I was rudely transplanted from Texas to the Pacific Northwest and quite frankly, my roots just aren't taking very well. I've had to trade Tony Lamas for Birckenstocks, chicken-fried steak for whole-wheat, yeast-free muffins and honky-tonks for cappuccino bars. I've traded big sky for mountains…Read More

I was rudely transplanted from Texas to the Pacific Northwest and quite frankly, my roots just aren't taking very well. I've had to trade Tony Lamas for Birckenstocks, chicken-fried steak for whole-wheat, yeast-free muffins and honky-tonks for cappuccino bars. I've traded big sky for mountains that tower like prison walls; violent and wondrous thunder storms for steady drizzle, and a region steeped with history and tradition for one that thinks the world began with cafe au lait and ended with Kurt Cobain.

Being Texan isn't exclusive to having been born there, or even having lived there. It's a state of the union alright (much to it's dismay), but its also a state of mind and a way of life. It's a belief that life is just attitude and timing, that you'll always get by feeling secure in the knowledge that no matter what happens, the Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes will still bloom on the roadside come spring. And as the green roadways become a willing palette for the wildflowers each March, 500 fans of Austin's country music picker Jerry Jeff Walker descend on the state from the far corners of America and Canada to stamp their passports with the lone star seal of longhorns and longnecks.

'It's a totally different country here,' says Walker fan Lorna Pelkey, from Oakland, Maine. 'It always feels like coming home. I love the music and I love the cowboys. All those hats and boots.' Hats and boots are the order of the day in Texas, be it the dusty, working range varieties or the dress hats worn with ostrich or anaconda kickers. It's been reported that 1990 Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, owns 300 pairs of boots and not a single pair of shoes. And at The Broken Spoke, Walker's kick-off venue for his weekend-long fanfest, there isn't a backwards baseball cap or a pair of strappy sandals (with or without socks) to be seen. It's a sea of Stetsons and Justins. And let's face facts: Did anyone important ever die with their Birkenstocks on?

Granted, you may actually live longer on the California beans and sprouts diet that seems to have propagated in the smoke-free fern bars of the Pacific Northwest than you will on Texas grub. But there's not much on earth that can compare to a crusty gold chicken fried steak sitting atop a bed of cream gravy, or a perfect b-b-que brisket, smoked slow and long over smoldering hickory wood, served up on doughy white bread with a good red sauce. And the state's got some of the best Mexican this side of the Rio Grande. A group of Walker fans who make the annual pilgrimage to Austin from Long Island, N.Y. insist on real Mexican meal each year at Chuys (where the image of Elvis appears on every tortilla). 'We never miss coming here' says Ken Brody, 'It's a Texas tradition, food that sticks to your ribs.' 'The portions are the biggest you've ever seen,' declares John Zarodkiewicz. The cross border cultural food of Texas gets immortalized by Walker during his appearance at the Travis County Rodeo as he sings What I like about Texas: 'It's another burrito, and a cold Lone Star in my hand. It's a quarter for the jukebox, boys; play a song by your favorite Austin, Texas band!'

The smoky old bars, with cedar walls crammed with tin ad neon memorabilia, have soaked up many Texas songs, by legends such as the late Bob Wills, Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughn. And the still grinnin' and pickin': Willie Nelson, Gary P. Nunn and of course, Jerry Jeff Walker. 'Texas has the best bars in the world,' declares Walker buff Ruth Atherley who hails from Toronto, Canada (but claims that she's from Texas in her heart). 'And the best live music. These guys live these cowboy songs. Then they come out to the honky tonks and they pour out their souls to us. And you live it with them.'

And their best friend may have run off with their wife and favorite cattle dog in the new pickup, but its all pretty straightforward and you get the feeling that they'll live through it, and be better men for it. They don't slam dance their angst against the wall or use their anger to pierce their bellybuttons. No siree, down in Texas, real men feel pain.

I thought it would hurt to go back. I was afraid that objects in my memory appear larger than they actually are. But everything's still big in Texas. The blue sky (and blue is the operative word) still stretches forever and the tumbleweeds still roll off the flat end of the earth. 'It sure is a lot bigger down here,' notes John Lanier, from Indianapolis, Indiana. 'There's just a lot more square footage.' His brother, Parker, also from Indianapolis, agrees. 'It's the wide open spaces ~ this whole state is big.' Another Walker warrior, Peggy L. Hall ('the 'L' is for luscious') traveled from Augusta, Maine for the weekend because 'everything's bigger, including the cowboys.' And including that 64-ounce T-bone ;you can have for free at the local steakhouse, long as you can eat it in an hour.

