Skip to content

Leakey, Texas

Everything Leakey is known for

3 songs mention this city

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Leakey. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Sign up for the free newsletter Get the iPhone app

Music in Leakey

Songs About Leakey

Runnin’ Buddy
Max Stalling
24%
"It's fifty miles from Leaky down to Hondo"
if you were mine
miranda labert & leon bridges
16%
all my ex's live in texas
george strait
10%

Artists From Leakey

No artists from Leakey in the database yet.

Know one? Add it →

Rivers & Roads in Song near Leakey

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Leakey.

Frio River 13 songs Nueces River 3 songs US Route 90 9 songs Guadalupe River 18 songs Interstate 10 36 songs

History of Leakey

The Sunset Bat Tornado RoadyGoat

About fifteen miles down the Frio from Leakey, near Concan, a natural spectacle unfolds almost every summer evening. Tucked into the hills above the river is a cave that holds an estimated ten million Mexican free-tailed bats — one of the largest bat colonies anywhere in Texas. As the sun sets, they begin to emerge. It starts with a trickle, then becomes a vortex, a living tornado of bats spiraling out of the cave entrance and into the twilight sky. For hours, the cloud of bats streams out across the hills, heading off to feast on insects. They are a massive, flying pest-control service for the entire region, hitting the corn earworm and bollworm moths that plague area farmers. This nightly emergence is so vast it can be picked up on weather radar. The cave sits on private land, visited only on guided flight tours, but it's a powerful reminder that as you enjoy the peaceful Hill Country, you are sharing it with millions of tiny, winged residents.

RoadyGoat → · 3.1 mi away

The River from Inside the Rock RoadyGoat

The beautiful, clear Frio River, the very heart of Leakey, is the product of a fascinating plumbing system hidden beneath your feet. You're driving over the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir held within layers of porous limestone. This type of geology, known as karst, acts like a sponge. When it rains, water doesn't just run off; it seeps down through cracks and fissures in the rock, refilling the aquifer. But an aquifer is not a static underground lake. Under pressure, this groundwater seeks a way out, and it emerges through fractures in the rock as springs. The Frio River is not primarily fed by surface runoff, but by dozens of these springs. This is why the water is so consistently cool and remarkably clear—it's been naturally filtered through hundreds of feet of limestone. So when you look at the Frio, you're not just seeing a river; you're seeing ancient rainwater that has been stored, filtered, and cooled by the rock itself, now making its journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

RoadyGoat → · 3.1 mi away

The County Carved from Three RoadyGoat

As you pass the stone courthouse in the center of Leakey, you’re looking at a trophy from a political fight. For decades, this area was a geographic afterthought, split between three huge counties: Bandera, Kerr, and Edwards. If you were a rancher here in 1910 and needed to file a deed or settle a dispute, you were in for a long, hard journey to a distant county seat. Residents felt neglected and isolated. So, they organized. Led by local leaders, they petitioned the Texas Legislature to create a new county with Leakey at its heart. They found a powerful ally in State Senator Julius Real, and in 1913, their wish was granted. The new county was named 'Real' in his honor, and Leakey was designated the county seat. The courthouse, finished in 1918, wasn’t just a new building; it was a declaration of independence and the moment Leakey truly became the center of its own world.

RoadyGoat → · 3.1 mi away

John Leakey

1847

Tennessee native John Leakey (1824-1900) came to Texas in 1847, settling for a time in Henderson County where he was a brickmason and rancher. He and his wife Nancy (Patterson) moved to Uvalde County in 1852 near present day Sabinal. A desire to pursue other endeavors took him to the Frio Canyon where there was an abundance of cypress timber. Despite constant threats of Indian attacks, Leakey settled his family and started a cypress shingle business. He served the Confederacy as a freighter during the Civil War, hauling provisions for the troops. Leakey returned to his home after the war to establish a steam sawmill and to attend to his ranching interests. He also began a school for the children of the community, and his home often served as a resting place of itinerant preachers. The town, situated on the Bandera-Edwards county line, was laid out in 1883 and named in honor of the resourceful pioneer who donated land for this plaza, a church, school, and cemetery. Leakey served as county seat of Edwards County until 1891, and became county seat of Real County when it was organized in 1913. A successful businessman, Indian fighter and pioneer, John Leakey's contributions and leadership were vital to the early growth of the area. (1983)

