On the seventh of September, 1975, a family stopped at the roadside park on Highway 77 south of Giddings to have a picnic. The father crossed the fence line and found a green trash bag under a tree. Inside were the remains of a little boy, three to five years old. Somebody had wrapped him in a bedsheet with a multicolored floral pattern, sealed him into two dark green trash bags and tied them with baling wire. He was wearing a Buster Brown shirt and Buster Brown pants. He had straight dark brown hair. Investigators believed he had been dead about two months. Nobody has ever been able to say who he was. He is the only cold case Lee County has. In October of 2024 the sheriff's office reopened it, sent the remains to the anthropology lab at the University of North Texas to build a DNA profile they could run through genetic genealogy, and went back out to the original scene with a drone. The sheriff said then that with the science that exists now, he was confident the child could be identified. They also brought in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and a forensic artist built an approximation of what his face looked like. Somewhere there is a family that stopped talking about a little boy in the summer of 1975, and Lee County would very much like that phone call.

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The Man Who Owned the Paper and Robbed the Banks RoadyGoat

In 1960 the Giddings Star got a new owner named Lawrence Pope. He came out of a banking family, he had spent three years as a national bank examiner, and he had just been president of a bank near Waco until the board fired him over his lending. He bought this paper and the Lexington Enterprise figuring he would print forms for his old banking friends, and when they backed out the money ran out. On a Saturday afternoon in November he robbed a bank at Thornton. The next Saturday he robbed the Farmers State Bank down at Schulenburg. What sank him was his own newspaper. When he took over he had run his photograph on the front page, the way a new publisher does, and when the police sketch of the bank robber went out to the Central Texas papers, people around here looked at it and thought of the man who had just bought the Star. The FBI arrested him in San Antonio five days after the second robbery. Asked why he did it, he said it was not so much that he was desperate for money as that he was real damn mad at banks and bankers.

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Giddings, TX RoadyGoat

Giddings, Texas, has a rich history that began with the land grant to Stephen F. Austin in 1821 for a colony in Spanish Texas. The city itself was founded in 1871 with the arrival of the Houston and Texas Central Railway, likely named after Jabez Deming Giddings, who played a key role in bringing the railway to the area. Early settlers were mostly pioneers from nearby communities, and the town's first church was established the same year. Giddings became the county seat when Lee County was established in 1874. The town experienced an oil boom in the early 1980s with the tapping of the oil-laden Austin chalk, but oil activities decreased significantly in the late 1980s.

Longley, William Preston

1868

William Preston (Bill) Longley, outlaw, son of Campbell and Sarah Longley, was born in Austin County, Texas, on October 6, 1851. By April 1853 his family had moved to Evergreen, in what was then Washington County, where Longley went to school and worked on the family farm. Tales of Longley's criminal career are a mixture of actual facts and his boasts, but it is known that at the end of the Civil War a rebellious Longley took up with other young men and terrorized newly-freed slaves. On December 20, 1868, Longley, Johnson McKeown, and James Gilmore intercepted three ex-slaves from Bell County; this incident resulted in the death of Green Evans. Longley would later claim that after this he worked as a cowboy in Karnes County, and then killed a soldier as he rode through Yorktown, but there is no corroboration for these stories. He also claimed that he rode with bandit Cullen M. Baker in northeast Texas, but this is unlikely. In 1869–70, he and his brother-in-law, John W. Wilson, were terrorizing residents of south central Texas, and it was alleged that in February 1870, in Bastrop County, they killed a black man named Brice. In March the military authorities offered a $1,000 reward for them. They were also accused of killing a black woman. After Wilson's death in Brazos County, Longley traveled north, later claiming that he killed a traildriver named Rector, fought Indians, killed a horse thief named McClelland, and killed a soldier at Leavenworth, Kansas, for insulting the virtue of Texas women. None of these claims have been corroborated. At Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, Longley joined a gold-mining expedition into the Wind River Mountains, but was stranded when the United States Army stopped the group. In June 1870 he enlisted in the United States cavalry and promptly deserted. He was captured, court-martialed, and sentenced to two years' confinement at Camp Stambaugh, Wyoming Territory. After about six months he was released back to his unit, where he remained until he again deserted on June 8, 1872. Longley claimed that he lived and rode with Chief Washakie and his Shoshone Indians, which is questionable, and then returned to Texas via Parkerville, Kansas, where he claimed he killed a Charlie Stuart, of whom there is no record. He returned to Texas and Bell County, where his parents had moved, and claimed that he worked as a cowboy in Comanche County and what was then Brown County, allegedly killing a black man and engaging in a gunfight at the Santa Anna Mountains in Coleman County. In July 1873 Longley was arrested by Mason county sheriff J. J. Finney in Kerr County and taken to Austin so that Finney could be paid a reward. When the reward was not paid, Finney was supposedly paid off by a Longley relative and Longley was released. In late 1874 Longley and his brother James Stockton Longley rode from Bell County to the Lee County home of their uncle, Caleb Longley, who implored Longley to kill a Wilson Anderson for allegedly killing his son. On March 31, 1875, Longley shotgunned Anderson to death while Anderson was plowing a field, and the two brothers fled north to the Indian Territory. They returned to Bell County in July, where James turned himself in; James was later acquitted of any part in Anderson's murder. In November 1875 Longley killed George Thomas in McLennan County, then rode south to Uvalde County, where, in January 1876, he killed William (Lou) Shroyer in a running gunfight. By February 1876 Longley was in Delta County, Texas, sharecropping for the Reverend William R. Lay. A dispute with a local man over a girl led to Longley's arrest. He burned himself out of the Delta County jail and, on June 13, 1876, killed the Reverend Lay while Lay was milking a cow. On June 6, 1877, Longley was captured in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, by Nacogdoches county sheriff Milton Mast; Longley was returned to Lee County to stand trial for the murder of Wilson Anderson. Longley promptly began writing letters to a local newspaper a

