2017-12-02: Our Adventure to the Painted Churches in Schulenburg, Texas

WOW! What a day! Have we got a lot to show you today. We took a drive and visited some of the historical Painted Churches from the late 1800's around Schulenburg, Texas. The Painted Churches of Texas were built by the Eastern European pioneers who settled the area in the late 1800's and early 1900. Somewhat ordinary on the outside, but ornate, Gothic and colorful on the inside. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We had to take a drive down to Schulenburg for business matters, so of course the first thing I do is look up Geocaches along the way to find. That's when I discovered the Painted Church's and knew they were the perfect stops along the way.

Leaving Killeen, we headed south down Hwy 195 into Georgetown. Since we're there and it's close to lunch, we made our first stop to check out Plaka Greek Cafe. We're always in the mood for some good Greek food! And this turned out to be THE place! Candy got her go-to Greek salad with grilled chicken, although they cook the chicken on a rotisserie skewer just like the gyro meat. I ordered the sampler platter to get a taste of everything. It was excellent! The meat was seasoned perfectly and wasn't dry. The dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) was fresh without that bitter store bought taste. The spanakopita (spinach pie) was flaky with just the right amount of spinach and cheese filling. Everything right down to the pita bread was really good. We'll definitely be returning back to this place again. (Just a side note: while I try to write as if these adventures just happened, you can see by the date in the title and the blog post date that I am nearly two years behind. But the Plaka Greek Cafe in Georgetown, TX is so good that I want to mention we actually drive down the 30 miles to it just to eat as often as we can. We highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in the area.)

OK, enough about food. Our first Geocache (GC3N74V) was located in an early settlement area a few miles south of Schulenburg at ghost town of Lyonsville, later shortened to just Lyons. An early town on land grant of Keziah Cryer, it was named for settler James Lyons.  By 1860's the town had stores, a school, a church and a Masonic lodge. During the Civil War, property was ruined and stock driven off. Settlers moved away to nearby towns and the town died off.

James Lyons moved his family to Texas from New York in 1820. While working outside his cabin on October 15, 1837, Lyons was killed by Comanches. His was the first grave in what became the Schulenburg City Cemetery (GC74XJB). His 12-year-old son was captured in the attack and held by the Indians for about 10 years before he was able to return home. In 1848 he married Lucy Boatright. They later settled in Johnson County, where he died in 1870. A stone erected here in 1931 states incorrectly that Warren Lyons, rather than his father James, was a victim of the 1937 raid.

Heading back north towards home we found the first of the Painted Churches on our route. The town of High Hill grew out of three smaller German settlements Blum Hill, Oldenburg, and Wursten. Blum Hill in the southern part was named after left-wing political activist Robert B. Blum, who was executed in Vienna in 1848 during Germany's Revolution. Oldenburg in the north was named after a German Province. And Wursten came from the name of a sausage from Anders Butcher Shop. In 1858, they all combined into one community and called it High Hill to remind them of the mountains they left behind. With the immigration of German and Austrian settlers the town began to flourish. But in 1874 fearing the railroad would ruin their tranquility and cultural community, they declined it's request to pass through town. The Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad built a few miles to the south in Schulenburg. Many of High Hills residents and businesses moved to the south as well causing High Hill to decline. Current population tends to hover around 100.

The main attraction is the St. Mary Catholic Church (GC12EJ3). The Parish played a significant role in the German and Catholic heritage of Texas. The Catholic State League was formed here, and many of the church's clergy and leadership were raised here. The first St Mary Church was built in 1869. A larger building was built in 1876, and the smaller building used a school. This newer building featured stain-glass windows donated by the people of the parish. When the current larger still church was constructed in 1906, the original stain-glass windows were moved into it. The church was painted in 1912. The St Mary Catholic Church of High Hill, Texas is known as the "Queen of the Painted Churches."

Traversing the back country roads to get to our next Painted Church in Dubina, Texas, we came upon this old single lane bridge crossing the East Navidad River. Built in 1885 by the King Bridge Company in Cleveland, Ohio, it has been given the name of Piano Bridge. Some say it's because of its musical sound as you drive over it. But leave it to engineers to ruin that and tell us its technically a "piano-wire" truss. It is one of the few remaining iron bridges in Fayette County. Whatever you want to call it, I call it one cool historical bridge! 