Historical Marker →

Catherine McLauren

1881

A victim of the last Indian raid in Frio Canyon, April 19, 1881. Mother of three small children, "Kate" McLauren was home with them and a neighbor boy, Allen Lease, when a Lipan Apache band started to plunder their house. Although shot with a bullet, she sent her six-year-old child, Maud, for help, but died shortly after her husband John's return that night. When the cemetery in Leakey was established, she and Lease were the first burials. Recorded 1971

Historical Marker →

Leakey Cemetery

1881

Originally known as the Floral Cemetery and serving an earlier community by that name, this cemetery dates to at least 1881. Land for the graveyard was sold by John and Nancy Leakey for one dollar and a cemetery plot. The oldest documented burials here are those of Sara Catherine McLaurin (b. 1849) and fifteen-year-old Allen Lease, who were killed on April 19, 1881, in the last Indian raid in the Frio Canyon area. The next interment was that of Civil War Veteran John Colter Brice, who died April 30, 1881. The only public cemetery in the Leakey vicinity, this graveyard contains the burials of many of the area's early settlers. Gravestones attest to the hardships of life in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the epidemics of measles, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and influenza which claimed many lives. There are over 900 documented burials here, as well as a number of unmarked graves. Those interred in the Leakey Cemetery include pioneers, children, elected officials of Real and Edwards counties, community leaders and veterans. The founder of the town, John Leakey, and his wife Nancy are both buried here. (1988)

Historical Marker →

Leakey, TX

1856

Leakey, the county seat of Real County, is on the Frio River southwest of the confluence of the East and West branches at the intersection of Farm roads 336, 337, and 1120 and U.S. Highway 83, in the southeastern part of the county. Archeological excavations in the Frio Canyon and the surrounding region reveal Paleo-American, Archaic, and Neo-American occupations. In the historic period Lipan Apaches, Comanches, and Tonkawas inhabited or traversed the area. Anglo-Americans arrived in 1856, when John Leakey, for whom the town was later named, his wife Nancy, and five others settled near the site at springs that were later known as Leakey Springs. Shingles and lumber were produced from the abundant cypress trees lining area streams, which were processed at water-powered sawmills along the Frio. In 1883 A. G. Vogel moved a post office to the settlement from Floral, two miles north, and opened the town's first store. A Methodist church was erected in 1886. In 1884 Leakey became the county seat of Edwards County. The previous county seat was Bullhead, which later became Vance and is now in western Real County. Leakey remained county seat until 1891, when the government was moved to Rocksprings. When Real County was organized in 1913, Leakey was elected the county seat, although the town was not incorporated until June 11, 1951. Although lumbering, freighting, and cultivating cotton and corn were initially important to the local economy, these activities were eventually superseded by ranching, and in particular the raising of Angora goats; tourism also provided an increasingly significant source of revenue. In 1904 Leakey was estimated to have 318 residents, though this figure was down to 150 by 1926. Estimates climbed to 700 in 1931 but dropped back to 150 two years later. Following these fluctuations, estimates show a steady increase to a peak of 762 in 1956, followed by a decline to 468 by 1982. The population was 399 in 1990 and 387 in 2000.

Tsha Handbook →

Prade Ranch

1935

Prade Ranch, located on the West Frio River and Farm Road 336 north of Leakey in north central Real County, was the first resort ranch in the county; it foreshadowed the later importance of tourism to the local economy. Its 10,000 acres include some of the most scenic land in the Hill Country . In 1926, during the administration of Governor Pat Neff , the state of Texas had an option to buy the ranch for a state park but declined because the location was remote. The site was converted to a resort ranch in 1935 by E. T. Prade. A United States post office was established there on May 22, 1940, and operated until June 30, 1954, when it became a rural post office. The limestone bed of the West Frio, which passes through the ranch, was at one time maintained as a road connecting Leakey with State Highway 41 and Rocksprings. Farm Road 336, which now serves this purpose, closely follows the west bank of the stream, ascending the Frio canyon on the Balcones Escarpment to the Edwards Plateau . The West Frio also begins on the ranch, and some of the better-documented Indian pictographs in Real County, probably produced by Lipan Apaches or Comanches during the historic period, were painted in a shallow rockshelter on the eastern wall of the canyon near the springs. These paintings, though less ambitious than those of some sites of West Texas, are significant since they represent the eastern periphery of Indian rock art in the state.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.8 mi away