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Smith, Hilton Lee

1931

Negro League baseball player Hilton Lee Smith has been heralded by baseball historians as the best all-around pitcher in Black baseball history. Noted for his fine curveballs, Smith played most of his career with the Kansas City Monarchs where he became known most as Satchel Paige's relief pitcher. In games, especially barnstorming exhibition games, Paige pitched the first three innings as a draw to attract fans, and Smith pitched the final six innings. Because of his quiet demeanor, Smith never attracted the public attention at the same level as Paige, but those connected to Black baseball considered Smith an equal in ability to his more famous contemporaries. Born on February 27, 1907, in Giddings, Texas, to John and Mattie Smith, Hilton Smith first started playing baseball as a youth on the local town team. His father, a teacher, also played on the team but encouraged his son to get an education. As a result, Smith enrolled at Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College (now Prairie View A&M University), the historically-Black college west of Houston in 1927. For two years he attended Prairie View and pitched for the school team in his last year. Smith made his professional debut in 1931 with the Austin Black Senators of the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League. The league closed down following the 1931 season, so Smith moved on and joined the Monroe Monarchs (of Louisiana) of the Negro Southern League. He pitched with Monroe for four seasons and also pitched for the New Orleans Black Creoles and New Orleans Crescent Stars in 1933. In 1936 Smith made the last team change of his career and joined the Kansas City Monarchs; he remained with them until he retired from baseball in 1948. The Monarchs spent 1936 as a touring team, but in 1937 they joined the newly-formed Negro American League (NAL). During his twelve-year tenure with the Monarchs, Smith won more than twenty games each year. During this time, he helped his team win five of the first six Negro American League pennants and the 1942 and 1946 "Negro World Series" championships over the rival Negro National League. Adding to Smith's personal accomplishments, he pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago American Giants in 1937 and made six consecutive East-West All-Star games from 1937 to 1942. In 1938 he won every NAL game he pitched. During his peak period (1939-42), Smith compiled a record of ninety-three wins and eleven losses against all levels of competition. Furthermore, in exhibition games against White major league players, Smith won six games and only lost one. As Smith neared the end of his career, the Brooklyn Dodgers of the White major leagues approached him about joining their team. Having just signed Jackie Robinson in 1945, the Dodgers sought other African American players to add to their team. Smith declined the offer and felt his age too great for a rookie. Two years later, following the 1948 season, Hilton Smith retired from professional baseball. He had a career record of 161-32 in league play. Following retirement, Smith became a teacher and coach in the Kansas City, Missouri, public school system. He later worked until 1978 as a foreman for Armco Steel in Kansas City. Then Smith took on the role of associate scout for the Chicago Cubs until his death in 1983. Smith married Louise Humphrey in 1934; their marriage lasted forty-nine years. The couple had two sons, Hilton and DeMorris. Hilton Lee Smith died in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 18, 1983. He was buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in that city. In 2001 Smith received election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2009 the city of Giddings dedicated a baseball field in Smith's name, and the Hilton Lee Smith Baseball Memorabilia Collection was established at the Giddings Public Library and Cultural Center.

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Lee County

1821

Located on Old San Antonio Road, on land surveyed in 1821 as part of the original colony of Moses and Stephen F. Austin. In 1854 became site of major settlement by Wend from northern Europe, led by Pastor Johann Kilian. Had only school in U. S. that taught in Wendish-- language surviving only here and in Australia, in the modern world. County was created from Bastrop, Burleson, Fayette and Washington. Organized in 1874, it was named for Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), general of the Army of Northern Virginia, in the southern Confederacy, 1862-1865. Giddings is the county seat.

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County Named for Beloved Confederate General Robert E. Lee

1857

Led army of Northern Virginia which included famed Hood's Texas Brigade. He said about them "I never ordered that brigade to hold a position that they did not hold it." "The enemy never sees the backs of my Texans." In the Battle of the Wilderness the Texans, seeing Lee set to lead the charge and fearing for his safety, halted, shouting, "General Lee to the rear," until he complied. Lee once declined furloughs for the Texans for he needed their services. He considered them his best shock troops. About Lee's surrender a Texan said, "I'd rather have died than surrendered; but if Marse Bob thinks that is best...Marse Bob is bound to be right as usual." COLONEL ROBERT E LEE IN TEXAS 1857-1861 Robert E. Lee spent 25 months on the Texas frontier, proving and seasoning grounds for great army leaders in the impending Civil War. With the 2nd U. S. Cavalry at Camp Cooper, he led a 1,600-mile scouting expedition into Indian country. He commanded the 2nd, first at San Antonio - leading the attempt to capture Mexican bandit Juan Cortina - next at Fort Mason. Lee learned how to adapt himself and his men to outdoor life and adverse conditions he later faced on battlefields. Knowledge of the ways of his fellow officers who later held high ranks in both armies...

Historical Marker →

Edward R. Sinks House

1890

Built around 1890, this American four-square house with offset entry was the home of Edward “Ed” R. Sinks (1854-1936), son of George Washington Sinks (1812-1892) and Julia Lee Sinks (1817-1904). George and Julia, both friends of Sam Houston, were prominent pioneers. George was first chief clerk of the Republic of Texas Postal System and Julia was an avid amateur historian. She was a charter member, vice president and more of the Texas State Historical Association. They lived here during their elder years with Ed, an attorney and founding director of the first bank in Lee County. Ed was Lee County’s first state district judge from 1893 to 1916 and later became state representative for Lee, Milam and Burleson Counties from 1925 to 1929. 				 Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2017

Historical Marker →

Redfield, Henry Prentice

1835

Henry Prentice Redfield, an early colonist and soldier in the Army of the Republic of Texas , was born in Derry, New Hampshire, on May 27, 1819, the son of William and Susan (Prentice) Redfield. After the death of his father, his mother married John C. Cunningham, a friend of Moses and Stephen F. Austin , and soon thereafter the family (including Henry's brothers, John Albert and William) immigrated to the Austin colony in Texas; they left New York in late 1830 and arrived by ship at Matagorda in 1831. They lived at San Felipe for several years, then settled on the Colorado River in lower Bastrop County on a large grant of land that became known as Cunningham's Prairie. Besides farming, the Cunninghams later ran a stagecoach inn on the old road from Austin to San Felipe. During the Texas Revolution Redfield was in Capt. John Henry Moore 's company at the battle of Gonzales , October 2, 1835, and with Benjamin R. Milam at the siege of Bexar in early December 1835. Though not an actual participant in the battle of San Jacinto , he helped round up the fleeing Mexicans after the battle. Redfield continued to serve in the Texas army in various Indian fights and was wounded in the battle of Plum Creek on August 11, 1840. That year his brother William was killed in a battle involving the Republic of the Rio Grande . In 1842 Redfield was with Mathew Caldwell on the expedition against Adrián Woll at San Antonio and fought in the battle of Salado Creek . During the Mexican War (in 1846) Redfield joined the First Texas Cavalry, United States Army, and served under Gen. Zachary Taylor at the battle of Resaca de la Palma and the siege of Monterrey. In 1850 he was the first census taker in Bastrop County. Redfield was married to Sarah Card of Fayette County on September 11, 1842, and they had nine children. After her death he was married to Julia Kersting of Washington County in 1872, and they had seven children. Redfield died on February 27, 1900, at Giddings and was buried in the Giddings Cemetery. An official Texas historical marker honoring Redfield was dedicated at his grave in 1971.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Giddings

food 16.9 mi away

Snow's BBQ

Texas Monthly's #1 BBQ. Only open Saturday mornings in tiny Lexington.

historical 17.1 mi away

The Fire That Nearly Took the Lost Pines

On September 4 2011 strong winds from a nearby tropical storm snapped trees onto power lines east of Bastrop. Three separate fires merged into the most…

quirky 21.6 mi away

The Forest That Shouldn't Exist

The Lost Pines of Bastrop are a thirteen-mile stretch of loblolly pines growing over a hundred miles west of the East Texas forests they genetically match.…

historical 23.1 mi away

The Man Who Survived His Own Scalping

In 1833 Josiah Wilbarger was scouting near Bastrop when Comanches attacked his party with arrows and bullets. They left him for dead after taking his scalp.…

quirky 23.2 mi away

The Con Man Who Named a Town

Bastrop's namesake Baron de Bastrop was no baron at all. He was a Dutch commoner named Philip Hendrik Nering Bogel wanted for embezzlement in the Netherlands.…

music 16.1 mi away

Festival Institute

Festival Hill: a 210-acre classical-music campus on Jaster Road hosting summer concerts, recitals, and a renowned festival in its grand concert hall.

