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Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Pontotoc.
A devastating typhoid epidemic in 1887 had a profound impact on Pontotoc, leading to the establishment of a second cemetery to accommodate the deceased. This tragic event is a significant part of the community's history and a testament to the challenges faced by early settlers in managing public health crises.
The Pontotoc and San Fernando Academy, established in 1883, stands out as a notable landmark in the community. At its peak, the school had an enrollment of 200 students, offering both generalized education and teaching certificates. The academy's closure in 1889, following the typhoid epidemic, had a significant impact on the local economy and contributed to the decline in population. The ruins of the academy, which collapsed in 2016, serve as a reminder of this important chapter in Pontotoc's history.
Pontotoc, Texas, isn't on many maps, but if you know pecans, you know Pontotoc. This little corner of Mason County, nestled where the sandy loam meets the granite hills, is pecan country through and through. The story goes that after the Civil War, folks returning home needed a way to rebuild, and pecans, native to the region, seemed like a good bet. Early on, it was mostly about gathering wild pecans from the groves along the San Saba River and its tributaries. But soon, farmers started grafting improved varieties onto native rootstock, developing orchards that produced bigger, meatier nuts. What makes Pontotoc pecans so special? Well, the soil is key. That mix of sand and granite gives the trees the drainage they need, and the climate – hot summers and mild winters – is just right for pecan development. The other thing is tradition. For generations, families here have been dedicated to pecan farming. It's hard work, no doubt, shaking those trees in the fall, gathering the nuts, and getting them ready for market. But it’s a way of life, a connection to the land, and a source of pride that you can taste in every bite of a Pontotoc pecan pie.
(Site of Academy is 100 yards north) Pontotoc, settled about 1859, was named by first merchant, M. R. Kidd, for his former home town in Mississippi. Post office was opened 1878 in the B. J. Willis home, with Mrs. Willis postmaster. Founded by interested citizens, San Fernando Academy (probably named for nearby creek), opened 1883. Pupils (200 during academy's career) took regular subjects or courses leading toward teacher certificates. Principals were K. T. Hamilton and W. C. Roaten. After academy failed, site was sold by W. J. and B. J. Willis and used by the public school until 1927. (1972)
James Jackson Larremore brought his family to Llano County in 1853. Daughter Martha met and married James S. Huffman in 1856, and the couple resided along the Llano River, rearing their seven children. Following service in the Civil War, Huffman purchased 300 acres in this vicinity, spanning from the western slope of Smoothin' Iron, or San Fernando, Mountain westward past Cold Creek. The Larremores lived nearby, and the families and many other settlers in the area soon needed a burial ground. The first recorded grave is that of Huffman granddaughter Laura Sessom (d. 1884). Other family members buried here include James and Martha Larremore Huffman, who both died in 1917. That year, daughter Maria Jane Simpson officially dedicated the existing burial plot as Huffman Cemetery. Family members maintained the burial ground throughout the 20th century, forming a cemetery association in 1980. The graveyard, which serves as a resting place for several veterans, chronicles the lives of Llano County's early settlers and the contributions of the Huffmans and their descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003
Born in West Virginia in 1832, George Oliver Chew came to Texas in 1839. He married Nancy Taylor prior to 1870, and they settled in western Llano County in 1883, purchasing 320 acres of land. This site probably was first used as a family cemetery about 1885 when their infant granddaughter was interred here. The second marked burial was that of a 2-year-old grandson, Osceola Chew, in 1887. George Oliver Chew was interred here in 1901. The Chew family continued to grow, operating a school and later a cotton gin. In 1927 they sold the land to another family, who donated back the one-acre cemetery twenty years later. There are more than 40 known graves in the Chew Cemetery. Both a Confederate and a Union soldier are interred here, as are veterans of other military conflicts. (1999)
