Paige, Texas

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…

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…

State Highway Loop Two Twenty Three in McDade is the Captain Jesse Billingsley Memorial Loop. Billingsley was born in Tennessee in eighteen ten and came to Texas in eighteen thirty four. He joined the Mina Volunteers, a…

McDade, a small community in Bastrop County, has a rich history deeply intertwined with the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Named after James W. McDade, a major stockholder in the railroad in 1869, the town has…

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…

You're driving through McDade, and right here is the site of the McDade Baptist Church, a cornerstone of this community since 1880. Organized by Reverend J. D. Wright, they first worshiped in a shared building. But in…

You're driving past the site of the Rock Front Saloon, a place that saw more than just thirsty travelers. This building served as a stagecoach stop and even housed the local post office. But its real claim to fame? It…

You're driving past the resting place of John Herron, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. He fought in the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, the victory that secured Texas's freedom. Remember the name John…

McDade, on U.S. Highway 290 eight miles southeast of Elgin in northern Bastrop County, was established in 1869 in anticipation of the arrival of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Two years later the first train…

Early in eighteen seventy six, in the brush country around McDade, two men were caught with a freshly skinned cow. The hide carried the Olive brand. According to the Handbook of Texas, both men were shot on the spot.…

The McDade Pottery, which drew on deposits of superior-quality clay found near Marshy Branch four miles east of McDade in Bastrop County, was successor to a "jug shop" begun in 1853 in the vicinity of what is now…

You're driving past McDade, a town that was once a bustling freight center and stage stop. It was laid out in 1871 and named for a Brenham lawyer. But McDade has a wild streak! In 1883, vigilantes organized and lynched…

You're driving through Bastrop County, not far from McDade, where a farmer named Thomas Jackson Floyd made a name for himself. Floyd was a leader in the Farmers' Alliance, fighting against trusts and pushing for reform.…

McDade's biggest party of the year was born out of a fire. In nineteen forty, the town's school burned, and in nineteen forty eight, folks held the first McDade Watermelon Festival to raise money for a new building. It…

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.

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…

In December 1942, Sgt Walter Springs was gunned down by a military police officer following a dispute as Springs was reporting to Camp Swift. Springs was shot in the back, but the case remains largely unsolved to this…

You're driving past the Three Oaks Cemetery, formerly known as the Goerlitz Cemetery. It started as a family burial ground, with the earliest marked graves belonging to infant Peter and two-year-old Emma Goerlitz. In…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

You're driving through the Knobbs Springs community, near Lexington. This Baptist church was formed in May of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1860</say-as> by 16 charter members. The congregation has built and…

If you're driving here from the east or west, you probably noticed something strange happen to the landscape. The open prairie and farmland suddenly gave way to a thick, towering pine forest. You've just entered the…

On September 4, 2011, Bastrop experienced the worst and most destructive wildfire in Texas history. Two wildfires started when trees fell on power lines, merging into the Bastrop County Complex fire. This devastating…

In September 2011, Bastrop faced a catastrophe. After the driest year on record, and fanned by strong winds from Tropical Storm Lee, three separate fires ignited in the county. They merged into one massive inferno known…

The famous Lost Pines forest you see around Bastrop is a perfect lesson in ecology and soil science. Why do pine trees thrive here, but not 20 miles to the east or west? The answer is buried in the ground. The forest…

As you pass through Bastrop's historic downtown, you might get a feeling of deja vu. There's a good chance you've seen these streets before — in a movie. Bastrop County has been a go-to location for filmmakers looking…

Bastrop is at the center of one of the most controversial capital punishment cases in modern American history. In 1998, a local man named Rodney Reed was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Stacey…

In the second week of August 1840, word came up the Colorado that four to five hundred Comanche warriors under Buffalo Hump had burned the Gulf port of Linnville and were walking home across the prairie with three…

The modern highways you're driving on today, like State Highway 21, follow a much older and more important path: the El Camino Real de los Tejas. This wasn't a single road but a network of trails used for centuries,…

