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Sabinal, Texas

Everything Sabinal is known for

3 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

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

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Music in Sabinal

Songs About Sabinal

if you were mine
miranda labert & leon bridges
16%
all my ex's live in texas
george strait
10%
Heroes
Bri Bagwell
6%
"ol' Johnny Rodriguez"

Artists From Sabinal

J
Johnny Rodriguez
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Sabinal

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

US Route 90 9 songs Frio River 13 songs Nueces River 3 songs Interstate 35 45 songs

History of Sabinal

The Honey Capital of the World RoadyGoat

You might not guess it driving through, but this brush country was one of the great honey districts of the world. The title itself belongs to Uvalde, twenty miles down the road, honored as the Honey Capital of the World back at the 1905 World's Fair — but the bees never respected a city limit, and Sabinal sits squarely in the same nectar belt. The secret is in the brush. The native guajillo and catsclaw that thrive in this thin, rocky soil throw out blossoms in March and early April with extraordinarily rich nectar. Beekeepers worked thousands of hives through the country around Sabinal and Uvalde, and the honey they pulled off was prized for its exceptionally light color and its delicate flavor. The railroad hauled carloads of it out of here and shipped it across the nation. It was a perfect marriage of local ecology and human patience, turning a thorny, half-worthless bush into liquid gold.

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The Science of Sabinal Honey RoadyGoat

The reason this brush country became famous for honey isn't just history — it's botany. The landscape around you is a transition zone, with soils that support a very particular community of native plants, and the star of that community is the guajillo bush, Acacia berlandieri, an acacia native to southwest Texas and northern Mexico. In March and early April it throws out a profusion of small, pale, fragrant blossoms, and the bees go straight for them. What they make from that nectar is a very light, almost water-white honey with a mild, delicate flavor, and people who know it will tell you they catch a hint of lavender. It also resists crystallizing, which made it commercially valuable and easy to ship. Catsclaw and huisache add to the nectar flow, but guajillo is the one that matters. This is why Uvalde, just down the road, was crowned the honey capital of the world, and why Sabinal shipped the very same gold. A specific plant, in a specific climate, on specific soil — geography you can taste.

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The Jefferson Davis Highway Plan RoadyGoat

1925

Several Texas highways carry an old honorary name, the Jefferson Davis Highway. It grew out of a plan conceived in nineteen thirteen and promoted by the United Daughters of the Confederacy: a coast to coast road named for the former president of the Confederate States. In April nineteen twenty five, the Texas State Highway Commission designated the highway from Orange to El Paso as a link in that transcontinental route. That July, Miss Decca Lamar West of Waco, an influential member of the group, wrote to the head of the federal Bureau of Public Roads. Abraham Lincoln already had a highway, from New York City to San Francisco. Her letter argued that two transcontinental highways should be named for the two great leaders of the critical period of American history. The group set markers along the route. Harris County lists one in Houston, near where Old Katy Road and Hempstead Highway meet, reading Jefferson Davis Highway Number Six. In nineteen twenty seven, a boulder with a plaque went up in Brownsville. By twenty twenty, markers had been removed in Elgin, San Antonio and San Marcos, and Brownsville had removed its boulder after a contentious debate. Others still stood along U S Ninety and Two Ninety, Interstate Thirty Five, and Highways Fifty Nine and Seventy Seven.

RoadyGoat → · 4.3 mi away

John M. Davenport

1827

(February 8, 1827 - October 28, 1859) Stock-raiser and captain of a company of volunteer Indian fighters. Killed near here by 30 Comanches. Inquest for him was first in area for Indian victim. Settlers and soldiers from Fort Inge trailed the band 200 miles. After battle, found Davenport's gun on one of the Indians. (1969)