food 16.5 mi away

Royers Round Top Cafe

Bud Royer's pie-mecca on the Round Top square — buttermilk, pecan, and a daily rotation of about ten flavors. Statewide-famous and the anchor of the…

quirky 19.8 mi away

The Chicken Ranch

A brothel outside La Grange operated continuously from the 1840s until Houston television reporter Marvin Zindler exposed it in 1973 -- one of the…

day trip

Day Trip to Giddings 🚵🏻 (FULL EPISODE) S14 E6

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Everything Near Giddings

357 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

The Boy on Highway 77 Nobody Has Been Able to Name
On the seventh of September, 1975, a family stopped at the roadside park on Highway 77 south of Giddings to have a picnic. The father crossed the fence line and found a green trash bag under a tree. Inside were the…
The Man Who Owned the Paper and Robbed the Banks
In 1960 the Giddings Star got a new owner named Lawrence Pope. He came out of a banking family, he had spent three years as a national bank examiner, and he had just been president of a bank near Waco until the board…
Giddings, TX
Giddings, Texas, has a rich history that began with the land grant to Stephen F. Austin in 1821 for a colony in Spanish Texas. The city itself was founded in 1871 with the arrival of the Houston and Texas Central…
The Bearded Bandit and the Fifteen Year Wait
On the sixth of February, 2008, a man robbed the Capital One bank in Giddings. The bank is not here anymore. Neither was the robber, for a very long time. He worked in disguises, false beards among them, which is how he…
First National Bank · Historical Marker
You're driving through Giddings, and right here is the site of Lee County's oldest bank. It got its start in 1891, born from the merger of two local financial ventures. One was a private bank run by P.M. Cuney. The…
Site of Bethany Lutheran Church and School · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Bethany Lutheran Church and School once stood. Established in 1895 as a German-English mission, it served this community for decades. The mission board withdrew support in 1902, but…
Giddings Owes Its Name to San Jacinto · 0.1 mi
Giddings began in 1871 as a railroad town, when the Houston and Texas Central built a station here to serve communities the tracks had bypassed. It is usually said to be named for railroad investor Jabez Deming…
When a Neighbor Town Tried to Steal the Courthouse · 0.1 mi
The handsome red-brick courthouse in the middle of Giddings exists because the town once had to fight to keep it. Lee County's first courthouse was finished here in 1878, an ornate building with a mansard roof and a…
City Meat Market: Where Tootsie Learned the Pits · 0.1 mi
City Meat Market in downtown Giddings is the kind of barbecue place that barely exists anymore: an old-fashioned butcher shop where you walk to the back, watch the meat come straight off the pits, order it by the pound,…
Lee County · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
Located on Old San Antonio Road, on land surveyed in 1821 as part of the original colony of Moses and Stephen F. Austin. In 1854 became site of major settlement by Wend from northern Europe, led by Pastor Johann Kilian.…
County Named for Beloved Confederate General Robert E. Lee · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
Led army of Northern Virginia which included famed Hood's Texas Brigade. He said about them "I never ordered that brigade to hold a position that they did not hold it." "The enemy never sees the backs of my Texans." In…
Fletcher Home · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Fletcher Home, built way back in 1879 by August Schubert. Imagine this place buzzing with young men studying to become ministers! The Lutheran Church bought it in 1894 to start a college. But the…