Watkins, Theophilus

1868

Theophilus Watkins, irrigation pioneer, was born in Kentucky in 1819. He was married to Susan Williams, and they had one daughter. After his wife's death he moved to Texas in 1845 with his brother, Charles, and lived for a time near the site of present Sabinal, on land later known as Watkins' Flat. In 1848 he went to California but returned to Kentucky in 1850; he moved back to Texas in 1854, this time bringing his daughter. He was a captain at Fort Inge near Uvalde, and his company protected the area from Indian attacks. On December 1, 1867, he was married in Kentucky to Frances Anna Elizabeth Mosely; they had six children. Watkins settled in the valley of the Frio River, Frio Canyon, in what later became Real County, where he saw the possibilities for an irrigation system with water from the Frio River. In 1868, together with F. Smith and Newman Patterson, he constructed a ditch ten miles long and five feet wide, with a depth ranging from three to four feet. It was a gravity canal supplied with water by means of a dam built of brush and gravel on the main Frio River. The ditch was not put into full operation until a charter was granted to the Lombardy Irrigation Company on August 20, 1875. The ditch was still in operation in the 1960s, and the dam had been rebuilt a number of times. Watkins died in 1883 and was buried in the cemetery at Rio Frio.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.8 mi away

Things to Do in Leakey

nature 13.3 mi away
Lost Maples

Lost Maples State Natural Area near Vanderpool holds a relict stand of Uvalde bigtooth maples that should not exist this far south. Twelve thousand years ago…

Everything Near Leakey

83 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Leakey, TX · Tsha Handbook

    Leakey, the county seat of Real County, is on the Frio River southwest of the confluence of the East and West branches at the intersection of Farm roads 336, 337, and 1120 and U.S. Highway 83, in the southeastern part…

  • John Leakey · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Tennessee native John Leakey (1824-1900) came to Texas in 1847, settling for a time in Henderson County where he was a brickmason and rancher. He and his wife Nancy (Patterson) moved to Uvalde County in 1852 near…

  • Real County · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Real County, a place carved out of the rugged Edwards Plateau. It wasn't always this county, though. Leakey was once the county seat for Edwards County, but after a move to Rocksprings, folks in…

  • Real County Courthouse · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Real County Courthouse in Leakey. After county seat disputes, Judge D. D. Thompson pushed for a permanent building. Architect H. A. Reuter designed this 1918 Classical Revival structure, built…

  • Home to Mission San Lorenzo · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Real County. Located on the Edwards Plateau, Real County is in an area of rolling terrain broken by the canyons of the Frio River. Because of raids by Comanche, Apache, and Lipan Apache Indians,…

  • Real County · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Located on the Edwards Plateau, Real County is in an area of rolling terrain broken by the canyons of the Frio River. Because of raids by Comanche, Apache, and Lipan Apache Indians, white settlement was hindered until…

  • Catherine McLauren · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    A victim of the last Indian raid in Frio Canyon, April 19, 1881. Mother of three small children, "Kate" McLauren was home with them and a neighbor boy, Allen Lease, when a Lipan Apache band started to plunder their…

  • Leakey Cemetery · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    Originally known as the Floral Cemetery and serving an earlier community by that name, this cemetery dates to at least 1881. Land for the graveyard was sold by John and Nancy Leakey for one dollar and a cemetery plot.…

  • Leakey Methodist Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Leakey Methodist Church. Its origins trace back to worship services held in the John and Nancy Leakey home, the first settlers in this canyon area starting in 1856. The congregation…

