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Features
Perhaps more than any other Hill Country town, Bandera exudes the image of the “Wild, Wild West.” The ruggedly beautiful landscape, the rustic architecture and the enthusiastic presentation of Bandera as the “Cowboy Capital of the World” let visitors know, as soon as they get to town, that this place is unique.
The “Greatest Generation” is very well represented in the Texas Hill Country. In the past, I’ve interviewed members of the Fry and Kroeger families here in my hometown of Burnet, who sent six sons each to fight the armies of tyranny in World War II. I’ve met and heard of many others. For this Winter 2007 issue, I had the distinct honor of visiting with several World War II veterans; they had vastly different life stories, but some striking attributes in common.
Stories & Photos
Never underestimate a little Hill Country town! Sure, Burnet loves livestock shows and high school football, but this year the town of approximately 6,000 hosted a first-class literary arts festival, and the very positive response bodes well for an annual tradition.
There’s no limit to what a ten-year-old girl and a twenty-four-year-old horse can do when they really put their hearts together. This amazing story could probably have happened anywhere, but it’s no surprise to me that it happened in the Texas Hill Country.
You couldn’t have asked for a prettier evening. It was early fall, the afternoon breeze had long since called it quits, and the lake’s surface lay there before us as smooth, slick, and shiny as Aunt Margie’s mirror. A few weeks earlier Central Texas had baked in the Dog Days of August and even now, afternoon temperatures in the high 90s kept many an angler off the lake.
Known as a premier historian and archivist of Kimble County and beyond, Frederica Burt Wyatt has been the driving force behind scores of area historical markers and designated, registered buildings. She has collected and archived extensive genealogical information, as well as referencing and indexing cemeteries in the area. Through her research and determination, Texas Ranger Crosses have been placed on sometimes-forgotten gravesites, with ceremonies honoring those buried there.
G&R Grocery and its ever-present owner, Edward Ragsdale, are institutions on the San Saba square. In this era of chain stores and frequent career changes, they have both survived decades of challenges, and in doing so, have helped their town retain its own unique character.
Rudy Robbins wasn’t born in the Cowboy Capital of the World, but he got here as fast as he could. Growing up in Port Arthur, there wasn’t much opportunity to work with cattle, but Rudy always wanted to be a cowboy. He also wanted to sing, and taught himself to play the guitar at age 16. After earning a degree in Business Administration from East Texas Baptist College in 1956, he got the call from Uncle Sam and served a two-year tour in the Army. One of his fellow-soldiers was the son of a movie
Growth is something we think we understand. In the Texas Hill Country, we see it nowadays in the form of development—old ranches and farmland giving way to new houses and roads. It’s a process that logically should only work one way. Communities grow into towns, which boom into cities. We think of the open spaces in between as places that are yet to be settled; their development belongs to the future. Spicewood is one of those places.
Perhaps you’ve seen the windmill and the covered wagon alongside Highway 290 five miles east of Fredericksburg. Perhaps you’ve noticed the cluster of unique, rustic buildings. But if you are like thousands of other motorists that take this main road to Fredericksburg, you may never have stopped to explore the artistic little settlement of Rocky Hill.