In November 1856 a group of Czech settlers found shelter from a strong north wind and hail under a grove of large oak trees. The community, originally called Navidad and then Bohemian Navidad after the nearby Navidad River, became the first Czech settlement in Texas. Augustine Haidusek, who learned English during the Civil War and became the first Czech lawyer in the United States, renamed the town Dubina which is Czech for "oak grove." The town flourished reaching 600 families around 1900 as favorable reports of Texas reached the old country back home, and new immigrants came through Dubina. Between the railroad bypassing Dubina in 1873, a hurricane in 1909, and a large fire in 1912 that swept through town, many settlers left the area. As of 2000 the population was listed as forty-four.

The first Saints Cyril and Methodius Church (GC12EJ7) here was constructed after the Civil War in 1877. Tom Lee, a freed slave and blacksmith, made an iron cross to mount atop the steeple. The hurricane in 1909 destroyed that church. After raising over $5500, the town rebuilt the church in 1912 which was nearly destroyed by the fire. That same iron cross which was salvaged from the previous church once again stood tall over the new church. There are no surviving records of who or when the walls were faux painted. But believe it or not, sometime in the 1950's the decorative walls and ceilings were whitewashed over. In the 1980's two longtime residents took on the task of painstakingly uncovering and restoring the original paintings. Taking a look inside and I'm glad they did. Truly a beautiful and historic church.

And just like it was back in the day, still no indoor plumbing. If you gotta go, then you gotta go outside!

Just a few miles to the north was our next church and geocache (GC746Z3). Ammannsville, Texas was settled by German and Czech immigrant farmers during the 1870's. Andrew Ammann, an architect and farmer, was the first settler arriving on March 12, 1870. The first business opened in 1876. And by 1879 a post office and school. By 1900 the town had grown to three stores and saloons, two blacksmith shops, one drugstore, one doctor, and two gins. The community had 800 residents at its peak. But the post office closed in 1906, and the school in 1909. The 2000 census had the population down in the forties.

The St John the Baptist Catholic Church first opened in 1890. It was also destroyed by the 1909 hurricane. The community rebuilt and dedicated the new church on November 24, 1910. However it was destroyed a short time later by fire and had to be rebuilt again.

As with the other Painted Churches, this one also had a graveyard which served the community. Trivia fact: a graveyard is a cemetery that's located next to a church.

Out there in the middle of nowhere was our next stop and a rather cute geocache. The Kaase Bubble Gum Post Travel Bug Hotel (GC5A9V2) was a nicely built cache to mimic a hotel large enough to host travel bugs. TB's are items with a trackable number on them. Geocachers place them in caches for other cachers to retrieve and move along from cache to cache. I've release TB's in Florida that have since traveled all over the world. And I've picked up TB's here in the states that began their journeys all over the globe.

Our final stop for the day was for the Wood's Fort Virtual Cache (GC7D5A). Virtual is fitting since there are no remains left of the actual fort. A fortified residence used by colonists of this vicinity as a protection against Indian attacks from 1828-1842. Mr. Woods was a veteran of the War of 1812, one of the old "three hundred" of Stephen F. Austin's colonists, and the oldest man killed in the Dawson Massacre on September 18, 1842.

That's it for today. I hope you have enjoyed our days journey. Hmmm where to next?

2017-11-24: A Quick Visit to the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Alamo, and the San Fernando Cathedral

Welcome back again to AwayWeGo's Adventure Blog. This week we had some relatives in visiting from Florida for Thanksgiving. So today we thought we'd take a drive down to San Antonio, Texas using the Riverwalk to burn off some of those calories we ate yesterday!

The earliest civilian colonists of San Antonio were a group of pioneers from the Canary Islands. They formed the first organized civil government in Texas and founded the village of San Fernando de Bexar in 1731. Following a sea and land voyage of over a year, these weary travelers arrived at the Presidio (Fort) of San Antonio early on March 9, 1731. Totaling 56 persons, they had emigrated to Texas from the Spanish Canary Islands near Africa, by order of King Philip V.

On July 2nd, they began to lay out a villa choosing a site on the west side of the Plaza de Las Yslas (present day Main Plaza) for the church and a site on the east side for the Casa Real (government building). On July 19, the Captain of the Presidio, Juan Antonio de Almazan, read to the islanders the decree of the viceroy naming them and their descendants "Hijos Dalgo" (Persons of Nobility).