There's a definite flavor to Texas that's missing from a lot of other places. Texans have a strong sense of belonging to history and they exude the quiet confidence and generosity that comes with that knowledge, while loudly claiming bragging rights to everything from Davey Crockett to Dr. Pepper. And unlike the Pacific Northwest ~ where you are immediately suspect if you were born east of the Rockies ~ everyone's welcome in Texas. John Adams, a local Austin fan attending Walker's grand finale in the 115-year-old weather-beaten dance hall of Luchenback, pop. 3, is amazed by the spirit of the crowd. 'It's just like a family reunion, but no one's related,' he says of the influx of wanna-be Texans. 'Y'all like it so much, you should come on down,' he urges, 'There's plenty of room.'

There seems to be plenty of room for all of us in the tiny Hill Country town, as Marge, the pig-tailed sheriff of Luchenback dispenses cold Lone Star beer from the water cooler of the general store and collects her tips in a blue speckled beat up campfire coffee pot that's settin' out on the counter. 'Life's slower here, and that's good,' says Jim Rennie, of Washington, D.C. 'Nobody rushes around like they're trying to get somewhere in a hurry.' But that, I think to myself as I listen to Jerry Jeff tell me again what he likes about Texas, is because they're already there.    Close

There are two seasons in Austin, Football Season and Football Off-Season. There is nothing like a friday night at a high school football game at my alma mater, Westlake High School. The game day atmosphere is almost electric and this is only a…Read More

There are two seasons in Austin, Football Season and Football Off-Season. There is nothing like a friday night at a high school football game at my alma mater, Westlake High School. The game day atmosphere is almost electric and this is only a high school game! You will easily see crowds numbering into the thousands for regular games and crowds exceeding 10000 for playoff games. Then, you follow it up with a visit to the University of Texas on a saturday for a college game (good luck getting tickets). Texas football is special in the unusually large fan base the Longhorns have. Most of the fans have never attended Texas but have remained devoted to the Longhorns, some even over their own alma maters! If you're not a season ticket holder, your best shot is to catch a Texas game on the road, preferably at Baylor, Houston, or some other nearby area. The stadium has since been expanded and updated to where it is now the 5th largest stadium in America. Once football season ends, things slow down a bit but if you're a baseball fan, the nationally ranked Texas baseball team plays in the spring and you always have the Texas men's and women's basketball teams, both nationally ranked. They really are serious about their sports in Texas.
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AUSTIN is located in Texas State in USA. It’s festival city, every year held number of adventure and attractive festival there. If you have knowledge and get which time festival held then you enjoyed this adventure and attractive festival. Its historical places also famous for…Read More