After the Mexican War and the annexation of Texas by the United States, the population of the state began to increase rapidly, but the increasing numbers were crowded into a limited area because Indians controlled the majority of the state. To open new areas and provide protection for settlers, in 1848 the United States War Department authorized a line of army forts from the Rio Grande to the Red River. Fort Mason's location on Post Oak Hill near Comanche and Centennial creeks in the northern part of what was then called Gillespie County was chosen by Lt. Col. William J. Hardee, assisted by Richard Austin Howard , on July 6, 1851. Hardee left the actual establishment of the post to Bvt. Maj. Hamilton W. Merrill and companies A and B of the Second Dragoons. The post was most likely named either for Lt. George T. Mason, who was killed at Brownsville during the Mexican War, or for Gen. Richard Barnes Mason, who died only a year before the fort was established. During the next ten years, or until the beginning of the Civil War , the fort played an important part in settlement of the area. Settlers at first stayed close to the fort, but as the aggressive attitude of the military became apparent, additional settlers located farther from the post. The Indians-Kiowas, Lipan Apaches, and Comanches-were driven farther away and began making fewer raids into the settlements. The fort was closed several times during that decade, first in January 1854. It was reoccupied by Company A, First Dragoons, from March to May and was occupied by various companies of the Second United States Cavalry from January 14, 1856, to March 29, 1861, when it passed into the hands of the secessionists. The fort reached its maximum population in January 1856, when the headquarters and companies B, C, D, G, H, and I of the Second Cavalry were all stationed there, with Col. Albert Sidney Johnston in command. Twenty officers stationed at Fort Mason before the Civil War became generals. Twelve fought for the Confederacy, eight for the Union. Among these generals were Earl Van Dorn, Fitzhugh Lee, E. Kirby Smith, George H. Thomas, Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood , William J. Hardee, and Philip St. George Cooke. Fort Mason was designated regimental headquarters for the Second Cavalry several times. For a short period during 1862 the Confederate Army held 215 men prisoner, mostly civilians accused of being Union sympathizers, in the fort. During August 1862 they were marched to Austin. Indian depredations during the Civil War and immediately afterward were worse than they had ever been. The area was terrorized by killings, thefts, and nuisance raids. Texas state troops and minutemen had been unable to cope with the problem. The United States Army, in the form of the Headquarters Company with field staff and officers and the regimental band and Company F of the Fourth United States Cavalry , reoccupied the fort on December 24, 1866. Gen. John Porter Hatch was the commanding officer. The fort was repaired and improved through the use of civilian artisans and military labor. Reconstruction lawlessness also affected military personnel; a large number of desertions and courts-martial were reported. Cavalry were replaced with soldiers from the Thirty-fifth Infantry over a period of time. The last inspection of the fort occurred on January 13, 1869. The report listed twenty-five buildings, mostly vacant and in need of repair; only sixty-nine men were present. The order to close the fort was carried out on March 23, 1869. During 1870 the state of Texas organized several companies of frontier forces. Fort Mason was reopened in September of that year as headquarters for Companies A and B, Frontier Forces. Capt. James M. Hunter, later county judge of Mason County, was in command for most of that year. During the next year the forces were disbanded or moved, and for the last time the fort was closed. Although the fort buildings and land became private property, the rock buildings wer
The Mason County War, commonly known as the Hoodoo War, was one of a number of feuds that developed over the stealing and killing of cattle. As early as June 25, 1874, Wilson Hey, presiding justice of Mason County, wrote Governor Richard Coke requesting that troops be stationed in the county to help deal with cattle rustling . Since many of the settlers of the county were Germans , there began to be a perception that they were pitted against the American-born residents, and neither group was able to get protection from the cattle thieves. The trouble began seriously when the sheriff, John Clark, jailed nine men on charges of stealing cattle. Before a trial was held, four of them escaped, but a mob of about forty men took the remaining five from the jail on February 18, 1875, led them to a place near Hick Springs, and hanged them. Daniel W. Roberts of the Texas Rangers , a few of his men, and a group of citizens followed the mob but were not in time to save the prisoners. Lige Baccus and his cousin were dead; Tom Turley was hanged but not dead; a man named Johnson escaped; and the fifth, Wiggins, was shot, and died the next day. Though a district court investigated the incident, nothing came of it. On May 13, 1875, Sheriff Clark sent Deputy Sheriff John Worley to Castell to bring Tim Williamson to Mason to make bond on a charge of cattle stealing. Worley and his prisoner were attacked by twelve men with blackened faces. Though Williamson was not armed, he and his horse were killed. No trial was held for this murder, and a real feud ensued. Scott