The heads of the 16 families who settled in San Antonio were: Juan Leal Goraz, Juan Curbelo, Juan Leal, Antonio Santos, Jose Padron, Manuel de Nis, Vicente Alvarez Travieso, Salvador Rodriguez, Jose Leal, Juan Delgado, Jose Cabrera, Juan Rodriguez Granadillo, Francisco de Arocha, Antonio Rodriguez, Lorenzo and Martin de Armas, and Felipe and Jose Antonio Perez.

Upon arriving late morning it was pretty busy as you can imagine being a holiday weekend. We found a parking spot a few blocks away from The Alamo. Before we got too far, I spent a few minutes on my phone studying Google maps to get a good sense of where I was so I could find the car again!

Our first stop and my only Geocache for the day was at The Alamo (GC7B6P3). And it was a virtual cache, so all I had to do to claim a find was take a photo of me with the Alamo in the background. Yeah, that's me. Most everyone has heard of the Alamo and that there was a battle there. But probably not much more than that. So, here's a history lesson.

Originally built in 1744, The Alamo Mission in San Antonio commonly called "The Alamo" is one of the early Spanish missions in Texas. Originally built to educate local American Indians after their conversion to Christianity. Later secularized in 1793, then abandoned. Around 10 years later it became a fortress and home to the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras military unit. It's believed they are the ones who named it "The Alamo".

In December of 1835, Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered The Alamo to the Texican Army following the Siege of Bexar. A small number of Texicans held the fort but were eventually "removed" on March 6, 1836. The Battle of the Alamo lasted 13 days from February 23 to March 6, 1836. Many of the buildings surrounding the fortress were torn down in the years to follow. William B Travis and James Bowie shared command of The Alamo during the siege. Over the next five years The Alamo was used to garrison soldiers for Mexican and Texican armies but was eventually abandoned.

After Texas joined the United States the US Army began renting the facility to use as a quartermaster's depot in 1849. Once the nearby Fort Sam Houston was established in 1876 the army left The Alamo. The chapel was sold to the State of Texas which began to conduct tours but did not begin to restore it. Other buildings were sold off to a mercantile company which operated them as a wholesale grocery store. In 1895 restoration projects began under the newly formed "The Daughter of the Republic of Texas". In 1905 the DRT convinced the state legislature to purchase the remaining buildings and to name them the permanent custodians of the site. They were the custodians of the site until 2015 when Texas Land Commissioner George P Bush officially removed control of the Alamo to the Texas General Land Office.

The big controversy of today is the relocating of the Alamo Cenotaph monument pictured here. The city wants to redesign Alamo Plaza to accommodate the huge number of tourists it receives annually. The 60-foot tall monument built to recognize the 100th anniversary of the battle currently sits out in front of the historic mission. The redesign plan is for it to be moved 500 feet to the south, repaired, and correct some errors with the names. Also, the streets will be closed off giving more room for a courtyard representing a more historical configuration. A lot of people are not too happy about the plan though.

Whatever happens, all I know is this is the second time here at the Alamo and I still have yet to go inside due to the LONG lines of tourists! Maybe next time... 

We continued along the Riverwalk enjoying the sights, sounds, and the smell of the many restaurants along the way.  Some of the areas were blocked off as they were in setup mode along the route with chairs and such. Seems as though there was going to be Christmas Parade on the river later that evening. 

While the entire Riverwalk area ventures further off in different areas, it is a river of course, the main downtown section forms an east-west rectangle. The Alamo is on the northeast corner. On the west side is the San Fernando Cathedral. The site for the Church of San Fernando was selected on July 2, 1731, when Juan Antonio Pérez de Almazán, captain of the Presidio of San Antonio, laid out a central square for the villa of San Fernando de Béxar, as San Antonio was then called. He followed the instructions by the Spanish government for the newly arrived Canary Islanders. The church was to be located on the west side of the square, which may still be considered the center of San Antonio. Before and during the construction of the town's parish church, the fifty-five immigrants and the presidial families attended services at the presidial chapel or at San Antonio de Valero Mission.