Show all 200 nearby places

Giddings · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're rolling through Giddings, Texas, a town born from the railroad boom. Look around – this place owes its existence to transportation pioneers, especially Jabez D. Giddings, a man who saw the potential of the rails.…
York, Milton Garrett, Sr. · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Giddings, the heart of Lee County. Right here, we remember Milton Garrett York, Sr. Born in East Texas in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1843</say-as>, he saw a lot of change in his life.…
Lee County Courthouse · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Giddings, and right here is the Lee County Courthouse. Take a look at this building! Designed by J. R. Gordon, it takes its cues from places like the New York State Capitol and Harvard University.…
First Baptist Church of Giddings · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Giddings, a church that's been serving this community for a century. It all started way back in 1872 with just 16 members and a pastor named J. Budd. Their first building…
First Presbyterian Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Giddings, and right here is the First Presbyterian Church. It was founded way back in 1876 with just thirteen members. The original building you see was designed and built in 1886 by a ruling…
Giddings, J. D., Lodge No. 280, A.F.&A.M. · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Giddings, where J. D. Lodge No. 280, A.F.&A.M. was chartered in 1865. It started near Evergreen but moved to Giddings in 1872 when the railroad arrived. The lodge has played a big part in civic…
The Slavic People Who Crossed an Ocean of Death · 0.2 mi
Just south of Giddings is Serbin, the heart of one of the strangest immigrant stories in America. The Wends, today usually called Sorbs, are a Slavic people from Lusatia in eastern Germany, with their own language and…
The Senator Buried in Giddings Helped Found Texas A&M · 0.2 mi
One of the most consequential figures of Reconstruction Texas spent his final years right here in Giddings. Matthew Gaines was born into slavery, became a Baptist minister, and during Reconstruction won a seat in the…
The Youngest Dean and His Farm Roads · 0.3 mi
All of U.S. Highway Two Ninety in Lee County is the Henry G. Bud Lehman Highway. Bud Lehman was born in Lee County on January fifteenth, nineteen ten. He won a seat in the Texas House in nineteen thirty seven and served…
A Highway Named for the Dreamer · 0.3 mi
Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his name to this stretch of U.S. Highway Seventy Seven, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Highway. King was born Michael Luther King, Jr., in nineteen twenty nine, and later had his name…
The Unsung Hero of the Negro Leagues · 0.4 mi
Giddings gave baseball a giant: Hilton Smith. Born here in 1907, Smith became a dominant pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the premier teams of the Negro leagues. He was a master of the curveball, and his…
Cracking the Code of the Austin Chalk · 0.4 mi
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, an energy revolution transformed the landscape around Giddings, and it all happened because engineers cracked the code of a rock formation called the Austin Chalk. For years, oilmen…
Evergreen's Masonic Lodge moves to Giddings · 0.4 mi
Before the railroad, the trading center out here was a place called Evergreen, sitting right on the Washington-Lee county line a few miles from where you are. It had the stores, the Masonic lodge, the whole works. Then…
The Wendish Crossroads · 0.4 mi
As you pass through Giddings, you're at the commercial heart of a unique American cultural group: the Wends. The Wends, or Sorbs, are a Slavic people from Germany who came to Texas in the 1850s to escape cultural and…
Edward R. Sinks House · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
Built around 1890, this American four-square house with offset entry was the home of Edward “Ed” R. Sinks (1854-1936), son of George Washington Sinks (1812-1892) and Julia Lee Sinks (1817-1904). George and…
Shorter Chapel, A. M. E. Church · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Shorter Chapel, A.M.E. Church. Organized way back in 1875, this was one of the very first African American churches established in Giddings. The congregation honors the Rev. James A.…
Longley, William Preston · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
William Preston (Bill) Longley, outlaw, son of Campbell and Sarah Longley, was born in Austin County, Texas, on October 6, 1851. By April 1853 his family had moved to Evergreen, in what was then Washington County, where…
Smith, Hilton Lee · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Negro League baseball player Hilton Lee Smith has been heralded by baseball historians as the best all-around pitcher in Black baseball history. Noted for his fine curveballs, Smith played most of his career with the…
Redfield, Henry Prentice · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Henry Prentice Redfield, an early colonist and soldier in the Army of the Republic of Texas , was born in Derry, New Hampshire, on May 27, 1819, the son of William and Susan (Prentice) Redfield. After the death of his…
Singley, John Allen · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lee County, maybe past Giddings. Right here, John Allen Singley was busy documenting Texas's natural wonders. After arriving in Texas around 1876, he settled in Giddings by 1884. He began…
Giddings, TX · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Giddings, Texas, a town born from the railroad. In 1871, the Houston and Texas Central Railway cut through this land, originally part of Stephen F. Austin's and later Robertson's colonies. A new…
Bethel Union Baptist Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethel Union Baptist Church in Giddings. This congregation has roots going back to 1874, when it was first organized in a private home and later built a church called Willow Grove…
First United Methodist Church of Giddings · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Giddings. This congregation got its start way back in 1871, with just 24 members. That makes it the very first church organized in this community,…
Did the Outlaw Escape His Own Hanging? · 0.7 mi
For more than a century, people argued over whether the outlaw buried in the Giddings cemetery had actually escaped his own hanging. William Wild Bill Longley was hanged before thousands here on October 11, 1878. He…
Helen Knox · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Giddings, hometown of Helen Knox, a woman who broke barriers in both sports and finance. Born right here in 1885, she was one of the first women to earn an athletic letter at the University of Texas,…
William Preston (Bill) Longley · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Giddings, where one of Texas' most notorious outlaws met his end. William Preston Longley, known as Bill, was born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1851</say-as>. Despite a respectable…
Henry Prentice Redfield · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the marker for Henry Prentice Redfield, a man who saw more Texas history than most. Born way up in New Hampshire in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1819</say-as>, Redfield came to Texas when…
Robert Devlin McClellan _ Sarah Lewis Rainey McClellan · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Giddings' first professional educators, Robert and Sarah McClellan. They opened a private school right here in 1874, shaping young minds. Then, in 1883, they were tapped to lead the very…
The Oil Trapped in Rock Too Tight to Flow · 0.9 mi
Under the countryside around Giddings sits a band of rock called the Austin Chalk, a thick layer of marine stone laid down in the Cretaceous, back in the age of the dinosaurs. It holds a lot of oil, but it posed a nasty…
In This Grave Rest James Goucher and Five Members · 3.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of James Goucher and five members of his family. They were murdered by Indians on November 26th, 1836. Goucher himself was a true pioneer, opening the very first road from San…
Serbin · 5.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Serbin, the first Wendish settlement in Texas. In 1854, about 600 Wends, led by Pastor John Kilian, arrived here seeking religious freedom. This community was established to give them that liberty.
Globe Hill Commnuity and Baptist Church · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Globe Hill Commnuity and Baptist Church. George Coleman Truitt, founder of this predominantly African American community, bought land in the area and built at least nine box houses for his tenant…
Serbin · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Serbin, a town with a unique story. In 1854, nearly 600 Wends, led by the Reverend John Kilian, founded this community. Kilian, an Evangelical Lutheran minister, named it Serbin because his people…
Good Hope Cemetery · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Good Hope Cemetery, established by German and Wendish settlers in the 1880s. The earliest marked grave here is Dora Vick, from 1889. Look across the road – George Kruse, also buried here, quarried…
Four Brothers Named Jones Colony · 6.0 mi
Sometime between the end of the Civil War and 1875, four brothers — Abram, Alexander, George, and Philip Jones — settled this ground on what's now Farm Road 180, a half mile north of Highway 290 in southeastern Lee…
Old Evergreen Tree · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Lee County, and you might be passing the oldest living witness to Texas history. This old evergreen tree is said to have sheltered explorer Louis de St. Denis way back in 1714, likely the first…