Cooley, a former Ranger, swore revenge for the death of his friend Williamson. He collected the names of the men he thought responsible for Williamson's death, got together a following of his own-including John and Mose Beard, George Gladden, and John Ringgold-and began a ruthless retaliation that resulted in the killing of at least a dozen men. One of his early victims was John Worley, who was killed on August 10, 1875, while he was working on his well. It was commonly agreed that Scott Cooley shot him through the head and took his scalp. A number of violent incidents followed Worley's death, and sources disagree over the names and dates. The citizens of Mason sent a petition to Governor Coke asking for protection. A week later John Ringgold and several others are said to have killed John Cheney (Cheyney) as he was preparing breakfast for some strangers at his home. The governor sent Maj. John B. Jones with twenty or thirty men from Company A and ten from Company D of the Texas Rangers to quiet the difficulties. On September 28, when they reached Cold Springs, they found Clark and fifteen to twenty followers, who said they had heard that the Cooley faction was heading that way to "burn out the Dutch." That day Daniel Hoerster was shot off his horse in broad daylight as he was passing the Southern Hotel, and Peter Jordan (a friend of Hoerster's) and Gladden were wounded. Jones made an investigation at Cold Springs before he joined Daniel Roberts to attempt to get to the source of the trouble. During a gunfight at Keller's store on the Llano River, Clark and Keller's son wounded Mose Beard and George Gladden. Beard died, but Gladden was sent to his home at Loyal Valley to recover. At some point during the feud, a mob appeared at John Gamel's ranch on Mill Creek looking for Gamel and William Coke. They arrested Coke and Gamel's foreman, Ike Beam, and Sheriff Clark sent them back to Mason under separate guard; Coke was never seen again. Johnson, one of the survivors of the February 1875 lynching, is said to have shot a man named Miller, reportedly the last person to have been seen with Coke; Johnson then fled the county. Clark was later investigated regarding the Coke incident, but the case against him could not be proven; he subsequently left Mason. Meanwhile, Major Jones and his rangers continued to search for Cooley and his followers without success and with little cooperation from the
Wanda Harper Bush, the most decorated cowgirl in the history of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), was born to Alvin and Gussie (Martin) Harper on October 6, 1931, in Mason County, Texas. Wanda helped around the family's ranch and rode horses. When she was eight, her brother, Alvin Clarence "A.C.," was born. At a young age, she learned rodeo skills by roping and tying goats. After Wanda progressed from goats to calves, she began competing in rodeos . Before she graduated from Mason High School in the spring of 1949, she became one of the first members of the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA), which later became the WPRA, and held membership card number fourteen. She quickly made a name for herself in rodeo circles and became the all-around GRA champion in 1951, 1952, and 1954. In 1953 she was barrel race champion and came in second in the all-around category. She regularly took the championship title in barrel racing, ribbon and calf roping. Nearly two decades before Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the famed "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match at the Astrodome ( see SPORTS ), Wanda Harper competed against a man, Pete Taylor of Doole, Texas, in a calf roping contest in San Angelo in 1956 and beat his time by 21.1 seconds. Although a humble woman who focused more on training her horses than media attention about her accomplishments, she appeared on an episode of the television show To Tell the Truth in April 1958. Over her long rodeo career, Wanda competed in barrel racing, cutting, flag racing, calf roping, and ribbon roping. She earned thirty-two world championships and nine all-around titles throughout her career. This made her the most decorated cowgirl in the Women's Professional Rodeo Association's history as of 2017. In 1957 Wanda married Stanley Bush, a cutting horse trainer and later world cutting champion, in Mason County, Texas. The couple competed in rodeos as well as bred and trained horses, many of which became champions, for five decades. Before she married, she trained famous champion quarter horses , Dee Gee, Phoebe Chess, and Flying Eagle, at the Harper family ranch. Then, she and her husband raised and trained their progeny. After their marriage, the couple continued the tradition of training champion mares. Stanley Bush's cutting horse Royal Chess, progeny of Phoebe Chess, was inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame in 1970. Wanda and Stanley had a daughter, Shanna, on August 14, 1959, who followed in her parents' footsteps when, in 1984, she qualified for the National Finals Rodeo. Wanda not only taught