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…

Hike through the 'Lost Pines' of Bastrop State Park, a unique ecosystem that tragically suffered a devastating wildfire in 2011. In September of 2011, the Bastrop County Complex Fire, one of the most destructive…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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 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,…

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…

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…

You're driving past the heart of Lee County, a place with roots reaching back to the very beginnings of Texas settlement. The land here was first surveyed way back in 1821, part of Moses and Stephen F. Austin's original…

You're driving through Lee County, named for a man Texans knew well before he became a Confederate general: Robert E. Lee. He spent time right here on the Texas frontier, stationed at Camp Cooper. Imagine him leading a…

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…

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…

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.…

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.…

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.…

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…

You're driving through Bastrop County, passing by the Alum Creek Cemetery. Back in the 1820s, families like the Cottles and Highsmiths answered Stephen F. Austin's call to settle this land, then part of Mexico. Sarah…

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…

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…

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…

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 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, 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…

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…

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 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 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, 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 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 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 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…

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…

On September 4, 2011, after a brutal drought, strong winds tied to Tropical Storm Lee pushed dried-out trees into power lines around Bastrop, and the sparks did the rest. The Bastrop County Complex Fire that followed…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

You're driving through Bastrop County, and right here is where we remember Baron de Bastrop, born Felipe Enrique Neri. He was a key figure in early Texas settlement, serving as the land commissioner for Stephen F.…

You're driving through Bastrop State Park, a testament to the Civilian Conservation Corps. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1933</say-as>, President Roosevelt's New Deal created the CCC to put unemployed…

Just north of Bastrop, World War II built and then erased an entire city. After Pearl Harbor, the Army threw up Camp Swift on nearly fifty-six thousand acres, opening in 1942 with around two thousand seven hundred and…

You're cruising through Giddings, and right here is a classic American Four Square house, built around 1890. This was home to Edward "Ed" R. Sinks, a real mover and shaker in early Lee County. Ed wasn't just any…

You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, in Lee County, is where Bill Longley met his end. Born in Austin County in 1851, Longley's life was a whirlwind of violence after the Civil War. He claimed to have…

You're driving through Giddings, Texas, the hometown of Hilton Lee Smith, a baseball legend you might not have heard of. Born in 1907, Smith was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues, often hailed as the best all-around…

You're driving through what was once the frontier of the Republic of Texas, and right here in Bastrop County, you passed the final resting place of Henry Prentice Redfield. Born in New Hampshire in 1819, Redfield came…

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…

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…

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…

You're driving past the resting place of Captain John Campbell Hunt, a veteran of the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. Born way back in Alabama on December 18, 1811, Hunt went on to serve as a captain in the Army of the…

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,…

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.…

The Lost Pines of Bastrop are a genuine puzzle: a pocket of tall loblolly pines growing about a hundred miles west of where pines are supposed to stop, cut off from the main East Texas forest by a hundred miles of post…

You're driving past the historic Gotier Trace, a vital route that began in the 1820s. This trace connected San Felipe, the capital of Stephen F. Austin's colony, all the way to Bastrop. Imagine following this marked…

You're driving through the legendary Lost Pines of Texas! These loblolly pines stand isolated, 80 miles from the main pine forests. They're a living relic, likely survivors of prehistoric pine forests that retreated…

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…

You're driving through Bastrop, a town with deep roots stretching back centuries. Long before settlers arrived, this was Tonkawa and Comanche land. Spanish explorers passed through here way back in 1691, blazing parts…

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…

You're driving through Bastrop County, Texas, a place with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Anglo settlement. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1821</say-as>, this land was part of Stephen F.…

You're driving past the heart of Bastrop County, where H.N. Bell spent over two decades keeping the peace. Born in Arkansas, Bell began his law enforcement career in 1882, right in the middle of the infamous "wire…

You're driving past the birthplace of Robert Love Reding, a key player in the Texas Revolution. Born in Tennessee in 1810, Reding came to Texas and fought bravely. He was there for the capture of Goliad on October 9th,…