AUSTIN is located in Texas State in USA. It’s festival city, every year held number of adventure and attractive festival there. If you have knowledge and get which time festival held then you enjoyed this adventure and attractive festival. Its historical places also famous for all city corner. Other watching places are museums, parks, garden, and fishing at lakes. You can enjoy at street with street foods, shopping and much more. Its also a star city, Many Hollywood stare located there, Number of film shutting you can see there if you arrived rich time. His number of famous building and hotels are famous this city. There are number of hotels located at that city. All are luxury and latest facilities loaded. If you want tour then you held and enjoyed it. I have a chance to visit that city so was there last month. After visit, we reserved hotels by online at hotel site. Which can offers if I reserved hotel rooms at there sites so used it and get offers. It’s not bad to me. We arrived at hotels at late evening. Hotel was so latest, luxury and advanced, I see it at near. Hotel staff brings my luggage to my room. To big and beautiful room it was. Really it was a great luxury hotels and I thank to hotel site, which give this beautiful hotel. I was hire yellow taxi, and He went to visit this city next early morning. I was ready at 9 am, about 9:30 am he was coming. I went to watch famous university of Texas at Austin. It’s have so number of museums, library and much more, I watched whole university, then go to watch bats at evening In Austin's Congress Avenue bridge, all bats are active in march to November seasons, It’s really horrible event sight to me. Hotels offered to me a large breakfast not lunch and dinner so I decided to take a great lunch at any restaurant. My yellow taxi driver leslie bring to me at famous restaurant. I love non-veg food so I ordered it some meat delicious foods and other few famous items. Both of us took a great dinner with some wine and taxi driver left to me my hotels and go.
I went to Austin at first week of March. I know held much more Austin festival at this month so I went that season, festivals are Zilker Park Kite Festival, in his festival number of kites were dancing at sky first Sunday in march at morning to evening. No fees to admission that festival, everyone coming there and fly our kites in the sky. My most adventure and loving festival is Austin Chocolate Festival, In this festival number of vendors including chocolates, hotels, restaurant, resorts and more. The participate vendor to taste our food to guest. But I was spending our most time at music festival, It was running four days so all four days I was there, in this festival the number of performer perfume ours song and other things. There are number of performer there, which perform our song, all performer have the number of the college student located. This was really a great event to me; I feel rocking at there.
After this event I was two days for visit to other place at Austin. First day, I went to his near rock mountains for climbing with fishing near the lake. I went there by hire cycling. In my whole life it was the first time when we cycling at long distance. My entire trip I went to shopping at last days so that day I did shopping at near the market and take other things at market. We can say that was a great trip to me and I was enjoyed much more at that trip and I thanks to cheap hotels staff and hotel, taxi driver leslie, his beautiful festival. It so adventure trip to me. I hope you enjoyed this trip and will go there at March.
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Opportunities for activities abound in and around Austin. There is something to satisfy everyone's taste. These are a few that we enjoyed on this trip. Our condo was located about one hour's drive through the back country from the little town of Fredericksburg which is a…Read More

Opportunities for activities abound in and around Austin. There is something to satisfy everyone's taste. These are a few that we enjoyed on this trip.

Our condo was located about one hour's drive through the back country from the little town of Fredericksburg which is a mecca for antique shoppers. You can find most anything Texan, etc. at one or more of the shops.

Good hunting. If this is your cup of tea, there are also several great antique shops in downtown Austin.

We also visited the newly completed State History Museum located near the University of Texas campus. This is an awesome place depicting the history of Texas from Spanish ownership to the present. They were showing exhibits of the Lewis and Clark expedition while we were there and a play and film about Daniel Boone. These types of exhibits change from time to time so there is always something new to draw you there.

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A great place for breakfast in Austin is Magnolia's. They serve all the traditional breakfast fare, along with Tex-Mex offerings. Prices are reasonable and service is excellent. For dinner try the County Line, which specializes in mouth-watering Texas barbecue with all the trimmings. The restaurant is…Read More

A great place for breakfast in Austin is Magnolia's. They serve all the traditional breakfast fare, along with Tex-Mex offerings. Prices are reasonable and service is excellent.

For dinner try the County Line, which specializes in mouth-watering Texas barbecue with all the trimmings. The restaurant is high on a hill and overlooks the city for the outdoor patio.

Another great place in the high country is The Oasis, which overlooks Lake Travis from the southern end. The decor is magnificent, both indoors and out. The food is excellent and moderately price.

All of these restaurants can be found in a local dining guide as I unfortunately do not have the street addresses.

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If you're in New Braunfels and don't want to do the big Schlitterbahn Waterpark thing but still want to enjoy the Comal River, spend some time at Landa Park. It is located on Landa Street and is free to enter. The Comal River…Read More

If you're in New Braunfels and don't want to do the big Schlitterbahn Waterpark thing but still want to enjoy the Comal River, spend some time at Landa Park. It is located on Landa Street and is free to enter. The Comal River runs through it. The Comal is the same river that runs through the Schlitterbahn area. It is the shortest river in Texas--only 3.25 miles long. It just springs up as a full river from artesian wells and runs a few miles before it joins the Guadalupe River. You can tube on it with a rental innertube. The rapids are mild. The park has glass bottom boats that let you see to the bottom of the very clear spring water. There is a natural spring-fed pool, golf, miniature golf, picnicking, a playground, walking trails. There is a childrens' train ride that we all enjoy. In November they have a scaled-down version of Germany's Oktoberfest--they call it Wurstfest. I enjoyed this park as a child and continue to love it as a mom.    Close

Zilker Park is often called ‘the Central Park of Texas’. It is less than half the size of Central Park but has more acres per person. New York’s Central Park is 843 acres but 20 million people use it ever year. Zilker Park is 485…Read More