Historical Marker →

Sabinal, TX

1854

Sabinal, originally known as Hammer's Station, is on U.S. Highway 90 and the Southern Pacific Railroad, twenty miles northeast of Uvalde in east central Uvalde County. The first settler at the site was Thomas B. Hammer, who established a stage stop there on the east bank of the Sabinal River in 1854. Other early settlers were Louis Peter, Peter Rheiner (future father-in-law of Vice President John Nance Garner ), John Kenedy, and George Johnson. A post office was opened at the stage stop on October 19, 1854, with Hammer as postmaster. A soldier by the name of Austerman, who arrived at Hammer's Station in the late 1850s en route from Del Rio to Castroville, recalled a community hungry for news from the outside world. He also remembered seeing long trains of freight wagons on the road by Hammer's Station carrying supplies to settlers and soldiers on the far western frontier. In 1856 the Second United States Cavalry established Camp Sabinal on the riverbank opposite Hammer's Station, to protect people and commerce on the road from San Antonio to El Paso and to protect the settlers from hostile Indians and outlaws. Nevertheless, Thomas Hammer was killed by bandits in 1857. By the time of the Civil War Sabinal was on the mail route and wagon trail from San Antonio to Mexico. In 1874 pioneer merchant Louis M. Peters built a successful general store. Soon after the railroad arrived in Sabinal in 1881, Peters moved the store to a site east of the river that eventually became part of the center of town. With the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1881 the rest of the community was moved to its present site. Angora goats imported from Turkey were brought into the Sabinal area in 1881. By 1884 Sabinal had an estimated population of 150, a public school, two churches, and a hotel; local ranchers were shipping wool, livestock, and hides, and Peters was serving as postmaster. By 1893 two hotels, the Mitchell House and the Sabinal Hotel, were serving a growing number of visitors to the city. Corn, cotton, oats, and sugarcane were cultivated on farms around the community, many of which utilized the "aer-motor water well windmill" available at John T. Wilson's lumberyard to irrigate their crops. Uvalde County school records in 1900 showed 156 students in three schools in Sabinal. In 1906 Sabinal had a population of 500 and was surrounded by 1,500 acres of cultivated land. The town was incorporated that year, and W. D. Heard served as mayor soon thereafter. In the same year the Sabinal Telephone Company was granted a franchise, the city water and fire departments were organized, and the cotton gins operating in the area reached the substantial number of six. Sabinal Christian College was founded in 1907 by members of the Church of Christ. By 1911 Sabinal was a commercial and agricultural center; an estimated 35,000 acres was under cultivation in the area, and as many as five general stores supplied an estimated population of 2,500. The cotton industry was burgeoning, and local stock raisers were producing thousands of hogs, cattle, sheep, and goats. In 1914 Sabinal had a population of 2,000, who supported Baptist, Catholic, Christian, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches, a high school and a grade school, an ice plant, two banks, three cotton gins, and a weekly newspaper called the Sentinel , started by publisher Harold Baldwin in 1890. Poor patronage, inadequate financial backing, and crop failures led to the closing of Sabinal Christian College on May 15, 1917. A new high school was constructed near the center of town in 1925, when Sabinal had an estimated population of 1,458. In 1935 ranchers in the Sabinal area principally raised cattle, sheep, and goats; they produced thousands of pounds of wool and mohair annually. Area farmers raised oats, corn, sorghum grains, and cotton. The town population that year was approximately 1,600. A school for Hispanics had recently been completed. Sometime in the 1940s the Trio Independent School Dis

Tsha Handbook →

Camp Sabinal

1856

Established July 12, 1856 by Capt. Albert G. Brackett, Second U. S. Cavalry as a protection to the San Antonio - El Paso Road and frontier settlers. Occupied by Federal troops until November 1856, later served as a Ranger camp.

Historical Marker →

Sabinal Christian College

1907

Sabinal Christian College was founded in 1907 on eight acres one mile east of Sabinal in Uvalde County by members of the Church of Christ, aided by citizens of Sabinal and the surrounding territory. J. F. Dunn, D. F. Nichols, and Monroe Fenley arranged for S. T. Hutchinson, a Sabinal contractor, to begin construction of the college. Hutchinson used red bricks from Laredo and lumber from two Sabinal lumberyards to construct the main college building, a two-story structure consisting of six classrooms and a 300-seat auditorium. The purpose of the founders was to provide Bible teaching and religious training in addition to the usual literary curriculum. Courses in Bible, business administration, music, and speech, as well as usual academic studies, were taught at primary, intermediate, high school, and academy levels. The college was supported by tuition fees and donations. Students were required to pay $3.50 a week for board; tuition costs ranged from fifty cents a week for primary schooling to a dollar a week for college courses. The plant consisted of an administration building, a dining hall, a girls' dormitory, two boys' dormitories, and a music hall. The first session opened on September 10, 1907; G. H. P. Showalter was president, and 139 pupils were enrolled. A smallpox epidemic was responsible for a reduced first-year session. The second session opened on September 1, 1908, with W. A. Schultz as president; the school had a faculty of six and an enrollment of 143. In the face of growing financial difficulties at the college, President Schultz retired. In May 1909 Isaac E. Tackett, formerly connected with Southwestern Christian College at Denton, became president. He served four years, and during his administration the college reached a peak enrollment of 200 and had a faculty of nine. While Tackett was there Sabinal College published a yearbook called The Mirage . J. Paul Slayden became president in May 1913 and remained two terms. J. O. Garrett, who succeeded to the presidency in 1915, also supervised the school for two sessions. The college received inadequate financial backing because of World War I , the depressed market for cotton, and crop failures resulting from drought; it was closed on May 15, 1917.