Although information is contradictory, the cornerstone for the first attempt to build a stone church was laid most likely on May 11, 1738. In 1748 the viceroy approved a donation of 12,000 pesos to complete the church. With funds secured, two artisans from San Luis Potosí, Gerónimo de Ibarra (a master stonemason) and Felipe de Santiago (a stonecutter), were hired to continue the project. Ibarra razed the earlier construction and enlarged the dimensions of the building. He completed the church in 1755. Joining Old World and New World saints, the congregation chose Our Lady of Candlemas and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe as patrons in addition to the town's official patron, San Fernando, or King Fernando III of Spain, who was canonized in 1671. By the end of the eighteenth century the parish served by the church had grown considerably, to a population of over 1,000. The church acquired vessels, mission records, and parishioners after the nearby San Antonio de Valero Mission was secularized in 1793 and the four downriver missions in 1824.

The church suffered setbacks in the early nineteenth century, however; it was damaged by a flood in 1819 and a fire in 1828. Significant rebuilding was carried out in 1829–30, and the church continued to serve as an important religious and social center. In 1831 James Bowie married Ursula de Veramendi there. Several times during the Texas Revolution the church served secular purposes. Mexican cannons stood on its roof during the siege of Bexar. After that battle the Texans flew a flag of victory from it. Antonio López de Santa Anna not only used the church as a lookout but ordered a red flag flown there to signal that the Texans at the Alamo would be shown no mercy. In 1889 Juan N. Seguín said the Alamo heroes were buried there, but they are almost certainly not.

Caught in tumult, by 1840 the church of San Fernando had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair. One observer noted that half of its roof was gone and that swallows and bats flew about inside. Essential repairs were carried out by the new church administration that took over that year. Extensive renovation was planned in 1851 but not begun until 1868. Under the direction of architect François P. Giraud, the original bell tower and part of the nave were razed. Giraud's new design included a Gothic Revival nave, triple entrance portals, a gable roof, and twin bell towers and buttresses. In 1872 the original dome fell. By 1873 the old dirt floor and most of the limestone rubble walls mortared with goat milk were gone. Although the second bell tower was not completed until 1902, the new church was consecrated in October 1873. With the formation of the Diocese of San Antonio in 1874, the church was designated a cathedral.

The cathedral underwent another major restoration in the mid-1970s. Repairs were also made in preparation for Pope John Paul II's visit of September 13, 1987. The cathedral is a large and busy parish church and episcopal see, where about 400 baptisms, seventy funerals, and sixty marriages are performed annually. Many services are in Spanish. In 1993 Archbishop Patrick F. Flores was pastor of San Fernando.

Just inside and to the left of the cathedral entrance, is a marble sarcophagus and plaque with these words: "Here lie the remains of Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and other Alamo Heroes. The Archdiocese of San Antonio erected this memorial May 11 A. D. 1938. R.I.P. Formally buried in the sanctuary of the old San Fernando Church. Exhumed July 28, 1936, exposed to public view for a year, entombed May 11, 1938.

Still a mystery nearly 200 years later, as to if these are indeed the remains of those Texas Heroes. After the fall of the Alamo in 1836, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna ordered that the bodies of the Texans be burned in outdoor crematories. So there were three separate funeral pyres for somewhere between 189 and 250 Alamo Defenders. The bodies were layered between, cut wood, tree branches and kindling, in 10 feet by 70 feet stacks, and set on fire. Texas leader Juan Seguin took ashes from two of the pyres, put them in urns and buried them under the old cathedral floor.

Finishing our loop around the Riverwalk, some of the younger of the group who weren't all that interested in the historic aspects of San Antonio got to be getting a little cranky. So we made our way back to the car and started the long drive back home. So that was our day around San Antonio. I hope to come back soon as there is much more to see.

2017-11-18: Geocaching Close to Home at a Cemetery, a Nice Hike, an Old Bridge, and a Dancing Tree

Hello and welcome back to our Geocaching Adventures Blog. Today was kind of a lazy day. We did get out for some caching and enjoyed the beautiful weather, but stayed close to home in Killeen and Fort Hood, Texas.

Our first stop was a small historic cemetery and ghost town next to the airport. From the historical marker: "Brown (Okay Community) Cemetery" Elisha Ivy, for whom Ivy Mountain Road was named, established a home and store in this vicinity in the 1860's. In the 1870's, a community known as Liberty Hill was developed northwest of his property. In 1896, when the rural settlement applied for a post office, it's name was changed to Okay. Area residents supported churches, a school, and businesses, and Samuel Marion and Mary Elizabeth (Evans) Brown set aside land for a community burial ground formally deeding it in 1907.