You're cruising through Bastrop County, and right here is the marker for Jesse Halderman. He was a fighter for Texas independence! Halderman served in the Volunteer Army of Texas way back in 1835. The very next year, he…

You're driving through Bastrop County, near Sayersville, where history was literally bulldozed for war. Back in 1940, as the U.S. geared up for potential conflict, this entire area was chosen to become Camp Swift, a…

You're cruising past the birthplace of Joseph Draper Sayers, a man who saw a remarkable arc in Texas history. Born in 1841, Sayers rose through the ranks during the Civil War, earning a reputation for battlefield valor…

You're driving past the resting place of John Holland Jenkins, a young soldier who fought in the Texas War for Independence. He was part of the San Jacinto campaign, the decisive battle that secured Texas's freedom.…

You're driving past the site of a Texas hero, Campbell Taylor. He was a volunteer who fought for Texas Independence at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. That was the decisive battle that secured Texas's freedom.…

You're driving past the site of William Dunbar's final resting place. Born in Tennessee in 1819, Dunbar was a participant in the Mier Expedition, a disastrous raid into Mexico in 1842. The expedition ended with capture…

You're driving past Fairview Cemetery, a place that's been part of Bastrop history since the very beginning. The city itself was laid out right around 1830, and this twelve-acre burial ground overlooking the Colorado…

You're driving past the former home of Richard and Annie Brieger, a beautiful example of late Victorian Queen Anne architecture, built around 1910. This house wasn't just a family home for the Briegers and their five…

You're driving past the Claiborne Cemetery, a resting place for families who settled this area. The first burial here was Sherly Gage in 1850. Later, John and Gabriella Black gave land to their daughter Martha Jane…

You're driving past the Hubbard-Trigg House, built in 1890 by Robert W. Hubbard. Hubbard was a Confederate veteran who fought in the very last battle of the Civil War. Imagine that – the war winding down, and he's still…

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.…

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.…

Stand near the Jenkins House and you're standing near the story of Sarah Jenkins, a woman whose life was marked by both tragedy and resilience. Sarah's first husband was killed by Native Americans. Then, she married…

You're driving past the birthplace of Leah Moncure, the first woman to become a registered professional engineer in Texas. Born in Bastrop in 1904, she overcame a childhood heart defect and limited opportunities to earn…

You're driving past Jenkins Home, Old. Built about 1836 for Sarah Jenkins, whose first husband was scalped by Indians, her second killed at the Alamo. Home to 7 generations. Its men were at Battle of San Jacinto, the…

The first man to fire a shot in the Texas Revolution came from Bastrop. So did the first soldier killed in the fight for independence. Three signers of the…

You're driving past the site where Abram Wiley Hill lived, a true Texas hero. He fought in the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>, helping to win Texas independence.…

You're driving past the Mina - Bastrop Pioneers Home, built between 1836 and 1837 on land originally granted in 1835. This structure later became the home of two veterans who fought in the pivotal Battle of San Jacinto:…

You're driving past the site where Martin Walker once stood. He was a volunteer who fought bravely for Texas independence. Walker was part of the Star and Wreath, a group of Mina volunteers who answered the call to…

You're driving past the Pfeiffer Home, built in 1901 by Joseph R. Pfeiffer for his new bride. Pfeiffer, a local builder and lumberman, wanted this house to be a showcase of his skills, using fine materials and…

You're driving past the Klockman-Elzner Home in Bastrop. Henry Klockman, a blacksmith, and his wife bought this land and built this house around 1895. After Klockman's death, his widow kept the family afloat by taking…

Bastrop is one of those rare towns that effectively had to start over. A couple of years after it was founded, the settlement was renamed Mina, in honor of Francisco Xavier Mina, a Spanish-born soldier who had fought…

Right here in Bastrop is the hometown of a quiet pioneer named Leah Moncure. In 1938 she became the first woman in Texas to hold a professional engineering license, a credential that for years carried her name almost…