  • Leakey School · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Leakey School. Settlers arrived in the Leakey area, then part of Bandera County, in the mid-1850s. Many educated their children in their own homes, and early schoolhouses also existed near the John…

  • The Sunset Bat Tornado · 3.1 mi

    About fifteen miles down the Frio from Leakey, near Concan, a natural spectacle unfolds almost every summer evening. Tucked into the hills above the river is a cave that holds an estimated ten million Mexican…

  • The River from Inside the Rock · 3.1 mi

    The beautiful, clear Frio River, the very heart of Leakey, is the product of a fascinating plumbing system hidden beneath your feet. You're driving over the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir held…

Show all 83 nearby places
  • The County Carved from Three · 3.1 mi

    As you pass the stone courthouse in the center of Leakey, you’re looking at a trophy from a political fight. For decades, this area was a geographic afterthought, split between three huge counties: Bandera, Kerr, and…

  • Taming the Twisted Sisters · 3.1 mi

    If you see an unusual number of motorcycles in Leakey, there’s a good reason. This town is the unofficial capital of a legendary riding loop known as the 'Twisted Sisters.' The 'sisters' are three Ranch Roads—337, 336,…

  • Leakey, TX · 3.1 mi

    On March 29, 2017, thirteen senior citizens from the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels were killed in a tragic accident near Leakey when a pickup crashed into their church minivan on U.S. Highway 83 inside Uvalde…

  • Rio Frio, TX · 4.7 mi

    Rio Frio sits right at the heart of what makes the Texas Hill Country special, and that's always been tied to the land. You'll find folks around here who know the best spots for deer hunting like the back of their hand.…

  • Famous Cattle Trail, Near Route of · 4.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Real County, near where thousands of longhorns once thundered north. This trail, a feeder to the famous Chisholm Trail, helped save Texas' economy after the Civil War. It wasn't just cattle,…

  • McLauren Massacre · 5.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the McLaurin Massacre, the last Indian raid in Frio Canyon. On April 19, 1881, a band of Lipan Apaches attacked the McLaurin home. Young Allen Lease and Catherine McLaurin were shot and…

  • Lombardy Irrigation Ditch · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Rio Frio area, where a major feat of 19th-century engineering took shape. In 1868, the Lombardy Irrigation Company dug this two-mile ditch by hand, channeling water to irrigate over 800 acres.…

  • Prade Ranch · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Prade Ranch, located on the West Frio River and Farm Road 336 north of Leakey in north central Real County, was the first resort ranch in the county; it foreshadowed the later importance of tourism to the local economy.…

  • Watkins, Theophilus · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Theophilus Watkins, irrigation pioneer, was born in Kentucky in 1819. He was married to Susan Williams, and they had one daughter. After his wife's death he moved to Texas in 1845 with his brother, Charles, and lived…

  • Adobe · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through parts of Texas where the very ground beneath your wheels was once the building material for homes. Right here, in places like West Texas and the Panhandle, people built with adobe – a mix of…

  • Cypress Creek Cemetery · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the historic Cypress Creek Cemetery, established in the 1870s. This graveyard served early pioneers before Leakey was even founded. Look for the graves of Laura Stidham and her son Alonzo,…

  • Rio Frio, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Rio Frio is on the Frio River just above the Uvalde county line in southeastern Real County. It was first settled between 1856 and 1860; many of the settlers had previously resided farther north up the Frio canyon at…

  • Vance, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Vance is at the juncture of the Nueces River and Bullhead Creek, where Farm Roads 335 and 2631 intersect, in far western Real County. In 1874 Henry Wells moved to the area and was soon followed by others. The community…

  • Real County · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Real County, a place named for a man who made Texas history in the state senate. Julius Real was the only Republican in the Texas Senate when this county was officially formed back in nineteen…

  • Clark Family Cemetery · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Clark Family Cemetery. Newlyweds Joseph Hutchinson Clark (1857-1901) and Annie Susie Wilson (1869-1953) bought this land from Annie's father on April 2, 1887. On Christmas Eve, 1901, Joseph was…

  • Civilian Conservation Corps at Garner State Park · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Garner State Park, a place built by the hands of young men during the Great Depression. Back in 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, set up camp here. These young guys, working under a…