King's Highway · 6.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving along a road that's seen more history than most towns! This is King's Highway, one of the oldest routes in Texas. Long before cars, long before even wagons, Native Americans and Spanish explorers traveled…
St. John Lutheran Church · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past St. John Lutheran Church in Lincoln, a community cornerstone since 1886. That's when pastors from nearby towns helped organize this Lutheran congregation. The first resident pastor arrived just a…
Holy Cross Cemetery · 7.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former site of Holy Cross Church, founded in the Rabb's Creek area back in 1873. The cemetery opened that same year with the death of Pastor Johann Zapf and holds 53 graves. The parish later sold…
Gloyna School · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Gloyna School, a vital hub for this German community for half a century. It started life in 1893 as Hannes School, but was renamed in 1900 after Christian Gloyna bought the…
Serbin - Wendish Settlement · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
The Wends are one of the most obscure ethnic groups in European history, and their most enduring settlement is in the middle of rural Texas. The Sorbs, as they call themselves, are a Slavic people who lived in Lusatia,…
Grassyville Cemetery · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Grassyville Cemetery, a final resting place for some of Bastrop County's earliest German settlers. They arrived in the 1850s, bringing their language and traditions with them. Look closely at the…
Twelve Families Left Antioch for Sweet Home · 8.6 mi
Around 1890, twelve families left the Antioch community and settled eight miles northeast of Giddings, on what's now Farm Road 141, founding Sweet Home. Other Black settlers came in from Washington and Fayette counties.…
Washington Cemetery · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Giddings, and just off the road is Washington Cemetery. This ground, along with Bethany Colored Church, was donated after the Civil War by Henry Wenke Sr. to a former slave named Charlie…
Lawhon Springs Cemetery · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Lawhon Springs Cemetery, a place that started with a simple spring and a pioneer family. Back in 1848, John Lewis Smith, who came all the way from England, and his son Samuel settled this land. They…
King's Highway - El Camino Real · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving along what was once known as King's Highway, or El Camino Real. This wasn't just any road; it was a vital artery connecting Spanish missions and presidios across Texas. Imagine horse-drawn carts and weary…
The Family That Gave This Crossroads Its Name · 8.9 mi
The little farm crossroads you're rolling through took its name from one of north Fayette County's early pioneer families, the Ledbetters. The Hamilton Ledbetter clan had reached this part of the county by the 1840s and…
The First Town in the County to Get the Train, and the First to Let It Go · 8.9 mi
For one brief stretch in the 1870s, this quiet spot was the busiest place in Fayette County. When the Texas and New Orleans Railroad reached Ledbetter in 1870, it became the first community in the county to be served by…
An 1828 Road Cut Through Here, and It Earned a Grim Nickname · 8.9 mi
Just south of US 290 on FM 1291, a historical marker remembers a road far older than the town: the Gotcher Trace, cut through this country about 1828. It was opened by James Gotcher, an Alabama trail-blazer and teamster…
The 1870 General Store That Never Quit · 8.9 mi
At the corner of US 290 and FM 1291 sits the Stuermer Store, and it has been doing business in roughly the same spot since before most Texas towns were even built. The Stuermers were German immigrants who came over in…
The German Farm Colony Whose Church Picnic Never Stopped · 8.9 mi
Out the back roads near Ledbetter lies Waldeck, a German farming community that started life under the plain-spoken name Long Prairie. Its families came to break the prairie into cropland, and like a lot of Texas-German…
Why Half the Roads Around Here Came Out of the Ground Right Here · 8.9 mi
Long after the railroad faded, the thing that kept Ledbetter on the map was buried under it. This corner of Fayette County sits on commercially valuable deposits of sand and gravel, and the town's quarries have shipped…
McLennan's Bluff · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past McLennan's Bluff, a landmark for early Texas settlers. In 1835, Scottish immigrant Neil McLennan built his home right here, on land granted by Sterling Robertson's Colony. His brother Laughlin…
Gotcher Trace. (also written Goacher, Gocher, Gotier, Goucher) · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Gotcher Trace, a dangerous route opened around 1828 by James Gotcher. This trail connected San Felipe to Bastrop, but it was a tough journey. It shared the grim nickname 'via Dolorosa'…
Kooper Family Whiskey · 9.5 mi · Things to Do
Texas whiskey-blending house and tasting room in Ledbetter, about 8 miles southwest of Round Top.
King's Highway · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a piece of Texas history that's older than the state itself! This was once known as the King's Highway, or Camino Real, or the Old San Antonio Road. Established way back in <say-as…
Serbin, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Serbin is on Farm Road 2239 seven miles southwest of Giddings in southwestern Lee County. In 1855 Carl Lehman and John Dube purchased 4,000 acres of the Absolem C. Delaplain league on behalf of the group of more than…
Wends · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Wends (also known as Sorbs or Lusatian Serbs) are a Slavic people concentrated in East Germany near Bautzen and Cottbus in the upper Spree River valley, an area long known as Lusatia. They speak Sorbian, which is…
Birkmann, Gotthilf · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lee County, not far from Fedor, and you might just be passing the stomping grounds of Gotthilf Birkmann. He was a Lutheran pastor, yes, but also a dedicated amateur entomologist. Starting around…
Globe Hill, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Globe Hill is on a gravel road two miles east of Giddings and 1½ miles north of State Highway 290 in southeastern Lee County. George Coleman Truitt, founder of this predominantly black settlement, bought land in the…
Knobbs Springs, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Knobbs Springs, known at various times as The Knobbs, Knobbs, or Gleam, is a rural community just off Farm Road 696, twelve miles west of Lexington in far western Lee County. The area was named for Yegua Knobbs, three…
Lee County · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lee County, a place with a history stretching back thousands of years. Around 1835, the first known white settler, James Gotier, arrived and set up a cabin on Rabbs Creek. Before his life was cut…
Sweet Home, TX (Lee County) · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lee County, near Sweet Home. This community was founded by Black settlers, primarily from Washington and Fayette counties, who established cotton and grain farms here. In 1880, they started their…
Cummins Creek (Lee County) · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Cummins Creek rises near Giddings in Lee County (at 30°11' N, 96°55' W) and runs southeast through Lee, Fayette, and Colorado counties for sixty-five miles to its mouth on a horseshoe bend of the Colorado River,…
Doak Springs, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Doak Springs is on Farm Road 3403 a half mile east of Leo in central Lee County. The small, black community centered around the Doak Springs school, which was organized in 1897. A Mr. Doak, of nearby Lexington, donated…
Hranice, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hranice, two miles northwest of Dime Box in north central Lee County, was near the center of the four-league grant awarded in 1831 to Stephen F. Austin . The area was sparsely settled until the early 1880s, when the…
Lincoln, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lincoln is eight miles northwest of Giddings in central Lee County. The town was named for a circuit rider named John A. Lincoln who lived on a nearby farm and frequently led revivals in the area. The earliest settlers…
Loebau, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Loebau is on West Yegua Creek three miles east of Lincoln in central Lee County. It developed after the Civil War , near the Bluff Creek Crossing of West Yegua Creek on the Giddings-to-Caldwell road. A cotton gin owned…
Tanglewood, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Tanglewood is on U.S. Highway 77 five miles northwest of Lexington in northwestern Lee County. The area was first settled in 1856 by the Rev. Hugh Wilson , who founded the String Prairie Presbyterian Church there. After…
King's Highway - Camino Real - Old San Antonio Road · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising down the road, but this isn't just any highway. You're on a piece of history – the King's Highway, also known as the Camino Real or the Old San Antonio Road. This was the first major highway in Texas,…
Mr. Soder's Other Store · 11.5 mi
The man who sold off the lots that became Paige had a second store, and on a rainy night in eighteen eighty three, it became a crime scene. Fedor Soder came to Paige in eighteen seventy seven, built a store and a cotton…
The Second Spark · 11.5 mi
The most destructive wildfire in Texas history had two starting points, and one of them was on Highway Two Ninety just west of Paige. On the afternoon of September fourth, twenty eleven, in a deep drought, winds from…