Bastrop sits in the middle of a biological mystery. The Lost Pines are an isolated forest of loblolly pines growing a hundred miles west of where they should be. The main pine belt of East Texas ends around Lufkin. But…

You're driving past the home of Joseph D. Sayers, built in 1868 for his bride. Sayers was quite a Texan: a Confederate officer in the Civil War, a teacher, a lawyer, a state senator, lieutenant governor, and a U.S.…

In 1836 the Mexican army swept through Bastrop and razed the entire settlement to the ground. Every building every fence every sign of Anglo colonization was…

The Houston toad doesn't live in Houston anymore. Its last major stronghold is the Lost Pines forest around Bastrop where it burrows into sandy soil and sings…

You're driving past Bastrop, where Thomas H. Mays arrived in 1830. He helped plat the town's streets in 1834, then fought and was wounded in the leg at the Battle of San Jacinto two years later. Mays went on to serve…

You're driving past Brooks-Wilbarger House. Alexander M. and Althea Brooks built this Greek Revival style home of native cedar and pine by 1851. James Harvey and Dorothy (Olive) Wilbarger acquired the property in 1865.…

You're driving past Chambers, Margaret, Home. This Greek Revival residence was built in 1853 for Bartholomew Manlove (b. 1776), who was elected the first mayor of Bastrop two years later. In 1857, the property was sold…

Long before a Dutch con man gave Bastrop its name the Tonkawa people lived among the Lost Pines for thousands of years. When the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines…

You're driving past the former home of Hartford Jenkins, a man who wore many hats in Bastrop County. Built in 1906 by J. P. Fowler, Jr., this house was purchased in 1912 by Hartford and Beulah Alice Jenkins. Hartford…

You're driving through Bastrop, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church's original home. It all started back on August 3rd, 1850, when Elder G. G. Baggerly organized the Missionary Baptist Church of…

You're driving through Bastrop, Texas, and you might just pass the site of one of horror's most iconic locations: The Gas Station. Originally a real gas station opened in 1960, this spot on Highway 304 became infamous…

Bastrop is named for a European nobleman who was neither a nobleman nor originally named Bastrop. The man who called himself the Baron de Bastrop was really Philip Hendrik Nering Bogel, a Dutch tax collector born far…

You're driving past Bastrop, a town named for a man who helped make Texas possible! Felipe Enrique Neri, the Baron de Bastrop, was a friend to early settlers in a foreign land. Back in 1821, he helped Moses Austin…

You're driving through what used to be Mina, Texas, a place that played a small but vital role in the Texas Revolution. Right here, Jesse Billingsley, a soldier, ranger, and legislator, commanded a company of Mina…

You're driving through the heart of Texas, a place shaped by patriots like John Wheeler Bunton. He arrived in 1833, settling near what is now Bastrop. By 1835, he was a key figure in the local committee of safety, a…

You're driving through what is now Bastrop County, an area that was home to Robert M. Coleman, a key figure in early Texas history. He arrived in 1831 and quickly became involved in the fight for Texas independence.…

You're driving through Bastrop, Texas, the birthplace of a musical legend. Robert Earl Davis Jr., better known as DJ Screw, was born right here on July 20, 1971. He became a pioneer of Houston's rap scene, creating a…

You're driving through what is now Bastrop County, and you're passing through the footsteps of a Texas signer. Thomas Jefferson Gazley, a doctor by trade, arrived in Texas in 1828. He quickly got involved in the brewing…

You're driving through Central Texas, a land shaped by tough characters and tough times. Right here, you might be near the path of Cicero Rufus Perry, better known as 'Old Rufe.' Born in Alabama in 1823, Perry came to…

You're driving through Bastrop County, an area that Bartlett Sims helped shape. Born in Tennessee around 1792, Sims arrived in Texas as part of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. He wasn't just a settler;…

You're driving through Bastrop County, Texas, where in 1890, a respected Black landowner named Calvin Thompson was murdered. Thompson had amassed 500 acres and was considered a leader in the Cedar Creek community. But…