Tsha Handbook →

Sabinal

1700

Named by Spanish for Rio Sabina and Cypress trees along river. Town founded in 1854 by Thomas B. Hammer who operated a stage shop and was first postmaster. Despite Indian depredations, town thrived as settlers built homes, and a railroad reached here in 1881. In 1906, town was incorporated. Telephone service started. City water works and volunteer fire department organized. In 1907, Sabinal Christian College was founded. Closed in 1917. Cotton industry was foremost in early 1900's. Today, farming and ranching flourishing in community. (1967)

Historical Marker →

Knippa, TX

1880

Knippa, originally known as Chatfield, is on the Southern Pacific Railroad, U.S. Highway 90, and the Frio River, between Sabinal and Uvalde in southeastern Uvalde County. It was named for founder George Knippa, who moved his family to the site in the 1880s. Knippa had been a frequent visitor to the semiarid Frio River area of Uvalde County in the 1870s and early 1880s, a period of abundant rainfall in the area, and witnessed an open country of luxuriant grazing land traversed by spring-fed rivers. He moved his family from Fayette County to the railroad siding of Chatfield soon after the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway had extended its railroad line west from San Antonio to Uvalde. The period of abundant rainfall in the Frio River region ended with the drought of the early 1890s, dashing the hopes of many of the farming families who had followed Knippa to the area. Around 1900 the rains returned, and a new wave of settlers, mostly Germans, moved to Knippa. A post office was opened in 1898. On February 16, 1898, the Uvalde County Commissioners Court established School District No. 12 at Knippa and authorized a school building. In 1900 fourteen students attended the one-teacher school. A two-room school was built in 1907. A mine for traprock, an igneous rock used in road construction, was opened west of Knippa around 1905 and attracted Mexican laborers to the area. The traprock quarried at Knippa was used to ballast the Southern Pacific Railroad. Because the quarry was originally opened up as a gold mine, it was said that all of the railroad ballast contained a small amount of gold. Most of the original settlers in the community were Lutherans. A Lutheran church was built on land donated by George Knippa in 1910. Church services, directed by Rev. Gottlieb Langer, were conducted in German. At the beginning of World War I , however, the Uvalde Council of Defense prohibited the use of German. The community responded by taking the council to court, and the prohibition was eventually rescinded by the United States Supreme Court. By 1914 Knippa had a population of fifty, telephone connections, two cotton gins, two general stores, and two lumber companies. The St. Joseph's Church, a Catholic mission, was constructed in 1913 through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Knippa. In 1915 a Baptist church was built in the community, with Reverend Rubottom as minister. A two-room school building was built in 1907. The school was moved to a brick structure in 1924 and was accredited in 1926. A small one-room school, constructed in 1927, served as a catechetical center and was the site of many Mexican-American social events. In 1929 Knippa had a estimated population of 400 and twelve businesses; by 1933 the population had dropped to an estimated 150. By the end of World War II and for the four succeeding decades the population was 325. In 1944 the Methodist, Baptist, and Church of Christ congregations were holding regular services at Knippa; the Church of Christ constructed a new building in 1948. Rev. Raymond Wolf, pastor of the Knippa Lutheran Church between 1957 and 1967, was selected Rural Minister of the Year for Texas in 1964. In 1990 St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, and the Church of Christ were active in Knippa. The population was 360, and the town had nine businesses. In 2000 the town had 739 inhabitants and nineteen businesses.

