History
Rocky Rest
Built 1860 by Gen. Adam R. Johnson. Of hand-hewn stone, logs. High windows and thick walls kept out Indians. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966
History
Shady Grove Community (Ghost Town)
In the 1850s and 60s families settled on this farm and ranch land along the Middle Gabriel river. The Old Austin-Lampasas and Burnet-Belton roads intersected here. Six acres deeded by Alexander M. Barton in 1877 later became the site of a schoolhouse, church and cemetery. At first the community was called "Russell Gabriel".
History
Site of Fort Croghan
Established by Lieut. C. H. Tyler, United States Second Dragoons, by order of the War Department, March 18, 1849, as a protection to frontier settlers against hostile Indians. Abandoned in December, 1853 as the settlements had extended farther west.
History
Site of Mormon Settlement
Site of a settlement made in 1851 by 20 Mormon families under the leadership of Lyman Wight (1796-1858). Here they built homes, lumber mills, and shops for the manufacture of furniture. Abandoned in 1853. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Site of Town of Strickling
Once a busy rural community. Named for Mrs. Martha (Webster) Strickling, who settled here in 1853 with husband Marmaduke. As child, she survived killing of some 30 settlers in infamous Webster Massacre near Leander, and months of Indian captivity. Post office opened here, 1857, and Strickling became a mail terminal and stage stop. Tons of lumber and buffalo hides were hauled through here.
History
Smithwick Cemetery
The history of this community cemetery dates to 1854 when 18-year-old Rebecca Chambers died and was buried here. Rebecca, who reportedly was ill while traveling past here with the family of her sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and E. G. Evans, asked to be buried on this flower-covered hillside. While the land was vacant public domain several other burials took place.
History
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church
By 1940, missionary priests of the Holy Cross Order were ministering to residents of Marble Falls. Beginning in 1951, Catholic residents worshipped in a local residence; by 1954, attendance had grown enough to warrant a mission. The Catholic community bought property that year and by 1957, the Texas Granite Company began construction on a granite structure.
History
The Badger Building
Completed about 1883, this two-story limestone structure is representative of other commercial buildings located on the Courthouse Square in the 1880s. It was built for local financier Dr. W. H. Westfall and Captain Brandt Badger (b. 1839), a native of Georgia who had served in the Confederate Army from Texas during the Civil War.
History
The Burnet Bulletin
Established in the early 1870s, this weekly newspaper has been in continuous operation for more than one hundred years. The first editor on record was George Whitaker, who served in that position until 1874. In 1898, the paper was sold to L. C. and J. H. Chamberlain, members of a pioneer Burnet County family. The "Bulletin" remained in the ownership of the Chamberlain family until 1960.
History
The Community of Briggs
Pioneers mainly from the Old South settled here on the Aaron Boyce land grant in the 1860s and 70s. They had a school, and held church services, at Gum Springs in the 1880s. In 1888 a post office opened at Taylor's Gin Store; this was renamed in 1898 for Mrs. Henry D. Briggs, an early settler. On April 12, 1906, a tornado destroyed much of the village.
History
The Galloway House
The original part of this house was built in 1856. The adobe and rock residence, owned by Maj. Hugh H. Calvert, also served as an inn. Local landowner Enoch Brooks bought the home in 1885 and made major additions to the structure. Significant changes were also made by W. C. Galloway (1856-1936), who became the owner in 1899.
History
The Russell-McFarland Homestead
William H. and Mary Russell built this Victorian residence in 1883-84. Russell, a veteran of the Civil War (1861-65), headed the Burnet school system about 15 years. Sold in 1895, the house had such tenants as J. W. Edgar, later state commissioner of education, and J. H. Gildart, one of the first Texas game wardens. Since 1922 the property has been owned and preserved by the family of Samuel A.
History
The Tobey Community Cemetery
The Nat Tobey family moved from Indiana to northeast Burnet County in the 1850s. Sons Avery and Samuel bought land here in Backbone Valley in 1868. At the death of N. W. Tobey, aged 12, this cemetery was opened in 1872. A church and school stood nearby, serving people of the ranches and farms of the valley. Within a century, over 200 graves were placed in this burial ground.
History
The Village of South Gabriel
The South Gabriel Post Office opened in Postmaster Thomas Lewiston's mercantile store on Sept. 29, 1871. The village, named for the South San Gabriel River, was also called Lewiston. Located on the Austin-Burnet Road, the hamlet soon had two stores, a hotel, saloon, cotton gin, school, church, and wagon, saddle, blacksmith, and carpentry shops. The population in 1880 was 39.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
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