As military installations in the area grew, the community of Okay was displaced and ceased to exist in the 1940's. In 1953, the U.S. Government decided to extend the runway at Gray Air Force Base, where the Brown (Okay Community) Cemetery was located, approximately 1,600 feet southwest of this site. The Army Corps of Engineers moved 70 graves, 30 of which were unidentified individuals, to this location and aligned the burials similarly to original positions. The earliest marked grave dates to 1882 and is that of infant David Davis. Today the cemetery is a reminder of Okay Community and the families who lived there.

After looking around at the different headstones, I forgot all about the cache and left without finding it. Oh well. Just means we'll be back another day!

Have you ever found yourself driving down the road and spotting something out of the corner of your eye and you just start laughing? Well that happened on our way to the next cache! Driving down Maxdale Road on the way to the small community of Maxdale, we were passing through part of the Fort Hood Recreation Area. It's just a wooded area set aside for hiking and some off road trails. I think the army base may sometimes perform some training maneuvers there also. But as I was driving though I spotted what looked like an old dead tree doing some John Travolta disco dance moves! Oh I just had to make a u-turn and get a photo. While the picture doesn't quite come alive like the images I had going through my head, perhaps the tree has the Fever on Saturday Nights! Maybe this is what the large walking talking trees from the Lord of the Rings movie do when nobody is around. HaHaHa!

OK, enough of the dancing trees. A short ways further down the road and we arrive at Parrie Haynes Equestrian Center and our next two caches (GC4B0BF, GC4B0BN). The first was by the office. The host there noticed we had been looking for some time and came out to inquire if we were looking for that "Geo thing." I said yes and she pointed out where it usually is but said some kids were playing around there and it may have been moved. Well we expanded our search and eventually found it, returning it to where she had said.

The second cache was a short hike down a trail. There was a trail ride or some kind of horse event going on, so a lot of muggles riding horses everywhere. Most were off in the woods, but occasionally we encountered one or two riding along the dirt hiking trail. When we arrived at the cache location it was in the middle of some trees next to an old windmill and watering hole.

Arriving in the ghost town of Maxdale, Texas, we first stop at the old truss bridge built in 1914 (GCMFXE). Crossing the Lampasas River, it has been replaced by a more modern bridge a short distance away. This cool historic bridge is no longer open to cars. Just the brave pedestrians willing to venture out onto the wood planks, some of which are missing. But there is a geocache hidden out there so of course I'm going! Though it isn't that bad, so I would have gone anyway. As for the cache itself, it hadn't been found in five months. Two of the last four cachers having logged DNFs were experienced cachers too. Even those that did find it had posted about the container being damaged and a wet log. I spend about 20 minutes looking and came up empty. Since this was a historical place and a cool location, and the original hider was no longer active, I decided to go ahead and replace the cache with a new container. I happened to have a magnetic key holder which was perfect for this location. Some disagree with this practice and I'd wouldn't normally do this if there wasn't anything to see here. But I wanted to continue bringing other cachers to this location. 

Crossing over the newer bridge, brought us into what's left of Maxdale, Texas. The area began settlements in the 1860's, it wasn't officially established with a post office until 1883. The town never really blossomed, reaching a maximum 50 residents in 1925. The post office closed in 1926 and the town slowly started declining. The population today is reported at only 4 residents.

Over at the Maxdale Cemetery is our last two geocaches, one traditional cache GC298G0 and one virtual cache GCG2EJ. From the historical marker: Established in the 1860's to serve the rural community of Pleasant Grove, this community is one of the oldest in Bell County. Land for the graveyard was given by Frank N. McBryde Sr, whose 1883 application for a post office for the community resulted in the name change to Maxdale. The earliest documented grave is that of Louisa Marlar (1849-1867), although an 1863 tombstone marks the site of a grave reinterred here from another location. Others interred here include pioneer settlers and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Korea.

The one headstone that caught my eye was this one belonging to: "Thorpe and Mosley, Killed in 1876 by John Carver."

That was it for today. Like I said, not a big adventure but enjoyed the wonderful day and saw some interesting places. Until next time...

2017-11-05: A Couple of Virtual Geocaches, Some Cemetery Caches, and a Power Run

Welcome back for Day #2 of caching around Austin, Texas while my wife was busy in a work related seminar. Yeah she got stuck in a boring hotel meeting room while I got to go out exploring and Geocaching!