her daughter rodeo skills, she also traveled the country and held skills clinics for young people. In the 1980s Wanda served on the WPRA board as the Texas ProRodeo Circuit director at a crucial point in the WPRA's history. Many of the top rodeos were in Texas. Barrel racers earned less than half the amount of winnings as men in similar events despite having similar costs and fees. Barrel racing was also one of the more popular rodeo events. In 1981 the WPRA began requiring that purse (prize) money for barrel racing events in all rodeos be equal to half the purses offered in men's events and equal purse money for women's events by 1985. Wanda Bush played a crucial role in keeping Texas rodeos in the barrel racing circuit and bringing gender equality to Texas rodeos. Every single Texas rodeo agreed to raise the purse winnings and stay on the circuit, and many credit, at least in part, the respect and clout Wanda had built during her career as a barrel racer in rodeo with this success. She was later honored by the WPRA with the Coca-Cola WPRA Woman of the Year in 1989. After her rodeo career ended, Wanda and Stanley, along with Wanda's brother A. C., continued to train horses on the Harper-Bush Ranch. At eighty-four years old, Wanda Bush died of a heart attack on December 29, 2015. Her service was held at the Mason Funeral Home Chapel, and she was interred in the Ha
The Mason County Hoo Doo War of 1875 was one of the bloodiest feuds in Texas history pitting German settlers against Anglo cattlemen over stolen livestock.…
Mason County is the only place in the world where you can find the official Texas state gem -- blue topaz -- just lying on the ground. Ranchers have been…
In the granite hills north of Llano there is a rock that exists nowhere else on the planet. Llanite is a brown rhyolite porphyry shot through with sky-blue…
Coopers is the last great example of the Texas cowboy style of barbecue where you walk up to an open outdoor pit and point at whatever cut you want. The…
The Llano Uplift is a hundred-mile circle of Precambrian basement rock pushed up through the younger Hill Country limestone. The pink granite at Enchanted Rock…
During Prohibition the limestone caves and deep ravines around Mason became one of the biggest moonshine operations in Texas. German settlers who had been…
Mason was settled by German immigrants in the 1840s who brought their language their Lutheran churches and their absolute refusal to own slaves. They were so…
Robert E. Lee commanded Fort Mason in 1861 just weeks before resigning his U.S. Army commission to join the Confederacy. He wrote agonized letters from this…
101 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
A devastating typhoid epidemic in 1887 had a profound impact on Pontotoc, leading to the establishment of a second cemetery to accommodate the deceased. This tragic event is a significant part of the community's history…
(Site of Academy is 100 yards north) Pontotoc, settled about 1859, was named by first merchant, M. R. Kidd, for his former home town in Mississippi. Post office was opened 1878 in the B. J. Willis home, with Mrs. Willis…
James Jackson Larremore brought his family to Llano County in 1853. Daughter Martha met and married James S. Huffman in 1856, and the couple resided along the Llano River, rearing their seven children. Following service…
Born in West Virginia in 1832, George Oliver Chew came to Texas in 1839. He married Nancy Taylor prior to 1870, and they settled in western Llano County in 1883, purchasing 320 acres of land. This site probably was…
You're driving near Fredonia, in Mason County, past the Wagram Cemetery. This burial ground started serving settlers in the Blue Stretch community, which later became Wagram when its post office opened in 1906. The…
You're driving through the area that was once the Blue Stretch Community, later known as Wagram. The first marked burial here is little Marion Eaker Miller, who died in 1880. The community established this cemetery…
This cemetery was created to serve settlers of the Blue Stretch Community, which became known as Wagram when the post office opened in 1906. This cemetery was established alongside the community schoolhouse. The first…
You're driving past Valley Spring Cemetery, serving this community since 1867. It began with the burials of Martha Eaker and Hattie Phillips, daughters of local pioneers. The Epperson family donated land in 1877, and…
You're driving through the community of Valley Spring, Texas. It all started back in 1853 when O. C. J. Phillips became the first settler here. Later, two small settlements, Whistleville and Bugscuffle, joined forces to…
You're driving through Castell, and just ahead is the homesite of Emil Kriewitz. This German immigrant arrived in Texas in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, right as the Mexican War kicked off. He…
UNT. Denton. It’s more than just Fry Street and the Courthouse on the Square, though those are pretty great. This place has a real legacy, and a lot of folks who made it big got their start right here in North Texas.