Tsha Handbook → · 9.9 mi away

Everything Near Sabinal

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

  • First Baptist Church, Sabinal · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Sabinal. It began in 1899 with eight charter members and the Rev. Winter Green. The congregation worshipped monthly, meeting in various buildings before…

  • Sabinal, TX · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Sabinal, originally known as Hammer's Station, is on U.S. Highway 90 and the Southern Pacific Railroad, twenty miles northeast of Uvalde in east central Uvalde County. The first settler at the site was Thomas B. Hammer,…

  • Sabinal Christian College · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Sabinal Christian College was founded in 1907 on eight acres one mile east of Sabinal in Uvalde County by members of the Church of Christ, aided by citizens of Sabinal and the surrounding territory. J. F. Dunn, D. F.…

  • Sabinal Methodist Church · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabinal, where the Methodist Church began in 1876 as part of the Sabinal circuit. Services were held in other buildings until their own structure was finished in 1907. The church continued to grow…

  • John M. Davenport · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    (February 8, 1827 - October 28, 1859) Stock-raiser and captain of a company of volunteer Indian fighters. Killed near here by 30 Comanches. Inquest for him was first in area for Indian victim. Settlers and soldiers from…

  • Sabinal · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    Named by Spanish for Rio Sabina and Cypress trees along river. Town founded in 1854 by Thomas B. Hammer who operated a stage shop and was first postmaster. Despite Indian depredations, town thrived as settlers built…

  • The Honey Capital of the World · 0.7 mi

    You might not guess it driving through, but this brush country was one of the great honey districts of the world. The title itself belongs to Uvalde, twenty miles down the road, honored as the Honey Capital of the World…

  • The Science of Sabinal Honey · 0.7 mi

    The reason this brush country became famous for honey isn't just history — it's botany. The landscape around you is a transition zone, with soils that support a very particular community of native plants, and the star…

  • Camp Sabinal · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    Established July 12, 1856 by Capt. Albert G. Brackett, Second U. S. Cavalry as a protection to the San Antonio - El Paso Road and frontier settlers. Occupied by Federal troops until November 1856, later served as a…

  • The Jefferson Davis Highway Plan · 4.3 mi

    Several Texas highways carry an old honorary name, the Jefferson Davis Highway. It grew out of a plan conceived in nineteen thirteen and promoted by the United Daughters of the Confederacy: a coast to coast road named…

  • Knippa, TX · 9.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Knippa, originally known as Chatfield, is on the Southern Pacific Railroad, U.S. Highway 90, and the Frio River, between Sabinal and Uvalde in southeastern Uvalde County. It was named for founder George Knippa, who…

  • Knippa · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Knippa, a town that owes its start to the railroad. The Texas & New Orleans Railroad arrived in 1882, and by 1887, freighter George Knippa had settled here, encouraging friends to join him. The…

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  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Knippa (Knippa) · 10.4 mi

    Knippa (Knippa, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Joaquin G (0.509 avg).

  • Emmanuel Lutheran Church · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, a testament to faith and cultural resilience. Organized in 1904 by nine charter members, this congregation initially met in homes, served by traveling pastors.…

  • Knippa Trap Rock Plant · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Knippa, and right here, you're passing the site of one of Texas's biggest industrial operations: the Knippa Trap Rock Plant. It all started around 1904 when Pete Walcott came looking for gold, but…

  • D'Hanis · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through D'Hanis, a town with a story of relocation. Back in 1847, Henri Castro founded the original D'Hanis about a mile and a half east of here, named for a company official. Alsatian immigrants faced…

  • D'Hanis, TX · 11.4 mi

    D'Hanis has a rich ethnic heritage, primarily shaped by the German emigrants who first settled the area. The town was founded by Count von D'Hanis and was settled by 29 Alsatian families from present-day France and…

  • D'Hanis, TX · 11.4 mi

    D'Hanis was founded by Count von D'Hanis around 1845, and it was one of several towns established by Henri Castro. The town was initially settled by 29 Alsatian families from present-day France and Germany, who brought…

  • Site of Fort Lincoln · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Lincoln, established by the U.S. Army in July of 1849. It was part of a chain of forts built to protect the Texas frontier. The fort was named for Captain George Lincoln, who died…