This first one was just a block away from her hotel but I completely forgot about it yesterday. It's called Texas Virtual Movie Cache (GC2B6C) and that's about all I can really say about it without giving away any answers. A "Virtual Geocache" is a cache that doesn't have a container and logsheet to sign. You gather information from the location and answer the questions in the cache's description. Then send the answers to the Cache Owner and log it as a find online. This one is a building and it was in a movie. If you've seen the movie, then you've seen the cache.

Also nearby was a Challenge Cache. Now a Challenge Cache is like a traditional physical cache. Usually they are pretty simple to find, like a lamp post cache, and not necessarily in a particularly cool location. Like this one for instance. Just an easy micro container in an office park. But the difficulty and/or terrain rating can be high based upon the "Challenge" to claim a find. This one is called AlphaNumeric Cache Name Challenge (GC3MH9W). The terrain rating was a "1" which means wheelchair accessible, basically anybody can retrieve it. However, the difficulty rating was a "4" out of 5. The actual container in reality was probably a 1/1.5. But the difficulty raised because of the challenge: "To successfully accomplish the AlphaNumeric Cache Name Challenge you must find and log 36 caches (on any date past or present) which have names starting with a different alphanumeric character, "A" through "Z" and "0" through "9." So not necessarily an easy task.

Next up was another Virtual Geocache (GC7F71) along with a traditional cache (GCMZXC) in a cemetery. Now because of the virtual, I can't say too much without giving out the answers. It is in an unusual location though. I think this may be the first cemetery I've been to located in a city park. I mean with a playground, walking trails, a pool and more. The one thing I did like was that they took some of the older broken headstones and placed them in concrete to keep them from further falling apart. This one below dates back to 1872. I did find a story about the place being haunted. Supposedly people have seen ghosts placing flowers on the graves. I don't know anything about that. Most of the time when I'm discussing ghost stories with someone who is making the claim, there were other "spirits" being consumed if you know what I mean. I think that's the reason they're seeing things if you ask me! 

Moving on down the road to the south, I decided to grab a few caches within a Power Run. A Power Run is a line of caches close together, most of the time easy to find but sometimes harder, designed to give you a boost in your total number of cache finds in a short amount of time. This one was called Monkey Letterbox Series (GC6FX73), hidden by a cacher who goes by the name of CuteLittleFuzzyMonkey or CLFM for short. I think all of his hides, and he has a LOT of hides, has the word Monkey in the title. So a Letterbox Cache combines Geocaching with Letterboxing. Letterboxes have a rubber stamp in them which you can use to stamp your own booklet (if you participate in that activity, which I don't). I found a quick 10 of them before moving on to more cemeteries.

Speaking of a cemetery, next up on this list was Evelyn Cemetery (GC2X05N) located in Mustang Ridge, Texas. Mustang Ridge known for ranching in the 1800's and a popular stop for herding because of small lakes in the area. Around 1900 residents began farming cotton and that took over until the Great Depression hit. Then people went back to ranching. Sadly there were only two forgotten headstones here along the road at the edge of someones property. This one standing and the other fallen over. This one looks like it could have been 1925, but I couldn't get a good look at them.

This next cemetery cache I couldn't find. At the Burch-Vance Cemetery (GC2X080), most of the headstones have been knocked over. I suspect it was neglected for a long period of time and had become overgrown. But now it is maintained on a periodically. There are 15 graves here from the Burch and Vance families ranging from 1886 through 1940. Perhaps one day, I'll make it back to this area and will find the cache.

Finally to end the day, my last cache brought me to Salem Cemetery (GC1DMVV) next to the Salem Lutheran Church. There are 345 interments there going all the way back to 1884 and still in use to this day. I like these old iron fencing that I see placed around the family sections or even just a single grave. Unfortunately I couldn't find anymore information for this area or even the church itself. 

Well that is all for today. Back to the Omni Hotel to rescue my wife from the boring training seminars! Thanks for riding along. Until next time...

2017-11-04: Geocaching Cemeteries, Ghost Town, and the Texas State Capital

Welcome back! Today's adventure brought us down to the Austin, Texas area where my wife had a business seminar to attend. So while she spent the day in meetings, I used that time to explore some rural areas around Austin. Then after rescuing her after the meetings were over, we took a tour of the capital building in Austin. Let's get started...

