the legacy of Clifford Antone. Born in Port Arthur, Antone moved to Austin and, disappointed by the lack of live music venues, opened Antone's…

You're driving through Austin right now, and you might not realize it, but you're passing through the heart of a musical revolution! Back in the 1970s, this was the Armadillo World Headquarters. Housed in a converted…

You're driving through Austin right now, and you're passing by the birthplace of a Texas institution: Austin City Limits. Founded in 1974 by KLRN-TV, this PBS program aimed to showcase distinctive music from around the…

You're driving through the heart of Texas, and right here is where it all began for Anglo-American Texas. Stephen F. Austin, often called the 'Father of Texas,' inherited his father's dream to settle families here.…

You're driving through Austin, the capital of Texas. Back in 1839, this was the wild frontier, and President Mirabeau Lamar wanted a new capital for the Republic of Texas. He sent a commission to find the perfect spot,…

You're driving through Austin, and right here is the Texas State Capitol, a building that's seen its share of drama. Funded by a massive land grant of three million acres in the Panhandle, its construction between 1882…

You're driving through Austin, the city where Ann Richards made her mark. She started right here, elected the first woman county commissioner in Travis County back in 1976. But she didn't stop there. In 1982, she became…

You're driving through Austin, home of the legendary Darrell K Royal and the University of Texas Longhorns. Royal took over the team in 1957, transforming it into a national powerhouse. He coached the Longhorns to two…

You're driving through Texas, maybe heading towards Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World. Right here, you're in the land that launched Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born in Dallas in 1954, Vaughan taught himself guitar as…

You're driving through what is now Waller County, named for Edwin Leonard Waller. But this signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence was more than just a namesake. Back in 1836, he was a delegate at the Convention…

You're driving through Texas, and right here, you might be passing the very roads that inspired one of the most terrifying films ever made. Marilyn Burns, raised in Houston and educated at UT Austin, landed a…

The Broken Spoke, on South Lamar in Austin, was established in 1964 by proprietor James White and claims to be the "last of the true Texas dance halls." The Broken Spoke is a bastion for traditional country music . Its…

Waterloo was on the north bank of the Colorado River approximately at the site of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin. Jacob Harrell a hunter who erected a tent on the river bank in 1835 and his family were early…

You're driving through Austin, and right here is where a half-century of gospel music tradition began. Elmer Akins, a janitor at the Texas Supreme Court, had a dream inspired by radio. In 1947, he convinced a local…

You're driving through Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World, and right here is where a legendary band found its permanent home. In 1971, Asleep at the Wheel, already making waves with their unique blend of…

You're driving through Austin, right past the historic Clarksville neighborhood. This area, established by freed slaves after the Civil War, was once an isolated community, neglected by city services. But right here,…