You're driving through Central Texas, not far from Bastrop. Back in 1833, Josiah Wilbarger was part of a surveying crew attacked by Comanche warriors near Pecan Springs. He was scalped, but incredibly, he survived the…

You're driving through Bastrop, Texas, the birthplace of Roosevelt Thomas Williams, better known as the "Grey Ghost." Born in 1903, this barrelhouse piano player and songwriter absorbed the diverse musical melting pot…

Every river along the Camino Real had one good place to cross, one stretch where the bank was low enough for wagons and the bottom was firm enough for cattle, and Bastrop is the place where the Camino Real crossed the…

You're driving past the marker for Captain James Burleson, a man who served in two major American wars. He was chosen as commissary by General Andrew Jackson himself for the War of 1812, fighting in the famous Battle of…

You're driving past the hometown of Joseph D. Sayers, a man who went from private to governor. He enlisted right here in Bastrop as a private in 1861. By age 20, he was a captain, earning his rank for gallantry in the…

You're driving through Bastrop, a town with a name that sounds like it belongs in Europe. But this place has deep Texas roots, tied to Stephen F. Austin himself. In 1827, Austin wanted to establish a 'Little Colony' and…

You're driving through Bastrop, Texas, and right here is where Reverend Paul Carlyle Bell founded the Mexican Baptist Institute in 1926. Starting with just one student, this industrial school aimed to provide…

You're driving through what is now Bastrop County, Texas, and right here is where a true pioneer soldier drew his last breath. James Burleson, a leader in Austin's Little Colony, had a life filled with conflict, serving…

You're driving near Bastrop County, and right here is Camp Swift. Built in a lightning-fast four months back in 1942, this massive base covered over 55,000 acres and could house 44,000 troops! It was the largest army…

You're driving through Bastrop, a town that was once called Mina. Right here, in 1833, Leander Calvin Cunningham arrived, becoming the very first lawyer in this frontier community. He quickly got involved in the growing…

You're driving through what is now Burleson County, Texas, but back in the <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1820s</say-as>, this was the frontier. James Curtis, Sr., one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred,…

You're driving through what was once wild country, and right here in Coleman County, William H. Day learned the harsh realities of the cattle business. In 1860, on his very first cattle drive, his father drowned. Day…

You're driving through Bastrop County, not far from Elgin, where a brick empire began by accident. Back in 1871, the railroad arrived, and an Irish immigrant named Michael Butler stumbled upon rich clay deposits while…

You're driving through Texas, maybe near Bastrop County, and you might be passing the legacy of John T. P. Fitzhugh. He came to Texas in 1835, just in time for the fight for independence. Fitzhugh wasn't just a doctor;…

You're driving through what's now Bastrop County, and right here, in 1835, James Gilleland defied Mexican law. He organized the very first Methodist congregation in Austin's Little Colony. Imagine him, a lay preacher,…

You're driving through Bastrop County, Texas, a land that saw its share of frontier drama. Daniel Gray, a farmer and soldier from Tennessee, arrived here in 1831 with his wife and seven children, drawn by Robertson's…

You're driving through Bastrop County, the heart of Texas history. Right here, Thomas Jones Hardeman, a veteran of the War of 1812, fought under Andrew Jackson himself. He was captured by the British and wounded in the…

You're driving through Bastrop, and right here, you're passing through the stomping grounds of John Holland Jenkins. Born in Alabama in 1822, his family moved to Texas when he was just six years old. By thirteen, he was…

You're driving through Bastrop, a town that played a key role in the tumultuous post-Civil War era. Right here, George Washington Jones, a local politician and lawyer, was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1866. He was a…

You're driving through a landscape that John Litton knew well. He arrived in Texas around 1827, drawn to Stephen F. Austin's colony. During the Texas Revolution, Litton fought against Santa Anna and his wife, Sarah,…