After dropping her off, I headed south on I-35 out of Austin to just past San Marcos. Exiting the highway to get to a couple of small family cemeteries a block away, I was delayed by a long slow moving freight train. Looking at my c:geo live cache map, I noticed two caches located just in the shopping center to my right. Might as well make this delay useful! So I gave up my spot in line and grabbed caches GC1PX9A and GC33APV. By now the train had passed and I was able to continue on.

My first planned cache was at the Pitts Cemetery (GC2ZQ9Z). From the historical marker: John Drayton Pitts was born at sea on August 26, 1798. During the voyage of his parents John and Jane Pitts, from England to Charleston, South Carolina. They moved to Georgia during the war of 1812, and John D. married Eliza Permelia Daves in April 1819.

John D. Pitts was elected to the Georgia Legislature in 1841 but later moved to Grimes County, TX. He persuaded his extended family in Georgia to join him, and in 1843 eleven Pitts families moved to Texas.

John D. Pitts served as Adjutant General under Texas Governor George Wood from 1848 to 1849. Pitts bought land here from his friend General Edward Burleson in 1850. And eventually much of his extended family settled along the San Antonio - San Marcos stage route in a community called Stringtown.

Pitts Cemetery began in 1850 with the burial of John Malone, infant son of James L. and Eliza (Pitts) Malone and grandson of John D and Eliza Pitts. Eliza Pitts was buried here in 1851. In 1861 John D Pitts died on his way home from a secessionist convention in Austin, and was buried here. The cemetery was set aside by Pitts' sons-in-law James Malone and Samual Kone Sr in 1875. The cemetery continues to serve as a burial site for the descendants of John D and Eliza Pitts.

Just down the same road was another small nearly forgotten cemetery on private property and difficult to see. The Byrd Owen - Payne Cemetery (GC2ZQ96) is located in an area of Hays County south of downtown San Marcos known as Stringtown. This area was settled in the early 1840's and was "strung out" along the road; thus the name "Stringtown."

Being on private property there's not much to see from the road except an old wooden sign. The Find-A-Grave website shows 9 marked graves dating from 1879 through 1910. There was a Boy Scout restoration project back in 1994. Then again in 2008 by the Hays County Historical Commission. You can see some photos from their efforts at the HCHC website.  

Jumping back onto I-35 south, I get to New Braunfels and my stomach starts reminding me that it hasn't gotten any food yet! I spot a Golden Corral sign and take the exit. After satisfying the stomach, I open the app to see a parking lot cache right there. So naturally you have to grab it also to commemorate the meal right! (GC6ZHQW)

Taking some backroads south to get a couple of new caching counties reminded me of why I prefer driving over flying. Even when traveling long distances, I prefer to take a drive. Geocaching can take you to some interesting places as a destination. But it's the Adventure of getting there and seeing the unexpected. Like this relic from the past. An old Willys Jeep Wagon now used as a billboard for a salvage company. Somebody needs to restore that piece of history. Or perhaps an upgrade retro-rod with modern powertrain and interior conveniences. 

Further down the road in the town of Stockdale was this old Jeep sitting neglected at the corner property of another business.

OK, back to geocaching. My next stop was at the Stockdale Cemetery (GC5G6W8). Based on the historical marker: Before the Stockdale Cemetery was begun in the 1870's, most burials took place in private, family graveyards. About 1873, however, a young man who was not related to any of the local settlers was thrown from his horse and killed. To provide a place for his burial, Dr. T. M. Battle gave one acre of land at this site, and the burial ground has been used by Stockdale citizens since that time. Additional acreage was either purchased or donated over time.

The earliest marked grave in the Stockdale Cemetery, that of Sallie A. Pope, is dated 1873. Many early settlers are buried here, including the towns founder and Texas Ranger, John R. King (next photo), and the first schoolteacher Martin West. The cemetery also contains the graves of numerous war veterans and victims of the post-World War 1 flu epidemic.

From there I go down to a very rural tiny town called Gillett in Karnes County. I'm not sure if it's considered a ghost town. At it's peak it only had a population of 200 and now down to about 120. But it did have several abandoned buildings, stores, and even this two room jail that sat back in the overgrown brush and trees that you could barely see it from the road. The front room was used as a courtroom and the back was jail (GC1MC5N).
The site was first settled around the time of the Civil War at the junction of the San Antonio-Victoria and Helena-Seguin roads. In 1869 Carl Edward Riedel constructed a dam on nearby Ecleto Creek to power his sawmill, gristmill, and cotton gin. The small settlement that developed was named in his honor, but when the community applied for a post office in 1871, postal officials inexplicably changed its spelling from Riedelville to Riddleville. By 1882 Riddleville had, in addition to Riedel's industries, a Methodist church, a school, a physician, and two general stores. Daily mail came from Helena and Luling by hack. By 1895 the town had a third general store and congregations of Methodists, Baptists, and Cumberland Presbyterians. Among its most notable residents were author and industrialist Max Krueger, horse-trader Sarah Jane Scull, and pioneer airplane builders Prentice and Arthur Newman. Gunfighter John Wesley Hardin also reportedly resided there for a time.