Paige, TX · 11.5 mi
Paige has always been a place where you could hear the wind sigh through the post oaks, a place where folks knew their neighbors. But even in a town as quiet as ours, things change. Lately, the biggest shift has been…
Paige, With an I · 11.5 mi
This town is named for Norman Paige, the civil engineer who laid out the railroad, not for baseball's most famous Paige. But here's a fun one about that letter i. Satchel Paige once explained that his family started out…
Paige, TX · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Paige, Texas, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. Back in 1872, this spot was just a water tower for the Houston and Texas Central Railway. Norman Paige, a civil engineer, lent his…
Lee County's Largest Black Community · 11.7 mi
During Reconstruction, formerly enslaved people came here from Washington, Burleson, and Fayette counties, drawn by cheap land eleven miles east of Giddings on what's now Farm Road 141. It grew into the largest Black…
Trinity Lutheran Church · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fedor, and right here is Trinity Lutheran Church, a cornerstone of this community since 1870. It wasn't just a place of worship; it was the heart of religious, educational, and social life for the…
Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ledbetter, Texas, near the site of the Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church. German families settled this area, and by 1885, a congregation had organized. In 1899, Pastor August Wenzel officially…
The King's Highway's Other Name · 12.1 mi
State Highway Twenty One follows much of the Old San Antonio Road, also called the Camino Real and the King's Highway. And the old route carries an extra name. A state highway minute order dated June twenty first,…
Waldeck Cemetery · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Waldeck Cemetery, a final resting place for German immigrants who settled here. Back in 1866, this community, then known as Long Prairie, came together to build a school and church, and to…
Stephen Williams · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers! You're cruising past where Stephen Williams once farmed. This guy fought in the War of 1812, then headed west, landing in Texas in 1832. By 1843, he'd earned a land grant in Washington County. But…
The Jail That Ran Out of Room · 12.7 mi
Winchester had its own jail once, a little lockup behind the courthouse that everybody here called the calaboose. It went up in the early nineteen hundreds. Court came through once a month for the misdemeanors, and most…
Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Winchester, where freed slaves established communities after the Civil War. In 1867, ex-slaves gathered for prayer meetings in a brush arbor, forming Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. This church…
Shiloh Cemetery · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Shiloh Cemetery, originally the Winchester Colored Cemetery, bought by the black community in 1890. For decades, graves here were marked with rocks, trees, or homemade cement. It was renamed Shiloh…
Winchester Cemetery · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving by Winchester Cemetery, a burial ground in use since the site was gifted in 1971 by Colonel Nathan Thomas, a former Texas congressman and civic leader. The cemetery association itself was organized way…
Dime Box, TX · 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lee County, and you might be wondering how this place got its name: Dime Box. It all started back in the 1870s when folks here needed a post office. Until it opened, settlers would leave their…
Dime Box, TX · 13.8 mi
In 1913, a pivotal moment in the history of Dime Box occurred when the Southern Pacific Railroad constructed a line three miles southeast of the original settlement. This development prompted most residents and…
The Town The Dimes Marched On · 13.9 mi
Here in Dime Box, Texas, the name once paid off in a way nobody could have planned. In nineteen forty-five, the national polio fundraising drive known as the March of Dimes needed a hook, and some clever organizer…
A Dime In The Box · 13.9 mi
You're rolling into Dime Box, Texas, a town that wears its own origin story right on the sign. Before there was a post office out here, back in the eighteen seventies, folks around Joseph Brown's sawmill had a problem:…
The Slavs Who Sailed To Serbin · 13.9 mi
The mixed settlement that grew up around Dime Box, Texas, included a group called the Wends, and that thread deserves a story of its own, because it points at one of the most remarkable little migrations in Texas…
What A Dime Bought · 13.9 mi
You're passing through Dime Box, Texas, the little town whose name got borrowed by the national March of Dimes polio campaign back in the nineteen forties. That connection is worth a short detour, because it is worth…
Oil Trapped In The Chalk · 13.9 mi
Let's talk about what is underneath you here in Dime Box, Texas, because this quiet farm country sat on top of a genuine oil drama. Late in the nineteen seventies, the land around Dime Box and nearby Giddings became…
The Name That Confused The Mail · 13.9 mi
You're in Dime Box, Texas, but this place almost carried a different name entirely. So why isn't it still called Brown's Mill? Blame the post office and a spelling problem. Joseph Brown put up his sawmill somewhere…
How The Railroad Split A Town · 13.9 mi
Look at a map around Dime Box, Texas, and you will notice a wrinkle: there is a Dime Box and an Old Dime Box, three miles apart. That split happened in nineteen thirteen, and it is a story that played out in hundreds of…
Two Words On A Sign · 13.9 mi
So look at everything one small, odd town name can hold. Pull on the words Dime Box and the whole thread unspools. It starts with a wooden box and a ten-cent coin at a frontier sawmill, and a carrier riding to Giddings…
Old Dime Box · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Dime Box, Texas, a community with a name as unique as its origin story! Originally known as Browne's Mills, this spot was part of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old Three Hundred" colony. But how…
Bradshaw-Killough House · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bradshaw-Killough House, a beautiful example of architectural evolution right here in La Grange. Built way back in 1886 for merchant Amzi T. Bradshaw, this home saw a major transformation. In…
Dime Box - A Wooden Box and a Dime · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
Dime Box is a small community in Lee County, in Central Texas. Before the railroad reached the area in 1913, the settlers on Brown's Mill Creek had no post office. To get a letter to Giddings, they used the next best…
Redfield, William · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of one of the brave souls who fought for Texas independence. William Redfield was a soldier in the Texas War for Independence, serving in the years 1835 and 1836. His service helped shape…
Moab Peaked, Then Nearly Vanished · 14.6 mi
After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people settled this stretch of land ten miles southwest of Lexington, in eastern Lee County, and built Moab — a farming community where families worked their own ground, grew…
German Street Signs and a Depot That Came Home · 14.9 mi
Drive Carmine's small grid and the street signs give the town away: you cross Hauptstrasse, which is simply German for Main Street, and Augsburg Avenue, named for the Bavarian city, plain evidence of the German and…
A German Rifle Club That Became the Town Dance Hall · 15.0 mi
At 300 North Hauptstrasse stands Carmine Hall, and its real name tells you what it started as: the Cedar Creek Schuetzen Verein, German for shooting, or marksmen's, club. These vereins were a German institution,…
A Town of 250 That Holds Texas Basketball's Memory · 15.1 mi
It makes no obvious sense that the Texas Basketball Museum sits in Carmine, a farm town of barely 250 people with no college and no arena. The reason is one man: Bob Springer, a longtime Houston-area high school coach…
The Town Spelled Carmine and Pronounced Car-Mean · 15.1 mi
The little antiques town you're rolling through on Highway 290 didn't start out as Carmine. It was first called Sylvan, a leafy name for a settlement in the post-oak country at the Fayette-Washington county line. The…
How a Railroad Promise Built a Town and a Closing Gin Emptied It · 15.1 mi
Carmine exists because a doctor took a railroad's deal. Dr. B. J. Thigpen, a physician from North Carolina, moved his family to this spot around Christmas of the mid-1880s when the Texas and New Orleans line, part of…
The Thigpen Family Hand on Almost Everything in Town · 15.1 mi
Pull the thread on early Carmine and the Thigpen name keeps coming up. Dr. Benjamin Jackson Thigpen, the North Carolina physician who came west with the railroad, is the man who actually made the town: accounts say he…
Steaks on Hauptstrasse in a Two-Stoplight Town · 15.1 mi
If you're hungry while working the antique shops, the local bet is JW Steakhouse at 122 South Hauptstrasse Street, right on the German-named main drag a short hop off Highway 290. It's the kind of small-town Texas…
The Biggest Little Town in Texas · 15.2 mi
Carmine calls itself 'The Little City with a Big Heart,' and for a few weeks each year that heart has to stretch. Normally home to about 244 people, Carmine is the eastern gateway to the spring and fall Round Top…
The Heartbeat at Carmine Hall · 15.2 mi
In a lot of small Texas towns the community's heart beats loudest in the dance hall, and Carmine is no exception. Carmine Dance Hall sits on North Hauptstrasse, a block off Highway 290, and it's run by the Cedar Creek…