You're driving past Salem Cemetery, established around 1884. It began with the burial of Rebecca Ann Stevenson, daughter of early settlers. The land was formally deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1888…
You're driving past the site of the Valley Springs Primitive Baptist Church. This congregation was formed in August 1882, with Elder S. R. Woods as its first pastor. They met in local schoolhouses until 1886, when they…
You're driving through Mason County, the heart of a brutal feud known as the Mason County War. Look to your right, and you're passing the site where Daniel Hoerster met his end in 1875. Hoerster was a cattle brands…
You're driving through Mason County, and just off the road here, you're passing the spot where the very first religious services were held for the German immigrants who settled this area around 1850. Imagine folks…
You're driving past the Old Spiller Cemetery, established in 1866. It's recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery as of the year 2000.
You're driving through Art, and just off the road is a small, fenced cemetery. This is the Kothmann Homesite and Cemetery. Heinrich Kothmann and his wife Ilse sailed all the way from Germany in 1845, eventually settling…
You're driving through Art, Mason County, and you're passing a building that's seen a lot of history. Originally built as the area's second Methodist church in 1875 by local pioneers, it replaced an earlier structure…
You're driving past the site of Art Methodist Church. It was organized way back in 1856 by the first minister to preach here, the Rev. C. A. Grote. The congregation built its first church in 1858, a second stone…
You're driving through Castell, the only permanent settlement established by the German Emigration Company on the vast Fisher-Miller land grant. While two other settlements nearby, Leiningen and Bettina, quickly faded –…
You're driving through Castell, and right here is the site of the old Castell School. While some say education started here as early as 1852, the Llano County commissioners officially designated this place as School…
You're driving past the Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery in Castell. The oldest grave here belongs to two-year-old Feodor Leifeste, dating back to 1871. The cemetery historically served the Castell, Mason, and…
You're driving past Castell. German Lutherans in this area were served by circuit-riding ministers as early as 1870. A congregation was organized in 1893, and a second church was built in 1907. The two congregations…
You're driving past the St. John Lutheran Church Cemetery in Llano. The church bought this land in 1930 after a member, Anna Charlotte Bauer, died. Her in-laws are also buried here, along with the grave of Christian…
On May 16, 1870, Apache raiders grabbed ten-year-old Herman Lehmann and his eight-year-old brother Willie from their German immigrant family's homestead in Mason County. Willie was released after five days. Herman was…
You're driving past the site of the Voca Waterwheel Mill, a true engine of early Texas industry. Built in 1876 by the Chadwick family, this mill was a marvel, diverting water from the river through a mile-long millrace.…
You're driving past Lathum Cemetery. The burial site of four pioneer area settlers, this cemetery was first used for the interment of George Lathum (1859-63), the son of John (Jack) and Caroline (Couch) Lathum, who died…
You're driving past the site of the Behrns West Texas Normal and Business College, opened in 1895 by educator Francis Marion Behrns. This impressive 3-story blue marble building, along with a frame dormitory, was built…
You're driving through the rolling hills near Brady, and right here, you're passing the site of Camp San Saba. From 1862 to 1864, this was home to Captain W. G. O'Brien's company of mounted volunteers. Their mission?…
You're driving through Peter's Prairie, a community named for the wild grasses that once grew here. In 1877, locals petitioned for a school, pooling nearly 150 dollars to build a picket schoolhouse for 59 students. By…
On May eighteenth, nineteen thirty seven, a Texas highway minute order gave the name Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway to a chain of roads. The route started at the New Mexico state line at Texline and ran to…
You're driving through Mason, where the First Christian Church was organized on February 14, 1875. Land was purchased in 1876, and this sandstone structure was completed in January 1879. A classic revival porch was…
You're driving through Mason, and it's time to talk architecture. Richard E. Grosse arrived here in 1882, all the way from Germany, where he'd trained as an architect. He started out as a stonemason, but soon opened a…