You're driving through Central Texas, right alongside what's known as the Lost Pines Forest. This isn't just any patch of trees; it's a unique pocket of loblolly pines, clinging to existence here at the very western…

You're driving through the heart of Texas history, and right here, in what was once Mexican Texas, you're passing through the area where William Harrison Magill first tried to set up shop. He arrived in 1834, intending…

You're driving near Bastrop, a place that owes its start to a daring voyage. In 1833, Thomas Gilmer McGehee and his brother sailed a schooner loaded with lumber all the way from Florida to the mouth of the Brazos River.…

You're driving through Bastrop County, near modern-day Elgin, and you might be passing right over the site of Perryville, also known as Hogeye. This community started as Young's Settlement in 1849, but its wilder name,…

You're driving through Central Texas, maybe you've seen them already - those vibrant fields of bluebonnets. Right here, in Bastrop, Texas, Porfirio Salinas Jr. was born in 1910, and he dedicated his life to capturing…

You're driving through Bastrop, Texas, the hometown of Joseph Draper Sayers. He came here as a boy and attended the Bastrop Military Institute. When the Civil War broke out, Sayers enlisted and rose to the rank of Major…

You're driving through Bastrop County, heading towards San Jacinto, and you might just pass the land where William Capers Simmons once stood. Born in 1789, Simmons arrived in Texas in 1835, just in time to enlist in the…

You're driving through Bastrop, and right here is where Samuel Stone, a veteran of the War of 1812, settled after moving to Texas in 1839. He built what's said to be the first ferry boat on the Colorado River. But his…

You're driving through what is now Bastrop County, and right here is where Wilson Van Dyke came to Texas in 1837. He was a stock raiser, but he sure found himself in some fights. In 1842, he helped push back a Mexican…

You're driving through Bastrop County, not far from where Samuel Wolfenberger built his life. He arrived here in 1831, a skilled wheelwright from Missouri, and quickly became a key figure in early Texas. Wolfenberger…

You're driving through Bastrop County, the heart of Central Texas's Lost Pines region. Right here, you're passing near the Griffith League Ranch. This incredible piece of land has been in the same family since 1832,…

You're driving through Bastrop, a town that was once a hub for one of the largest stagecoach empires in Texas. Constant Kirtland Hall, a merchant who settled here around 1850, was a key partner in the firm Sawyer,…

You're driving through Bastrop, and right here is the Old Iron Bridge. It was built in 1923, a Parker steel-truss style bridge that was among the largest in Texas at the time. But this spot has been a crossing for…

The Bastrop Opera House opened in 1889 in a town that had already been burned by armies fires and time. While other frontier opera houses crumbled into memory…

Don Carlos Barrett, lawyer and legislator, was born on June 22, 1788, at Norwich, Vermont, the eldest son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Murdock) Barrett. In 1810 at Natchez, Mississippi, he married Lucy Walton, also of…

John Day Morgan, farmer and soldier, was born in London on May 15, 1819, the son of Thomas Frances and Sophia Elizabeth (Day) Morgan. He accompanied his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of eight, and…

Rockne, twelve miles southwest of Bastrop in southwestern Bastrop County, has its origins in German settlers such as the Lehman family who arrived around 1846. The original parish included the Meuth community but was…

St. Mary's Colony, a black farming community, is located in the far western corner of Bastrop County, seventeen miles west of Bastrop on State Highway 21. The Doyle and Patton families founded the community shortly…

Jesse Cornelius Tannehill, early settler, was born in Kentucky on December 30, 1797. He was married to Jane Richardson in 1823 near Nashville, Tennessee. They came to Texas with their two children in 1828 and settled…

You're driving through Bastrop, and right here is the old Bastrop Academy Bell. Cast way back in 1850, this bell actually made its way to Texas by a steamboat called the 'Water Mockasin' in 1851, thanks to the…

You're driving past the historic Bastrop Methodist Church. Back in 1835, lay preacher James Gilleland formed the nucleus of this congregation. This was a bold move, as Mexican laws at the time outlawed Protestant…