Carmine, TX · 15.2 mi
In the heart of Carmine, Texas, you'll find the Texas Basketball Museum, a treasure trove of basketball history. Operated by Coach Bob Springer, this museum showcases players who've made it to the pros and high school…
Rabb's Prairie · 15.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Rabb's Prairie, named for William Rabb, a miller who came to Texas from Pennsylvania in 1821. He'd scouted this land on the Colorado River back in 1819. Rabb was part of Stephen F. Austin's first…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Round Top-Carmine (Carmine) · 15.5 mi
Round Top-Carmine (Carmine, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: William Neese (2 HR).
Hill, Isaac Lafayette · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Round Top, and just ahead is the site of a man who saw Texas history unfold. Isaac Lafayette Hill arrived from Georgia in 1835, just in time for the Texas Revolution. He served as a corporal,…
The World's Biggest Treasure Hunt · 15.6 mi
What is now a global phenomenon started in 1968 as one woman's simple idea. Her name was Emma Lee Turney, and she rented the Round Top Rifle Hall to host a high-quality antiques show. That first show featured 22…
A Concert Hall in a Cow Pasture · 15.6 mi
Just outside of town sits Festival Hill, a place that shouldn't exist, but does. In 1971, concert pianist James Dick bought a derelict 19th-century schoolhouse here. He had a vision: to create a world-class environment…
Engineering Perfect Sound · 15.6 mi
The main concert hall at Festival Hill may look like a magnificent wooden barn, but it is really a finely tuned instrument. The International Festival-Institute was founded here in 1971, and its concert hall went up in…
Round Top, TX · 15.6 mi
Round Top's history began with James Winn's acquisition of 4,428 acres in 1831 as part of the Stephen F. Austin colony. The community was initially known as 'Townsend' after early settler Nathaniel Townsend, whose…
Joh, Konrad, Log Cabin · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a remarkable log cabin, built around 1848 by German immigrants Konrad and Elisa Joh. Look closely at the hand-hewn live oak logs, chinked with a mix of mud, straw, and sand. This home was…
Indian Camp Branch · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Indian Camp Branch, a spot that was a favorite camping place for Indian hunting parties long before Texas was a state. In 1837, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, James Shaw, encountered a band…
Festival Institute · 16.1 mi · Things to Do
Festival Hill: a 210-acre classical-music campus on Jaster Road hosting summer concerts, recitals, and a renowned festival in its grand concert hall.
The Jefferson Davis Highway Plan · 16.1 mi
Several Texas highways carry an old honorary name, the Jefferson Davis Highway. It grew out of a plan conceived in nineteen thirteen and promoted by the United Daughters of the Confederacy: a coast to coast road named…
Market Hill · 16.2 mi · Things to Do
Premier antiques-show venue on Highway 237 just north of town — a marquee stop during Round Top's twice-yearly fairs, with shopping and dining year-round.
Duo Modern · 16.3 mi · Things to Do
Chef-driven, farm-to-table restaurant inside the Market Hill complex on Highway 237.
Bethlehem Church · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bethlehem Church, a cornerstone of Lutheran faith in Fayette County. It was dedicated way back on October 28th, 1866, with Reverend Adam Neuthard leading the congregation. But what makes this place…
Wandke House · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Round Top, and right here, you're passing the Wandke House. In 1855, Johann Traugott Wandke, a skilled mechanic and cabinetmaker, arrived from Prussia with his family. By 1860, they were in Round…
Pochmann House · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Pochmann House, a home with a story that's a little bit tragic and a little bit resilient. German immigrant Zoellistin Pochmann arrived in Texas around 1856. He was a cabinetmaker,…
Schiege Cigar Factory · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Schiege Cigar Factory in Round Top. By the 1860s, tariffs on imported cigars were making American-made cigars a hot commodity. In 1882, Charles Schiege, Jr. built this one-room…
Schiege Cigar Factory Manager's House · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Schiege Cigar Factory Manager's House in Round Top. Back in 1882, Charles Schiege opened his cigar factory, employing single men who slept in the factory's attic. But for his…
Schiege House · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Schiege House in Round Top. Prussian immigrants Carl and Caroline Schiege bought land here in 1861. Their son, Charles Henry Jr., built this house around 1885. He married Emma Frenzel…
Royers Round Top Cafe: The Pieman on the Square in a Town of Seventy-Seven · 16.5 mi
Royers Round Top Cafe, at 105 Main Street right on the square in Round Top, is one of the most beloved eateries in rural Texas. It was founded in 1987 when Bud 'The Pieman' Royer and his late wife Dr. Karen, along with…
Best BBQ in Texas, Open One Day a Week · 16.5 mi
On Main Street here sits a barbecue joint that Texas Monthly twice crowned the best in the entire state, once in 2008 and again in 2017. Snow's BBQ opened on March 1, 2003, founded by Kerry Bexley, whose childhood…
Round Top Community · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Round Top, a place that became a hub of German culture and crafts in the 19th century. But this community also has roots in the Texas Revolution. Look for the homes of Townsend, Hill, and McH.…
Royers Round Top Cafe · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
Bud Royer's pie-mecca on the Round Top square — buttermilk, pecan, and a daily rotation of about ten flavors. Statewide-famous and the anchor of the…
From String Prairie to Lexington · 16.5 mi
This town started out with a humbler name. James Shaw, an Ohio-born surveyor, teacher, and Republic of Texas veteran, rode into the area in 1837 to claim land granted for his military service. In 1848 a post office…
Round Top · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Round Top, a place settled by some of the most famous names in early Texas history. Look around you – this area was a stopping point on the Old San Felipe Trail. Many veterans of crucial Texas…
Early Texas Hotels and Inns · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Round Top, Texas, where inns like the Old Sam Lewis Stopping Place were the lifeblood of early travel. Built in 1834 as a simple log cabin, this place, just a couple miles east at Winedale, was…
Henkel Square Market · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
A restored village of 1800s German-Texan buildings on the square, now home to boutique shops, makers, and a market hall.
Round Top Brewing · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
Nanobrewery and kitchen on the square pouring house-made craft beer.
Scherrer, Bernard · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Round Top, Texas, and just ahead is the story of Bernard Scherrer. He left Switzerland when he was just 22, traveling the world before landing in Texas in 1833. Scherrer fought in the Texas…
Menn House, The · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Round Top, just past the Menn House. This home, built possibly by ex-congressman Samuel Lewis, was occupied in the 1860s by William and Carolina Menn and their *twelve* children. The Menn family…
Schueddemagen Home · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Schueddemagen Home in Round Top, a replica built in 1852. It's a direct echo of a Saxony home, crafted by Carl Siegismunde Bauer. Look for the Teutonic style in the steep roof and those thick,…
Boon & Co · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
Cocktail bar and casual eatery a block off the Round Top square on Washington Street.
Round Top Coffee Shop · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
Porch-side coffee shop near the square serving lattes and breakfast tacos.
Mill Street Cafe · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
Cafe and bakery on Mill Street for fresh pastries and breakfast near the square.
Prost on Block 29 · 16.5 mi · Things to Do
Relaxed wine bar on Block 29, a short walk off the Round Top square.
United Methodist Church of Lexington · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Lexington, and right here is the United Methodist Church. Its roots go way back to 1850, starting as the Lexington Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This church has a unique history of absorbing…
Early Chapel Cemetery · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Early Chapel Cemetery near Lexington, a resting place for some real Texas history. This land was bought by the Methodist Episcopal Church South back in 1850, but burials were happening here even…
Hawkins, William W. · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where William W. Hawkins lived, a soldier who fought in the pivotal Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. That was the decisive battle that won Texas its independence. After the revolution, Hawkins…
Shaw, James · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of James Shaw, a true veteran of Texas history. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1808</say-as>, Shaw fought for Texas independence and stood on the battlefield at San…
Hill, Isaac Lafayette · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, near Round Top, where Isaac Lafayette Hill settled after fighting in the Texas Revolution. He was there at San Jacinto, the battle that won Texas its independence! Later, he became…