  • J. M. Koch's Hotel · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through D'Hanis, and right here stood J. M. Koch's Hotel. The Kochs opened their hotel in 1898, but they built this very structure in 1906. Imagine, it was reportedly built by Chinese railroad laborers…

  • Rothe-Rowe Ranch House · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Rothe-Rowe Ranch House, built in 1882 by Louis Rothe. This native stone home sits on land that once bordered Fort Lincoln, a U.S. Army post from 1849 to 1853, and the busy Woll Road. Over the…

  • D'hanis, TX · 12.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through D'Hanis, a community with a story that starts on the Texas frontier. Founded in the spring of 1847 by twenty-nine Alsatian families, it was the third settlement established by Henri Castro. These…

  • Fort Lincoln · 12.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, near D'Hanis, on the west bank of Seco Creek. Right here, in 1849, stood Fort Lincoln. It was part of the first federal frontier defense line in Texas, built to protect settlers and…

  • D'Hanis, Town of · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old D'Hanis, a town that vanished when the railroad decided to bypass it. Established in 1847 by 29 families, it was part of Henri Castro's ambitious colonization plan. The town was named…

  • Site of Saint Dominic Catholic Church and Cemetery · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through D'Hanis, a town founded by Alsatian immigrants in 1847. Right here, you're passing the site of Saint Dominic Catholic Church and its original cemetery. The first church, built of limestone, went…

  • In This Vicinity June 24, 1841, John Coffee Hays · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, near Utopia. On June 24, 1841, a pivotal moment happened right around here. Captain John Coffee Hays, a legendary Texas Ranger, led a company of just 12 men. They teamed up…

  • Joe A. Kelley Home · 15.6 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…

  • Old Ingram · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Ingram, a town that thrived for fifty years before a new highway changed its fate. Settlers arrived here even before the Civil War, but the town itself really began in 1879. That's…

  • The Biggest Navigation School in the World · 17.8 mi

    The airport on the west edge of Hondo was once the largest Army Air Forces navigation school anywhere on Earth. Authorized in March 1942, just months after Pearl Harbor, the base was thrown up at breakneck speed: the…

  • Teaching Pilots to Steer by the Stars · 17.8 mi

    There was a reason the Army parked its biggest navigation school out here in the dry South Texas brush: the sky. Celestial navigation needed clear, cloudless nights, and Hondo delivered them, so cadets could practice…

  • Garner Army Air Field · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Garner Army Air Field, established in July 1941 and named for former Vice President John Nance Garner. This field trained hundreds of cadets, including those from Latin America and…

  • Kincaid Site · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, and right here, near the Sabinal River, is a place that rewrites Texas history. Imagine this: around 11,000 years ago, people we call the Clovis culture were here. They built a…

  • Fort Inge · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, and right here, a mile south of Uvalde, you're passing the site of Fort Inge. Established in 1849, this wasn't just any outpost; it was part of the first federal line of forts…

  • Garner State Park · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, heading north on Highway 83, and you're passing Garner State Park. This beautiful spot on the Frio River owes its existence to a bit of family drama. In the early 1930s, former Vice…

  • McFatter, Joe Harry · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, not far from Montell, where Joe Harry McFatter grew up ranching. He traded his saddle for a bomber's seat in World War II, flying a B-25 Mitchell over Italy. Facing intense…

  • Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria del Cañón Mission · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, not far from Montell, where you're passing the site of a Spanish mission that had a very unusual purpose. In 1762, Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria del Cañón Mission was founded not…

  • Blewett, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Blewett, a mining community originally known as Carbonville, is on Farm Road 1022 and Turkey Creek five miles southeast of Cline in far southwestern Uvalde County. Outcroppings of limestone rock asphalt cover 50,000 to…

  • Leona Ditch, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Leona Ditch, also known as the Ditch and Leona Chapel, was six miles southeast of Uvalde in far south central Uvalde County. The community was named for the irrigation ditch system used by the farming community. Leona…

  • Reagan Wells, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Reagan Wells, a small rural community, is located on Farm Road 1051 and the Dry Frio River twenty-five miles north of Uvalde in north central Uvalde County. The area was originally settled by the families of Lawrence…