  • Lost Maples State Natural Area · 13.0 mi · Natural Landmark

    During the last ice age, bigtooth maples grew across much of central Texas, part of a cooler, wetter landscape that supported forests where grassland dominates today. As the climate warmed over the last 10,000 years,…

  • Lost Maples · 13.3 mi · Things to Do

    Lost Maples State Natural Area near Vanderpool holds a relict stand of Uvalde bigtooth maples that should not exist this far south. Twelve thousand years ago…

  • Dry Frio Canyon · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Dry Frio Canyon, a place that drew settlers looking for new frontiers back in 1875. Families like the Bohmes and Joneses arrived, and soon after, the first post office and schoolhouse bore the…

  • Uvalde County, TX · 13.8 mi · Local history

    The Southern Texas Plains define Uvalde County, a land where the horizon stretches wide and the earth rolls gently. Here, the transition from the Hill Country's rocky terrain smooths out. The land, once part of…

  • Taylor School · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Taylor School, founded back in 1883. Early settlers like Henry Taylor gave land for the first one-room schoolhouse, which had homemade desks. After burning down, two more…

  • Highsmith, Benjamin F. · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, folks, and right here we remember Benjamin F. Highsmith. Born in Missouri in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1817</say-as>, Highsmith came to Texas and served in the Army of Texas…

  • Jones Cemetery · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Jones Cemetery, a final resting place for some of Utopia's earliest settlers. The story starts in 1879 when Reverend Irvin Jones deeded two acres of his homestead for this burial ground. His wife…

  • The Town the Railroad Built and Unbuilt · 15.1 mi

    The town of Camp Wood owes its entire existence to a railroad that’s been gone for over 80 years. In 1920, the Uvalde and Northern Railway pushed its tracks 37 miles north from Uvalde, terminating right here in the…

  • Where the River Begins · 15.1 mi

    The clear, flowing Nueces River seems almost miraculous in this often-dry part of Texas. It's not a typical river fed by runoff; it's the product of a massive underground plumbing system. The science behind it is…

  • The Lost Spanish Mission of the Nueces · 15.1 mi

    Long before the U.S. Army arrived, another European power tried to establish a foothold here. Just a couple of miles down the road from modern Camp Wood lie the ruins of Mission San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz. Founded in…

  • Utopia, TX · 15.1 mi

    Tourism to Utopia boomed after the establishment of the Lost Maples State Natural Area nearby in 1979. The town is also close to Garner State Park, making it a destination for nature enthusiasts. These natural areas…

  • Camp Wood, TX · 15.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Camp Wood, a town with a surprising aviation tale. Back in 1924, a young Charles Lindbergh, years before his famous solo flight, made an unplanned stop right here. Mistaking the railroad line for…

  • Camp Wood · 15.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Real County, right near the site of what was once Camp Wood. Established in May of 1857, this U.S. military outpost was crucial for protecting the San Antonio-El Paso route and the Rio Grande…

  • San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz Mission · 15.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Camp Wood, in Real County, and right here is the site of a Spanish mission that lasted less than a decade. In 1762, San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz Mission was founded on the Nueces River. It was meant…

  • Uvalde and Northern Railway · 15.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Real County, nearing the former northern terminus of a railroad that once connected Uvalde to this very area. The Uvalde and Northern Railway was chartered in 1914, aiming to haul kaolin and cedar…

  • Charles A. Lindbergh in Texas · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Camp Wood, Texas, a place that holds a special spot in aviation history thanks to none other than Charles Lindbergh. Back in 1924, before his famous solo flight to Paris, Lindbergh, then known as…

  • Site of the Mission San Lorenzo de La Santa Cruz · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Real County, near Camp Wood, where Spanish Franciscan missionaries founded the Mission San Lorenzo de La Santa Cruz in 1762. They were working among the Lipan Apache Indians here. However, this…

  • Private Frank Marshall, C.S.A. · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the resting place of Private Frank Marshall, a 29-year-old Harrison Countian who died in the Confederate campaign in Arizona and New Mexico. His story symbolizes the many Texans who served far from…