International Festival-Institute At Round Top · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, and you might just be passing the site of one of America's most unique music festivals. Right here in Round Top, concert pianist James Dick founded the Festival-Institute in 1971.…
Ledbetter, Hazel Gawley · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the rolling hills of Fayette County, and right here, in Round Top, you're passing through a place with a rich history of restoration, thanks in part to Hazel Gawley Ledbetter. In 1959, this…
Mundine, Titus Howard · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Burleson County, and right here in Lexington, Titus Howard Mundine was a man who made history in more ways than one. In 1868, this legislator, a staunch Unionist, proposed something truly radical…
Recknagel, Friederike Caroline Elise Michaelis · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Round Top, Texas, a place that comes alive through the lens of Friederike Recknagel. Born in 1860, she wasn't just a resident; she was the community's visual historian. While many photographers of…
Rosenberg, Peter Carl Johann von · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, and right here, you're passing through the story of Peter Carl von Rosenberg. He wasn't just any pioneer; he was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, fighting at the Battle of Leipzig…
Winedale Historical Center · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, near Round Top, past the Winedale Historical Center. Right here stands the Samuel K. Lewis house, a remarkable blend of American and German architecture. Built around 1834, it…
Round Top, TX · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, heading towards Round Top. This tiny community owes its name to a unique landmark: an odd-shaped tower on a house built by Alwin Soergel in the 1840s. That tower gave the town its…
Il Cuculo · 16.6 mi · Things to Do
Italian restaurant and cocktail bar inside Hotel Lulu, just off the square on Mill Street.
Ladies' Battalions and Legions · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
During the Texas Revolution , several groups of volunteers for the army, particularly volunteers from Kentucky, wore the designation of "Ladies'" battalions or legions. On February 12, 1836, the Committee of Vigilance…
Cotton, Wagons, and the Railroad · 16.6 mi
Cotton built early Lexington. Farmers on the prairie east of town raised it, and the settlement grew as new hands arrived to work the land. In 1869, twenty-one families rolled in by wagon train from Mississippi, most…
Lexington · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Lexington, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1837. Originally part of Burleson County, this area was first home to the Tonkawa Indians. The first white settler, James Shaw, arrived that…
Lexington Schools · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Lexington, Texas, where education took root way back in 1849. The very first classes were held in the log home of Captain James Shaw, the town's founder. Later, a local Masonic lodge, Andrew Neill…
Painter, James Donald · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Round Top, Texas, a town James Donald Painter fell in love with and brought back to artistic life. Born in Kentucky in 1906, Painter studied art across the country before finding his muse right here.…
Rogan, Charles · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Lee County, near Lexington, where Charles Rogan settled with his family back in 1862. Rogan went on to be one of the first graduates of Texas A&M. But his biggest impact came later, as…
Round Top Academy · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, past the community of Round Top. Right here, two miles east of town, was once the site of Round Top Academy. Founded in June 1854 on the Ledbetter Plantation, it served the…
Lexington, TX · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lexington, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1837. That's when James Shaw rode into this area, looking for land granted for his service in the Republic of Texas army. A few years later,…
Union Bluff, TX · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Hillsboro, and right here is the site of old Lexington, later known as Union Bluff. This settlement began in the winter of 1851-52 when the Wornell family arrived, looking to set up shop. Young D.C.…
Ellis Motel Lounge · 16.6 mi · Things to Do
Cocktail lounge and emporium set in an 1800s dog-trot home near Henkel Circle.
Mundine, Francis Marion · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Lexington, Texas, is where Francis Marion Mundine made his home. Mundine was a merchant, farmer, and postmaster who also served in the Texas Legislature. In 1897,…
Rhone Family Papers · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fayette County, near Round Top, in an area that was once home to the Rhone family farm. Between 1886 and 1971, this land saw the lives and enterprise of Calvin and Lucia Rhone and their twelve…
The First Baptist Church of Lexington · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Lexington. It all started back in January of 1855, when nine charter members, inspired by a reverend from Prospect Church, decided to form their own…
Saints Peter and Paul Old Catholic Cemetery · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Saints Peter and Paul Old Catholic Cemetery in Plum. Established in 1899 when trustees purchased an acre of land, this cemetery is the final resting place for many Czech immigrant families who…
He Captured Santa Anna, Then Came Home to This · 16.7 mi
On the twenty second of April, 1836, the day after the battle at San Jacinto, a small search party went out looking for the Mexican general who had gotten away. One of the men in it was a twenty year old private named…
The House He Did Not Live to Finish · 16.7 mi
The big stone house on Highway two thirty seven belonged to a man who never got to live in it. William Neese left Germany for Texas in 1847, opened a general store in this community, sold cotton, and served as the first…
A Rock Layer Named for the Creeks Beside Town · 16.7 mi
The two creeks that frame this town, East Yegua and Middle Yegua, gave their name to something geologists worldwide still use. In 1918, geologist Edwin Dumble named the Yegua Formation, a layer of rock from the middle…
Moab Community · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what was once Moab, a predominantly African-American community that sprang up after the Civil War. Farmers here worked the land, but often traveled for 'cotton picks' to supplement their income.…
Saint Peter Lutheran Church and Prairie Valley Cemetery · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Saint Peter Lutheran Church and Prairie Valley Cemetery, a testament to German immigrants who settled here. In 1896, sixteen families, led by Reverend R. Osthoff, organized this congregation. For a…
Lexington Masonic Lodge No. 138 · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Lexington, site of the Masonic Lodge No. 138. Chartered in 1854, it was first named for Texas War for Independence veteran Andrew Neill. Members helped build a lodge and school in 1854, which…
Snow's BBQ · 16.9 mi · Things to Do
Texas Monthly's #1 BBQ. Only open Saturday mornings in tiny Lexington.
King's Highway - El Camino Real · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving along a road that's been a lifeline for centuries! This is part of the King's Highway, or El Camino Real. First established by Spanish explorers in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1716</say-as>,…
Townsend-Bremer House · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Townsend-Bremer House in Warrenton. Nathaniel Townsend, an early arrival to Texas in 1830, built this home in the late 1830s. He even served as the Republic of Texas consul in New Orleans before…
Lexington Memorial Cemetery · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
Driving through Lexington, you're passing the final resting place for many of this area's early German immigrants. The German Methodist Church, organized here in 1882, purchased this land for a cemetery in 1898. The…
Old Plum Grove Cemetery · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Old Plum Grove Cemetery, a burial ground with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Texas settlement. It started as a family plot for John Y. Criswell, a pioneer who arrived with Stephen F.…
The Fire That Nearly Took the Lost Pines · 17.1 mi · Things to Do
On September 4 2011 strong winds from a nearby tropical storm snapped trees onto power lines east of Bastrop. Three separate fires merged into the most…
The Science of a Railroad Town · 17.1 mi
Smithville's boom wasn't an accident; it was an engineering calculation. In the age of steam, locomotives were thirsty, high-maintenance machines. They could travel only a hundred miles or so before needing water, coal,…
When the River Claimed the Bridge · 17.1 mi
The Colorado River gives Smithville its beauty, but in December 1913, it showed its terrifying power. After days of relentless, heavy rains across Central Texas, the river swelled into a monstrous torrent. It crested at…
The Sound of a Smithville Son · 17.1 mi
One of the most powerful voices in modern American music has its roots right here in Smithville. Marvin Peterson was born here in 1948. He grew up, went to the segregated schools, and absorbed the sounds and stories of…
Smitty, the Record-Breaking Cookie · 17.1 mi
Every town needs a claim to fame, and for a while, Smithville’s was a cookie. A very, very big cookie. It all started as a fun project for the annual Festival of Lights celebration. Local bakers created a giant…

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