  • Uvalde County · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, a land with a history as rugged as its canyons. Back in 1790, Spanish governor Juan de Ugalde led a decisive victory over the Apaches right here, near the site of modern Utopia. The…

  • Uvalde County Limestone Rock Asphalt · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through a unique stretch of Texas history, right here in Uvalde County. This land holds the state's only significant deposit of limestone rock asphalt – a natural paving material. Back in the late 1800s,…

  • Cline, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Cline is on U.S. Highway 90 and the Southern Pacific Railroad eighteen miles west of Uvalde in southwestern Uvalde County. The site was in Dawson County between 1858 and 1866. The community was first settled by Celeste…

  • Concan, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Concan (Con Can) is on the Frio River and State Highway 127 in north central Uvalde County. According to local lore, the town was named after "coon can," a Mexican card game. Though the site may have been settled as…

  • Dabney, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Dabney, also known as Whitesmine, was a mining community at the southern end of Farm Road 1022, six miles south of Cline in far southwestern Uvalde County. An asphalt-mining operation was opened by the Lathe Carbon…

  • Montell, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Montell is on State Highway 55 thirty miles northwest of Uvalde in northwestern Uvalde County. It is in the Nueces River canyon just north of the river's confluence with Montell Creek. The site was that of the Spanish…

  • Patterson Settlement, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Patterson Settlement was on the Sabinal River six miles south of Sabinal in southeastern Uvalde County. It was founded by and named for G. W. Patterson, Sr., who brought his family homesteading from Alabama to Texas in…

  • La Jita Site · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, not far from the Sabinal River. Right here is the La Jita Site, a place where people lived and worked for thousands of years. Imagine generations of hunters and gatherers returning…

  • Leona River · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving along the Leona River, a waterway that's seen thousands of years of history. Spanish explorer Alonso de León might have seen it as early as 1689. By 1875, an irrigation ditch was built to water the farms…

  • Farris, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Farris, on what is now Ranch Road 2690 thirteen miles north of Uvalde, was named for Charles Jefferson Farris, who moved to the area with his brother and a nephew in 1891. Farris subsequently bought the other two men…

  • Heard, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Heard is on Farm Road 1051 and the Dry Frio River, two miles north of Reagan Wells in north central Uvalde County. It was probably named after Augustin Heard, an early settler in the area. The community established a…

  • Laguna, TX · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Laguna, formerly known as Good Luck and Norwood, was at the intersection of Farm Road 334 and State Highway 55, a mile west of the Nueces River and sixteen miles northwest of Uvalde in west central Uvalde County. The…

  • Uvalde County, TX · 18.4 mi

    On March 29, 2017, 13 senior citizens from the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels were killed in a collision between a pickup truck and a church minivan on U.S. Highway 83 near Garner State Park in Uvalde County. The…

  • Nichols Cemetery · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Nichols Cemetery near Kerrville. This peaceful resting place began with a man named Rowland Nichols, who settled here and served as a county commissioner. He died violently in 1859, killed by Native…

  • Hondo Anvil Herald · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, and right here in Hondo, you're passing the birthplace of a newspaper born from a county seat battle! Back in 1886, Castroville and Hondo City were duking it out to be the county…

  • Hondo Army Airfield · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hondo, Texas, right past where the Hondo Army Airfield used to be. Back in early 1942, this town rallied like never before. Citizens secured guarantees for 400 housing units in less than two days…

  • Mission Valley, TX (Medina County) · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, not far from Hondo. Right here, in what's now Mission Valley, was once a thriving Black settlement. Many of the first residents arrived as slaves in the 1850s, but after…

  • Ditch · 18.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a community known as 'Ditch,' established back in 1874 by a group of ambitious farmers. They formed the Leona Irrigation and Agricultural Association, tapping into the local waterway to…

  • Davis, Fletcher · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hondo, Texas, a town that owes a lot to Fletcher Davis. He wasn't a native Texan, arriving here in 1895 with fragile health. But by 1900, this former teacher, with no prior newspaper experience,…

  • Harper, George Weldon · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, and right here along Hondo Creek, George Weldon Harper built his life. Arriving in 1856, he quickly became a major landowner, raising cotton and corn with a large enslaved…

  • Hondo, TX · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Hondo, the county seat of Medina County. This town owes its existence to the railroad, which laid tracks through here in 1881. The very first sale of land from the Hondo City plat happened on October…