Zilker Park is often called ‘the Central Park of Texas’. It is less than half the size of Central Park but has more acres per person. New York’s Central Park is 843 acres but 20 million people use it ever year. Zilker Park is 485 acres and only one million people use it annually. Zilker Park was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architecture and historical significance. The park has a playground, nine soccer fields (which used to be spinach fields), one rugby field, two multiuse fields, and a nine-hole disc golf course. Numerous picnic areas dot the park. Two historic log structures, the Esperanza Schoolhouse and a Swedish Cabin, can be seen in the Botanical Garden. Both structures were moved from outside of Austin. Zilker Park even has a fallout shelter, a relic from the 1950s. The park is the site of numerous baptisms, weddings, and memorial services. The Zilker Clubhouse was originally the Boy Scout lodge and is now used for community functions.

The sixty-acre Botanical Garden has a series of trails of flowers and succulents, a Japanese garden, a butterfly garden, and the Mabel Davis Rose Garden. The Garden is home to many indigenous plants and animals. Tours of the Garden are offered every Saturday between May and Thanksgiving.

For some old-fashioned fun take a ride on the Zilker Zephyr, a three-mile miniature train ride. For almost fifty years the Zephyr, formerly known as the Eagle, has been chugging around the park. The train was privately owned for much of its history by attorney Charlie Beall and wife Carlene. They contract with the city but own the tracks, train, and ticket booth. There has been only one accident in all these years when the brakes failed and a passenger jumped out in fear. The train only goes eight miles per hour. Rides are available year-round, weather permitting, from 10:00 A.M. to dusk. Souvenirs are available.

The Zilker Hillside Theatre was developed by Beverly Sheffield, who selected the site. The theater has recently been renamed for him. Originally, the theater was just a tiny stage with a trellis of moonflowers blooming at night. Today, it thrives and hosts Shakespearean plays, jazz concerts, and Broadway musicals during the summer. Attendees are encouraged to bring a picnic.

The eighty-acre Austin Nature Center is a sanctuary for raccoons, foxes, deer, and many other animals. Located within Zilker Park at 301 Nature Center Drive, the Nature Center features exhibits on science, natural history and botany. The most interesting feature is over one hundred dinosaur tracks which are estimated to be 99 million years old. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

The McBeth Recreation Center is especially designed to serve individuals with disabilities. The center has programs throughout the year, and visitors can use the multipurpose room, kitchen, computers, and picnic areas, or take part in crafts and games.

The Beverly Sheffield Education Center/Splash! Into the Edwards Aquifer is an interactive exhibit about the geology and biology of the Edwards Aquifer. Learn about the habitat of the Barton Springs salamander, how watersheds and aquifers work, and more.

Of historical interest is the story of the Butler Brick Company whose history is intertwined with Barton Springs. The Butler Brick Company was founded by Michael Butler in 1873 when he came from Limerick, Ireland to join his brother Patrick in Austin. The first plant was located between Congress Avenue and East Avenue (now IH35) but was washed out by repeated floods. Butler built another plant south of the river along Barton Springs Road. Butler and Andrew Zilker had land that bordered each other where the fence line met at the old rock bridge over Barton Creek. If one built a fence, the other did, too. When one planted alfalfa, the other soon followed. One fenced in Robert E. Lee Road, so the other told city council to take it down. The Colorado River filled with deposits of red clay which were eventually used by Butler to construct bricks for the Paggi House. Bricks were hauled across the river on a cable (some of the support towers can still be seen on the shores of Town Lake). Eventually, a city dump was built on the old brick quarry and then Zilker Park was developed over it. The pit is still visible along the hike and bike trail and is marshy and sulfurous. The Butler family finally moved their plant to Sandy Creek near Elgin because the soil had more clay. Butler’s bricks were used in the construction of City Hall, the capitol building of 1888, the train depot on Congress Avenue, and the Board of Trade building.

For more information about Barton Springs, I highly recommend Barton Springs Eternal, by Turk Pipkin and Marshall Frech; Softshoe Publishing, The Hill Country Foundation, Austin, Texas, 1993.