  • SIte of Camp Wood · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Camp Wood, established back on May 20th, 1857. Its main job was to put a stop to Indian raids threatening the vital San Antonio to El Paso route and the Rio Grande Valley. The camp was…

  • Silver Mine Pass · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Silver Mine Pass, a place with a history as rich as any supposed silver vein. Long before the Spaniards opened a mine here in the 1700s, this area was a strategic point. Though the silver ore…

  • Saltpetre Mine, C.S.A. · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a vital Civil War operation, right here in Concan! This cave system, stretching for miles, was once a booming saltpeter mine for the Confederacy. In the 1860s, workers dug out tons of bat…

  • Bandera County, TX · 15.7 mi

    Bandera County's history is marked by Native American raids and significant battles. In the 17th century, the area was home to Lipan Apache and Comanche settlements. The 1832 skirmish between Shawnee Indians and…

  • Utopia Methodist Church · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, and just up ahead is the Utopia Methodist Church. It was established way back in 1866, part of a growing mission to serve this frontier area. Imagine pioneer camp meetings held right here…

  • Rock Store · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, and right here is a piece of its very beginning. This stone building, erected in 1873, was Utopia's first building! It served as a general store, the Rock Store, for its owner R. H.…

  • Utopia · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, a town with a story that starts with a scare and ends with a name change. After an Indian raid in 1886, R. H. Kincheloe and his family moved here and built a home. By 1873, they'd added a…

  • The Utopia That Almost Stood Here · 16.1 mi

    Here's a coincidence sharp enough to give you chills, and it starts right here in Utopia, Texas. The word Utopia did not just land on this canyon by a postmaster's whim. A real attempt at utopia had already reached for…

  • The Word Nobody Was Supposed to Reach · 16.1 mi

    You're rolling through Utopia, Texas, a real little town on the Sabinal, and a name like that begs the obvious question, so let's take the detour and talk about where the word itself even comes from. It was invented, on…

  • The Maples That Missed the Ice Age Exit · 16.1 mi

    Follow the Sabinal River north out of Utopia, Texas, and you reach one of the strangest little forests in the state, the bigtooth maples of Lost Maples. Here is why they matter. Around ten thousand years ago, as the…

  • The Town That Renamed Itself Perfect · 16.1 mi

    You're standing in Utopia, Texas, and yes, that is the real name on the map, and it was chosen on purpose. Here's how it happened. This spot started as Waresville back in the eighteen fifties. Then a family named…

  • Paradise Was a Dangerous Address · 16.1 mi

    It is worth pausing on the nerve of naming this canyon Utopia, because for its first settlers it was closer to the opposite. This was a hard, contested frontier. Back in eighteen thirty-nine, the Texas Ranger Jack Hays…

  • Pull the Name, Unspool the Canyon · 16.1 mi

    So look at everything one hopeful little town name out here on the Sabinal can hold. Pull on the word Utopia and the whole canyon unspools. It leads back to a postmaster named Barker, reaching past Waresville and a…

  • The Soldier Behind Waresville · 16.1 mi

    Before it was Utopia, it was Waresville, and that name has a real man under it. Captain William Ware fought in the Texas Revolution, and in the early eighteen fifties he pushed up into Sabinal Canyon to settle, hauling…

  • Hollywood Found the Name Too · 16.1 mi

    The name Utopia was too good for the movies to leave alone, and in twenty eleven they came for it. A film called Seven Days in Utopia was shot right here in this town, along with some scenes over in Fredericksburg.…

  • Utopia Baptist Church · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, where the Baptist Church has roots going back to at least 1886. Organized with just nine charter members, they shared space with Methodists before building their own in 1912. The…

  • Barksdale, TX · 16.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Barksdale, Texas, a community that owes its name to a bit of bureaucratic red tape. Back in 1882, folks here wanted a post office, but there was already a town named Dixie. So, when they applied,…

  • The Pioneer Coalsons · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edwards County, not far from where the Coalson family faced unimaginable loss. On June 1st, 1877, a brutal Indian attack on their goat camp left young Arthur Coalson dead and his brother Johnny…