  • Arroyo Hondo, Battle of · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a forgotten battle from the 1840s. In 1842, Mexico launched three invasions into Texas, trying to reclaim land lost in the Revolution. After General Woll's forces captured San Antonio,…

  • Southern Pacific Depot of Hondo · 19.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Southern Pacific Depot in Hondo. The first train chugged into this area back in 1881, connecting Hondo City to the growing Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, which was…

  • Mission Valley · 19.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hondo, Texas, where a community called Mission Valley sprang to life after Emancipation. In 1865, freed slaves stayed on the land, and by 1869, they'd built a church and school. Then, in 1876, a man…

  • Captain William Ware · 19.4 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 · 19.4 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…

  • Silver Mine Pass · 19.7 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…

  • Old Waresville · 19.7 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…

  • The Night They Robbed Both Banks at Once · 19.8 mi

    Downtown Hondo earned a small footnote in outlaw history during the Roaring Twenties. The Newton Boys, four brothers out of the Uvalde country who became the most successful bank-and-train robbers in American history,…

  • Hondo, TX · 19.8 mi

    Hondo’s got a certain charm, a feeling you get driving in under those live oaks, knowing you’re somewhere special. It’s more than just the elevation giving you a good view of the plains stretching out around us. It’s…

  • This Is God's Country, Please Don't Drive Through It Like Hell · 19.8 mi

    If you slow down rolling into town, the sign on the city limits is doing exactly its job. In 1930 the Hondo Lions Club put up a roadside sign that read, This is God's Country, Don't Drive Thru It Like Hell, a blunt plea…

  • Named Deep, Built by a Railroad · 19.8 mi

    The name on the water tower is older than the town under it. Back in 1689 the Spanish explorer Alonso De Leon crossed this country on his way to East Texas and tagged the streams as he went, naming the Medina River and…

  • The Town That Stole the County Seat · 19.8 mi

    The limestone courthouse anchoring downtown is the prize from an old county feud. For decades the seat of Medina County sat at Castroville, the little Alsatian town near the eastern edge of the county. But when the…

  • The German Cottage Behind a Hometown Name · 19.8 mi

    One of the oldest buildings in the Hondo area belongs to a family whose name still turns up around town. Henry Schuehle came over from Germany, bought land near here, and built a one-and-a-half-story cottage out of…

  • Utopia, TX · 19.8 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…

  • Saltpetre Mine, C.S.A. · 19.8 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…

  • El Charro on the Old Highway · 19.8 mi

    If you want a plate of enchiladas in the town that begged you not to drive through like hell, El Charro is the local institution that fits the bill. It sits right on 19th Street, which is U.S. Highway 90 running…

  • Leinweber Building · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, and right here is the Leinweber Building, built in 1907 for Ernest Roland Leinweber, a big-time Hondo businessman. This three-story commercial building was constructed by Gus Birkner, a…

  • Medina County Courthouse · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, and right here is the Medina County Courthouse. It wasn't always here, though. Back in 1892, Hondo City won an election and became the new county seat, taking over from Castroville.…

  • Hondo · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hondo, a town with a name that echoes Spanish explorers. They called this place 'El Arroyo Hondo,' the deep creek. Permanent settlers arrived in the 1840s, but it was the railroad that truly put…

  • USS Uvalde · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past USS Uvalde. Constructed and commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1944, the "USS Uvalde" was a C-2 type cargo ship named to honor former United States Vice-President John Nance Garner and the county of…

  • Fohn-Bless Store · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Fohn-Bless Store, a building that served Hondo for nearly a century. It started life around 1878 in D'Hanis as a store and home built by Prussian immigrant John Fohn. But this wasn't…

  • Berger House · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Berger House in Hondo, a solid reminder of early Texas craftsmanship. Look for its brick construction, featuring inner walls made of solid brick too – that's some serious building for its time.…

  • Hondo Methodist Church · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, and right here is the Hondo Methodist Church. Imagine early Methodist settlers, way back in 1857, gathering under a big old live oak tree by the creek to worship. They officially organized…

  • St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Hondo. Built in 1912 from local Seco brick, this was the second church building for the town's Catholic community. San Antonio architect Fred Bowen Gaenslen…

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