You're driving through Mason County, established in 1858. Its name comes from Fort Mason, a key military outpost. From 1851 to 1869, this fort was part of a vital chain of posts stretching from the Red River to the Rio…
You're driving past the Mason County Courthouse, a stunning Beaux Arts building that's seen more than a century of county history. It was built in 1909, a grand structure with a dome, clock tower, and those impressive…
You're cruising through Mason, and right here is the Seaquist Home, a testament to craftsmanship that started way back in 1887. Reverend Thomas Broad began this structure, but it was banker E.M. Reynolds who acquired it…
You're driving past the Old Mason Grammar School, built way back in 1887. Imagine this stone building, constructed from materials salvaged from Fort Mason – the very same post that saw Robert E. Lee's final Federal…
You're driving past Broad Street Bridge. In 1914, citizens of Mason petitioned the county commissioners court for a reliable means of crossing Comanche Creek, which separated north and south Mason. Initial construction…
Mason County is the only place in the world where you can find the official Texas state gem -- blue topaz -- just lying on the ground. Ranchers have been…
The Mason County Hoo Doo War of 1875 was one of the bloodiest feuds in Texas history pitting German settlers against Anglo cattlemen over stolen livestock.…
Mason's history is marked by conflict and resilience. The city was established around Fort Mason, built in 1851 as a defense against Native American tribes. The 'HooDoo Wars' of 1875 saw clashes between Confederate…
After the Mexican War and the annexation of Texas by the United States, the population of the state began to increase rapidly, but the increasing numbers were crowded into a limited area because Indians controlled the…
The Mason County War, commonly known as the Hoodoo War, was one of a number of feuds that developed over the stealing and killing of cattle. As early as June 25, 1874, Wilson Hey, presiding justice of Mason County,…
Wanda Harper Bush, the most decorated cowgirl in the history of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), was born to Alvin and Gussie (Martin) Harper on October 6, 1931, in Mason County, Texas. Wanda helped…
The Mason County War, known locally as the Hoo Doo War, was one of the bloodiest feuds in Texas history, and it started over stolen cattle. In 1875, German settlers around Mason had been losing livestock to rustlers for…
You're driving through Mason, where a woman named Anna Mebus, an immigrant from Germany, became a banking powerhouse. After her husband's death, she took over their store and started handling cash for local ranchers. In…
You're driving through Mason County, and right here is the area where John Bate Berry spent his final years. Berry was a man who saw a lot of Texas history unfold. He fought against the Comanches at the Battle of Plum…
You're driving through Mason County, and right here, Comanche Creek flows past. This spot earned its name back in the 1850s. Comanche Indians were known to stage ambushes for the San Antonio to El Paso stage line right…
Right here in Mason, Texas, you're driving through the heart of the Mason County War. In the 1870s, cattle rustling ran rampant. Daniel Hoerster, a cattleman and merchant who built one of Mason's first stone buildings,…
You're driving through Mason, Texas, the hometown of Johnie Louise Latham, an actress who got her big break in a most unusual way. In 1963, she was a rising star, recommended for a role in Alfred Hitchcock's film…
You're driving past the site of the old Mason House Hotel and Stage Station, built back in 1869. It served travelers on the San Antonio to El Paso Road, offering them a place to rest and eat. But in 1900, a tragic fire…
Mason's courthouse square looks like it fell out of a postcard from 1890 and nobody bothered to change it. The sandstone courthouse anchors a ring of restored…
Mason, the county seat of Mason County, is on Comanche Creek at the junction of Interstate Highway 87/State Highway 29 and Ranch roads 1871 and 386, in the central part of the county. It grew up around Fort Mason ,…
You're driving through Mason County, a land shaped by the Llano River and the Hill Country's rugged beauty. This area was once a summer hunting ground for Lipan Apaches, later claimed by Comanches. Spanish land grants…
You're driving through Mason, and you might catch a glimpse of the Lindsay House. Tom Lindsay, a farmer and cattle raiser, settled here in the 1860s. Around 1899, he and his wife, Fredericka, moved into town and built…