  • Dixie Settlement · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edwards County, near the site of a settlement that was once called Dixie. It started as a Texas Ranger post, a lonely outpost on the military road to Fort Inge. The first civilian settler here was…

  • William Ware · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, Texas, where Captain William Ware carved out a life on the Texas frontier. Born in Kentucky in 1800, Ware moved his family to Texas in 1828. He answered the call to arms, raising a company…

  • Site of Nix Mill · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Nix Mill, a real hub of industry for Barksdale back in the day. John L. Nix built this place in 1885, and it was a multi-tasker: cutting rawhide lumber, grinding corn and wheat, and…

  • Vance Cemetery · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Vance Cemetery, a resting place that began with tragedy. In 1875, a visitor died at the Wells family home and was buried on their land. That small grave became the nucleus of Vance Cemetery, named…

  • First Baptist Church of Barksdale · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past First Baptist Church of Barksdale. The Barksdale Baptist Church became the first Baptist church in the community in 1883 with a membership of nineteen. Traditionally, baptisms have been held at the…

  • Ware, William · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, near Utopia. Right here is where William Ware, a veteran of San Jacinto, decided to settle in 1852. He was said to be the only Anglo-American family between D'Hanis and the Rio…

  • Utopia, TX · 16.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Utopia, a place founded on a dream of peace, but its early days were anything but. In 1852, Captain William Ware arrived with his son, six slaves, cattle, and wagons packed with seeds and fruit…

  • Old Davenport Home · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Uvalde County, past the site of the Old Davenport Home. This wasn't just any pioneer cabin; it started as a one-room log house built during a dangerous time, right in the era of Lipan-Apache raids…

  • Camp Fawcett · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edwards County, heading towards Barksdale. Look for the site of Camp Fawcett, which opened its doors in 1928. It was named for E.K. Fawcett, the President of the Southwest Texas Council of the Boy…

  • Captain William Ware · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Utopia, Texas, a town named for paradise. But this area was anything but idyllic in the early days. Look around and imagine Captain William Ware, born in Kentucky back in <say-as…

  • Waresville Cemetery · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Waresville Cemetery, the final resting place for some of the earliest pioneers in this part of the Sabinal River valley. This land was settled by Captain William Ware, a veteran of the Texas…

  • Old Waresville · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Old Waresville, the first non-military settlement in Uvalde County. It was founded in 1852 by Captain William Ware, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. He built the first log cabin here, and it's…

  • Barksdale, TX · 18.5 mi

    Barksdale sits nestled in a valley carved by the Nueces River, a little pocket of green in the rugged Texas Hill Country. It's not on the way to anywhere, really, which is probably why it became what it is. The river's…

  • Joe A. Kelley Home · 19.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Joe A. Kelley Home, one of Utopia's few remaining pioneer houses. Built in 1865, this two-room house with back shed rooms was constructed by Joe A. Kelley, who came to the area with his family in…

  • Baylor, John R. · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Uvalde County, near Montell, where John R. Baylor made his home after a wild life. Born in Kentucky, he came to Texas in 1839 and became a colorful Indian fighter. He served in the Texas…

  • Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria Mission · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Uvalde County, near the Nueces River. Look for the remnants of a story that began over 250 years ago. This was the site of the third Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Mission, established in 1762.…

  • Mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Uvalde County, heading into history. Look to your right – this is the site of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. It was first established way back in 1749 by Franciscan missionaries, hoping…

  • Church of the Ascension · 19.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Church of the Ascension in Montell. Bishop W. P. Elliott held the first Episcopal rites here in 1890. The church was built with donations from friends around the world and held its first service…

  • Montell Methodist Church · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Montell, where a Methodist mission was established in 1889. The congregation met in various places, including a brush arbor, before dedicating a permanent church building on June 1, 1908.…

Explore Leakey on the Map
All music from Texas → Find another town Vote on city songs

Sign up for the free newsletter

Longer stories, research notes, photos, videos, and where the road goes next. Free, and no iPhone needed.

Subscribe free