In 1905 residents petitioned to change the town's name to Gillett in honor of E. G. Gillett, a lawyer and newspaperman in Runge who encouraged the town's development. During the early 1900s Gillett developed into a trade and social center for northeastern Karnes County. In its heyday between 1910 and 1920, Gillett had a post office, a school, a hotel, a cafe, a meat market, a barbershop, a pool hall, a wagonyard, a cotton gin, a physician's office, a blacksmith shop, a Woodmen of the World lodge, two general stores, two drugstores, and two saloons. A community church served congregations of Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, and Cumberland Presbyterians. With the advent of the automobile, three garages were built at the community. Gillett's population grew to 200 by the mid-1920s but declined markedly during the drought of the 1950s. The community's school closed in the 1970s. In the early 1990s Gillett was a center for a cattle-raising area. The former school building was used as a community center.

I headed over to the cemetery to check it out. There wasn't a cache there, there's only one cache in town and that was by the jail. But I still can't pass up the cemetery visit. I was kinda odd that most of it was kept up and mowed while other parts overgrown. You can see in the first photo the two towering headstones near completely hidden by the brush. When walking through these old cemeteries, it's not uncommon to see a lot of infant and toddler graves. However this more recent 2008 headstone really caught me off guard. Imagine having triplets. Delivering one 4 days before the other two. Only to have life for one day. Then a few days later the other two are born. One lives a couple of days and the last only a couple of weeks. I can't imagine what they must have gone through. Another headstone not far away is another who had a long journey in this world of 120 years. We'll never understand these things until we take that first step into eternity ourselves when all things become clear. 

Moving on to another type of memorial and another new caching county. A newly erected memorial paying tribute to those Dewitt County residents who served in Vietnam and crosses with a photo for each who "gave all" in combat (GC67G39).

Moving onward to continue picking up needed caching counties, brought me to Goliad County and the little town of Weesatche, Texas. Established in the late 1840's to early 1850's, it was originally called Middletown because it was halfway between Goliad and Clinton. The post office was established on November 22, 1855, but confusion soon followed thereafter with another Middletown, Texas town in Comal County. The residents decided to rename their town Huisache for the sweet acacia tree in the area. The new post office was named in May 1860, but misspelled as Weesatche to match its phonetic pronunciation.

The first cache was located at the Woodlawn Cemetery near the center of town (GC27R6Y). The second at the St. Andrews Lutheran Church Cemetery on the south side of town (GC27R77). You can see from the first headstone pictured below the influence of German and other eastern European settlers there were in early Texas history. The St. Andrews Lutheran Church was organized in 1891 by Rev. Theordore N. Ander, who left Ander, Texas to become the regular pastor.

While it may look like a set from an old west movie or TV show, these really are the original storefronts from the 1800's along Main Street in Weesatche, Texas.

Finally making the u-turn and heading back up to Austin, I pass through Luling, Texas and a quick virtual geocache (GC8655). I won't give you any clues about the virtual, but I will tell about this historic old west cabin. The Rev. William Johnson (1822-1889), farmer and Baptist minister who came to Texas in 1833, built this shotgun-style cabin near Tenny Creek (11 miles NE of Luling). In the 1870's, family included five children. His son W. E. (Billie) became a physician in Tilmon.

Since 1893, the Jeff Connolly family has owned Johnson's land. T. B. Coopwood, M.D. used this cabin as an office in the late 1890's. Mr. and Mrs. Jett Connolly donated this house in 1972 to be relocated in this public park.

Now that I've picked up my wife, we head to the State Capital building for a walk through. There is a lot of history here and the surrounding grounds. We were running out of time plus we were both hungry! We did manage to grab four of the virtual caches outside (GCA4F6, GC588B, GC142B, GCB231) before calling it a day and headed to dinner and home.