You're driving past the Rudolph and Therese Runge House in Mason. Built in the late 1800s by stonemason Thomas Broad, this home showcases vernacular Texas architecture. It was first owned by E.J. and Louise Broad, but…
You're driving through Mason County, and right here is where John Wilburn White built his legacy. Born in Gonzales County in 1854, White started his career in a mercantile store before partnering with his uncle, George…
The peaceful town square you see today was once the epicenter of a brutal local conflict called the Mason County War. From 1875 to 1877, this area descended into chaos. It began as a dispute over cattle rustling, but it…
The landscape around Mason is more than just pretty scenery; it's the heart of one of America's most beloved stories. This is the country that made Fred Gipson. He was born on a farm near Mason in February of 1908 and…
If you look at Mason's magnificent courthouse, you're seeing a symbol of incredible resilience. On February 4, 2021, an arsonist set fire to the historic 1909 building, gutting it completely and leaving only the…
The Mason County Courthouse you see today is modern engineering wrapped in old stone. After the arson fire of February 4, 2021, all that survived of the 112-year-old building were its Fredericksburg granite walls,…
You're driving through San Saba County, near where a pivotal moment in Texas frontier history unfolded. Look around, because right here, on March 1st and 2nd of 1847, a lasting peace was forged. Twenty Comanche chiefs…
Mason was settled by German immigrants in the 1840s who brought their language their Lutheran churches and their absolute refusal to own slaves. They were so…
During Prohibition the limestone caves and deep ravines around Mason became one of the biggest moonshine operations in Texas. German settlers who had been…
The Llano Uplift is a hundred-mile circle of Precambrian basement rock pushed up through the younger Hill Country limestone. The pink granite at Enchanted Rock…
You're driving past Fort Mason and Camp Llano, C.S.A.. Fort Mason, located 5 blocks south, was headquarters for the first regiment Texas Mounted Rifles 1861-62. These Confederate troops occupied the line of old U. S.…
Mason County has quietly become a lavender-growing region with fields of purple stretching across the limestone hills every June. The rocky soil and brutal…
The German and Czech settlers around Mason built tiny wooden churches in the 1800s then painted the interiors to look like European cathedrals. Plain clapboard…
You're driving through Mason, and right here is a piece of its economic heart. Back in August 1890, brothers-in-law William Hofmann and Ernest H. Bogusch opened Hofmann and Company. It wasn't just a place to buy…
You're driving past Taylor-Carter House. The first two sandstone rock rooms of the house probably were built for Thomas Lee, who owned the property from 1870 to 1875. The two-story cut sandstone portion was built in…
You're driving past Mason National Bank. Throughout the 1890s, private banking institutions sporadically served Mason residents. In December 1903, several pioneer settlers met to form a new bank. It received its…
You're driving past the Spring Street Church in Mason. Constructed in 1892, it originally served a German Methodist Episcopal congregation. It later housed the Church of the Nazarene and Spring Street Gospel Church,…
You're driving past Methodism in Mason County. When Mason County organized in 1858, a number of Methodists lived in this area, served by English and German speaking circuit preachers. In the town of Mason, four…
You're driving past the site of Fort Mason, a stone outpost built to protect the Texas frontier from Native American raids. This fort was also a crucial stop for a man who would become one of history's most famous…
You're driving through Mason County, Texas, where history was made on February 5th, 1847. Imagine this: a German expedition, led by John O. Meusebach, is exploring this very land. Suddenly, seven or eight Penateka…
You're driving past the Mason County Jail, a solid example of a late 19th-century county lock-up. Built in 1894, it used local brown sandstone from the nearby hills. Notice the architecture – it's a modified Romanesque…
You're driving past the Holmes & Bierschwale Law and Land Office in Mason. Attorney Henry Holmes built this sandstone building around 1883 for his office. Soon after, he partnered with Charles Bierschwale, a land…
You're driving past St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mason. German pioneers settled this area in the 1850s, and by 1853, missionaries were holding services in their homes. The church was officially organized with 13 members…