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During the first World War Austin attempted to establish military schools near Barton Springs. In order to do so they had to provide water, so the Military Affairs Committee suggested that the city buy Barton Springs and route the water to the soldiers for bathing.…Read More

During the first World War Austin attempted to establish military schools near Barton Springs. In order to do so they had to provide water, so the Military Affairs Committee suggested that the city buy Barton Springs and route the water to the soldiers for bathing. Droughts in the years 1910 and 1917 also prompted the city to seek alternative sources of water. In 1918 Zilker deeded the springs and a surrounding thirty-five acres to the city with the provision that it be used for education. The city also tore down the ruins of the old flour mill. In 1920, the Chamber of Commerce and Lions Club raised $8,000 to build a new bathhouse, completed in 1922. The new bathhouse was a two-story pavilion with a dance hall upstairs and dressing rooms downstairs. People recall it as quite romantic, with wood paneling and open-air screens. Schools of fish were visible in the springs, and water pageants and carnivals were held there annually. In 1932 Zilker donated another 330 acres to the military schools on the condition that the city would buy them for $200,000 from the schools. A bond election approved the information center and souvenir shop.

The Sunken Gardens, enclosed by circular stones, was built between 1935-38 on the south side of the creek by the National Youth Administration. This spring originally powered a mill, then an ice factory. The state’s first fish hatchery was established at Sunken Gardens. Most of the walls have washed away and are in need of repair, but the spring still flows. As of this writing, Sunken Gardens will probably be fenced off to protect the Barton Springs salamanders.

A flood in 1935 left four inches of mud in the Barton Springs bathhouse and washed away the Lake Austin Dam. Zilker Park was left under water for days. A new bathhouse was built in 1947 for $180,000. It was designed by Groos and Driscool, the same firm that designed the Deep Eddy bathhouse. The 1947 bathhouse still stands and has large open-air dressing rooms and grassy areas.

During World War II, soldiers wrote to their families about fighting for Barton Springs. It was an Austin treasure. Little did they imagine that the land around Barton Springs would develop rapidly after the war. An environmental debate over the springs has been raging since the late 1950s when the Parks and Recreation staff noticed trash and dead animals in the runoff coming from the Barton Hills subdivision, or what used to be the Rabb land, and high levels of fecal coliform. In the 1960s, an environmental group formed and began addressing these concerns with the Parks Department. A plan for a greenbelt was drawn up but not built, yet the public showed an interest in extending Zilker Park up Barton Creek. However, the city didn’t respond and valuable recharge areas in the aquifer were rapidly developed. Robert Mueller was a locker boy and cashier at Barton Springs. He offered to sell a portion of his land, about forty to fifty acres on the south side of the

Barton Springs does not use chlorine. Between 1929 and 1962, the pool was drained twice per week and cleaned with copper sulfate to remove the algae, which turned some of the rocks blue-green. In 1962, the city stopped using chlorine; instead workers scrubbed it with giant steel brushes pulled by tractors, then flushed it with water from a fire hose. It takes forty-five minutes to drain the pool, and about two hours to refill it. This practice continues today. The endangered Barton Springs salamander survived the entire time that copper sulfate was used to clean the pool. Beverly Sheffield has witnessed floods that completely encircled the bathhouse, yet the vegetation always grew back and helped make the water clear because it kept the silt from being disturbed by swimmers. It is unlikely that the salamanders are endangered by chemicals used in Barton Springs. More likely, fecal coliform running off from development all around the springs is the culprit. If fecal coliform counts are above 200 colonies per 100 milliliters of water, and visibility is impaired by more than four feet, the pool closes. The pool also closes as a precaution when there is thunder and lightning, and if more than one inch of rain has fallen over the Barton Creek watershed within twenty-four hours. Folks in Dripping Springs at the headwaters will call ahead to warn us if flooding is imminent.

The 1950s also saw the development of Philosopher’s Rock. Roy Bedicheck, a naturalist, J. Frank Dobie, a folklorist, and Walter Prescott Webb, a historian, would gather on a flat rock near the diving board and talk about an infinite number of things. John Henry Faulk, Walter Bremond, and Skinny Pryor were known to drop in. A statue by Santa Fe artist Glenna Goodacre at the main entrance to Barton Springs honors these men. "If I have to fight for this country, I will not fight for the flag, or the American ‘way of life’, or democracy, or private enterprise or for any other abstractions, which seem cold as kraut to me. But I will fight to the last ditch for Barton Creek, Boggy Creek, cedar-covered limestone hills, blazing star and bluebonnets, golden- cheeked warblers and black-capped vireos... This love of your native land is basic." - Roy Bedicheck.