Robert E. Lee commanded Fort Mason in 1861 just weeks before resigning his U.S. Army commission to join the Confederacy. He wrote agonized letters from this…
This bridge isn't just a crossing; it's a survivor, having weathered a disastrous 41.5-foot flood in 1935 that completely reshaped the Llano River. On June 14, 1935, a massive flood roared down the Llano River, cresting…
A life-size 1999 bronze of Old Yeller and the boy Travis Coates stands in front of the Mason County library honoring Mason native Fred Gipson who wrote the…
You're driving past St. Joseph's Catholic Church. This congregation was organized in February 1873, though Catholic worship services had been held in area homes by visiting clergy for several years. Primary members of…
You're driving through Mason, Texas, a town with a history of sheriffs facing down danger. The first elected sheriff here, Thomas S. Milligan, arrived from Kentucky in 1855. He was a rancher and stage station operator,…
You're driving through Mason County, and just off the road lies Crosby Cemetery. This isn't just any graveyard; it's the first burial ground for the early citizens of Mason and Koocksville, dating back to the 1850s. The…
You're driving through Mason County, the heart of the infamous Hoodoo War. This area was torn apart by cattle rustling and violent feuds in the 1870s. The marker here is named for John Whorlie, a deputy sheriff. On May…
You're driving through Mason, Texas, the site of Fort Mason. Established by the U.S. Army in 1851, this frontier post was named for Lieutenant George T. Mason, who died in action near Brownsville. Imagine, future Civil…
Every summer evening six million Mexican free-tailed bats pour out of a cave on the James River near Mason in a tornado-shaped column visible from miles away.…
You're driving past the Baby Head Cemetery, a name that sounds like a creepy nursery rhyme, but it comes from a dark legend. Local stories say the name Babyhead originated in the 1850s, when a child's remains were left…
Mason High School (Mason, TX): Most recent: 44-6 over New Deal · 2018 2A Division 1 final.
You are looking at llanite, one of Texas's most recognizable rocks. The blue-gray spots are quartz crystals, and the rusty pink crystals are feldspar. This was once molten rock forced up through a crack in much older…
You're driving through Mason County, heading past the site of what was once Koocksville. It started with pioneers in the 1850s, and the oldest grave here dates back to 1856. But the town really took shape in 1867 when a…
Bend, on Ranch Road 580 at a horseshoe-shaped bend in the Colorado River fourteen miles southeast of San Saba in southeastern San Saba and western Lampasas counties, developed in the nineteenth century as a supply and…
You're driving through Cherokee, in San Saba County, and right here is the site of a former college that started it all. It was Francis Marion Behrns who first organized a school near Tow in 1889. By 1894, he'd moved it…
Chappel, previously known as Harrell's Chappel, is at the intersection of Farm roads 1031 and 501, near Cherokee Creek and five miles southwest of Bend in southeastern San Saba County. On October 7, 1854, David and…
Cherokee is on State Highway 16 some fifteen miles south of San Saba in southern San Saba County. The settlement of upper Cherokee Creek, from which the community took its name, dates to the early 1850s, when P. P.…
Hall, also known as Hall Valley, is on Farm Road 2997 six miles west of Richland Springs in western San Saba County. It was founded in 1903, when settlers began purchasing land from the Hall and Sellman ranches. The…
Harkeyville is north of U.S. Highway 190 two miles west of San Saba in central San Saba County. It was founded by Levi, Billy, Israel, and Riley Harkey, who settled beside Wallace Creek in 1856 with their parents,…
Holt is south of Ranch Road 502 and four miles northwest of Skeeterville in northwestern San Saba County. The area was probably first settled in the late 1880s by the Leonard Asbury Hardman family. To acquire neighbors,…
Locker is on Ranch Road 500 seventeen miles northwest of San Saba in northwestern San Saba County. Settlement began in the vicinity in the 1870s. The rural school community was known first as Knob and sometime later as…
You're driving past the Huling Cottage, a beautiful limestone home built between 1860 and 1872. Its New England colonial style stands out. But the real story here is Mrs. Elizabeth Bullock Smith Huling. As a young…
You're driving past the former home of Mrs. W. N. Huling here in Lampasas. Now, Mrs. Huling wasn't just any resident; she was the daughter of a Lampasas banker. But her real claim to fame? She was also the cousin of…
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