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William "Uncle Billy" Barton was one of these early settlers and he settled on what was then called Spring Creek with his three daughters, Parthenia, Eliza and Zenobia. Spring Creek was Barton’s link to the outside world, a camp called Waterloo on the Colorado River…Read More

William "Uncle Billy" Barton was one of these early settlers and he settled on what was then called Spring Creek with his three daughters, Parthenia, Eliza and Zenobia. Spring Creek was Barton’s link to the outside world, a camp called Waterloo on the Colorado River which was developing into the new Texas capital. He built a cabin there and kept two tame buffalo which apparently attracted many sightseers. Barton started to charge admission to the springs and hired W.C. Walsh and Henry Steussy to build a gristmill. The mill was three stories high and located on the south side of the creek near the main dam. Barton’s place was a stage stop and quickly became popular as a favorite swimming hole. When Waterloo was officially selected as the new Texas capital in 1839, Barton deeded the springs to the city to furnish power for a sawmill. William Barton died on April 11, 1840. He was buried at the springs but his body was later moved to Round Rock. There are actually six different Barton Springs in Texas, some that are named after our William Barton. He certainly got around! There are apparently a few other William Bartons but we all know there’s only one Barton Springs.

Barton Springs was still very primitive in 1842. Houston, Sam Houston, who was bitter about Austin becoming the new capital, said that he wouldn’t risk his scalp in that #&?! hole called Austin. Houston feared Indians, and since some people had been scalped on their way to Barton Springs, he was somewhat justified. In the 1850s, peaceful tribes of Lipan Apaches and Tonkawas were still living near Barton Springs, but were driven out by Comanches during an attack on white settlers at the springs.

In 1860, John Rabb bought the Barton property, then deeded it to his son, Gail T. Rabb. G.T. Rabb sold five acres of the property, not including the springs, to Jacob Stern. Stern built another gristmill and allowed Confederate troops to camp there during 1861. W.C. Walsh, who had built Barton’s original gristmill, built a rock quarry in 1866 and moved his family there. Quarrying was done by hand and uncovered many fossils which were preserved. G.T. Rabb opened a gristmill and ice factory in 1871 and built a two-story rock house on the south side of the creek. He also built a dam out of logs and a merry-go-round, and rented swimsuits to men only! In 1879, Rabb constructed a new three-story mill but it was destroyed by fire in 1886. In 1889 he completed a footbridge across the shallow end of the pool but it was wiped out in the 1900 flood. An entrepreneur soon began renting bathing suits to people to swim in Barton Springs. People could also camp there. On Saturdays and Sundays the whole family would pack a picnic, pay ten cents admission, and spend the day at the springs enjoying sing-a-long concerts, plays and dances. Swimming societies and clubs are nothing new in Austin. A ladies’ swimming club was formed in 1884 and only one man was allowed within hearing distance as a safeguard. He was under oath to keep his eyes shut and his face turned away from the river. The first bathhouse was just four walls painted white and open to the sky. The walls didn’t extend all the way to the ground because of the moisture and potential for rot. Baptisms took place in the springs, sometimes hundreds at a time. In 1875 the Riverboat Sunbeam shuttled swimmers up and down what is now Town Lake and Barton Creek for fifty cents per person. Barton Springs was still very much ‘out in the country’ at the time and getting there was an ordeal.

In 1907 Rabb sold more of his property to Andrew Jackson Zilker, who then bought the other five acres from Stern. Zilker’s story is a classic rags to riches tale. When he was just 18 he moved from Indiana to Austin in 1876 with fifty cents in his pocket. The first night he got a job washing dishes and doubled his money. He then got a job constructing the Congress Avenue Bridge and befriended the owner of an ice plant who gave him a job there. Zilker also found the time to be a volunteer fireman, Director of the First National Bank, Water and Light Commissioner, and head of the Travis County School Board. He quickly became the engineer of the ice plant and in 1901 began buying land between the Colorado River and Barton Creek. Zilker had soon acquired 350 acres surrounding Barton Springs and used the land to pasture the horses and mules that pulled his ice wagons.

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A privately owned park with picnic areas, a marina, concessions, diving, a playground, showers and volleyball. The Ben Hur is long gone, but the Commodore Riverboat will still cruise you up and down Lake Austin.…Read More

A privately owned park with picnic areas, a marina, concessions, diving, a playground, showers and volleyball. The Ben Hur is long gone, but the Commodore Riverboat will still cruise you up and down Lake Austin.   Close