5 Central Texas day trips perfect for historic holidays
For many — not all — workers, this is a quiet week.
Bracketed by two widely adopted three-day weekends, the time between Christmas and New Year's Day (observed) invites light travel.
For instance, unless the weather makes a fuss, I hope to visit the Wendish Museum in Serbin, a day trip from my Austin base.
As some of you know, I've long been meaning to visit this, the only museum in this country dedicated to the Wends, a group of Slavs who immigrated to America during the 19th century.
Before another year is done, I'm going to make it happen. A stop at the Bullpen Bar & Grill nearby is a must.
Consistently, the most popular Think Texas columns during the past three years have recorded road trips — or shorter day trips — that sampled the historical, cultural and gustatory charms of the state's towns and cities.
As a nudge to consider some trips like my Wendish fantasy, allow me to offer five options taken from recent columns. Heads up: Double check hours, which might be affected by the holidays.
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Fredericksburg: A major war museum
A treasure among Texas historical assets, the National Museum of the Pacific War occupies several interconnected sites in downtown Fredericksburg. Start with the George H.W. Bush Gallery, which consists of display after detailed display of sleekly presented material on World War II.
Continue through the courtyard — with its memorial groupings — to the old, ship-like Nimitz Hotel, where one can learn about Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, the Central Texas native who served as commander in chief of the Pacific fleet, then later took charge of the entire Pacific front.
Don't skip the short stroll from these galleries to additional buildings that include more well-designed displays, and the Pacific Combat Zone, an amphitheater for battle reenactments. There's so much to do at this museum, you might consider an overnight trip. After all, Fredericksburg offers so many other attractions, including excursions into the nearby wine country, that you wouldn't want to rush any time spent there.
National Museum of the Pacific War: 311 E. Austin St., Fredericksburg; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Monday; 830-997-8600, pacificwarmuseum.org. (Closed Dec. 24-25, open Dec. 26-Jan. 2.)
Gault Site: 20,000 years of memories
This day trip takes more planning, because one must secure a guided group tour of the Gault Site in advance, or join scheduled tours organized by the Bell County Museum or Williamson Museum.
The gentle land above a tributary of the Lampasas River, found along the border between Bell and Williamson counties, is unremarkable — a gully, a glade, a glimpse of prairie. Yet once a guide describes what was found here during earlier digs, one's imagination takes flight.
Using all sorts of advanced methods, archeologists now estimate that some of the millions of artifacts found here date back to 20,000 years ago. That's much earlier than scientists had estimated human presence in North America. Included among the Native American treasures is a decorated stone tool that might represent the oldest dated art in the Americas. Don't expect an open-pit dig in progress; most of the major underground work has been done. Still marvel at this place that is helping to rewrite our understanding of human life here.
Gault Site: Near Florence; 512-245-8734, gaultschool.org/tours. (Alternately, contact the Williamson Museum or Bell County Museum.)
Salado: Layers upon layers of history
This quaint town on Salado Creek in Bell County is familiar to older Texans as a respite from Interstate 35, with its gobs of shops, eateries and preserved atmosphere. Think Fredericksburg or Wimberley, but just a few yards from an interstate. After a period of torpidity blamed on road construction, Salado is coming back, thanks in part to a hospitality complex that, in itself, embodies the almost geological layers of history found here.
That would be what most people remember as the Stagecoach Inn.
Part of the existing complex above Salado Creek goes back to the 1860s, when it was a true stagecoach stop known as the Shady Villa Hotel. Its restaurant was founded in the 1940s and was known for its unchanging menu and staff. A nearby modernist motel rose next to the interregional highway during the 1950s; it, too, seemed trapped in amber. The next layer was laid down during the past decade: a winningly reinvented restaurant and a luxury hotel complex that tempts one to stay the night.
History does not stand still: The most recent operators of the hospitality complex have revived the Shady Villa Hotel name and changed the café's name to Stagecoach Restaurant.
Stagecoach Restaurant and Shady Villa Hotel: 416 S. Main St., Salado; 254-947-5111, shadyvillahotel.com
La Grange: A monument high above a cool town
During my youth, road trips from Houston to Central Texas and back often included a stop in La Grange at the Cottonwood Inn, which served comfort food in generous quantities. You couldn't miss it because, before the smooth bypass was built around the town, one was forced to crawl through historic La Grange. The Cottonwood and its modernist motel still stand; the café now advertises seafood as well as Mexican and American dishes.
Driving on the bypass in subsequent decades, one could always spy Monument Hill, a steep slope on the southern side of town with a moving memorial and a historic brewery in ruins. I did not visit that high point until my adult years, and then only twice, once during the peak of the pandemic when the park's wide open spaces made for a perfect safe and scenic picnic.
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The art deco slab at the center of the park stands on the spot that was selected in 1848 as a cemetery for the Texans who died in the Dawson Massacre (1842), along with the dead of the Texan Santa Fe (1841) and Mier (1842) expeditions, and those captured during Gen. Adrian Wolf's raid on San Antonio (1842).
Compared with the mountains of history — and mythology — devoted to the Texas Revolution of the 1830s, this monument is a rare reminder of the extended hostilities between the new republic and Mexico during the 1840s.
Kreische Brewery & Monument Hill State Historic Sites: 414 TX-92 Spur, La Grange; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Sunday; 979-968-5658, thc.texas.gov/historic-sites/monument-hill-state-historic-site.
Burnet County: An old jail and 3 historic towns
The ultimate day trip of the past three years took me deep into Burnet County. In Marble Falls, I visited the Falls on the Colorado Museum, the Blue Bonnet Cafe — famous for its pies — and the site for the future museum of local African American history. In Bertram, I learned about hospitality at Flanagan's Texas Distillery and Winery, built into an airy old building; I toured the 1930s Globe Theatre, which has been turned into a concert venue that shows a few movies; and I examined the meticulously renovated railroad station, originally from Orange Grove.
The day's highlight was found in the county seat of Burnet. Although I spent pleasant time at what remains of Fort Croghan, and admired the scene around the courthouse square, I really enjoyed the authentic atmosphere at the 1884 jail, which has been lovingly — if that's the right word — renovated. The first floor consists mostly of the town drunk tank executed in woven metal walls. Upstairs, find the higher security cells and the private quarters for the sheriff and his family. A little spooky, given the famous criminals incarcerated here, but I haven't seen a more evocatively redone Texas jail in all my years of travel around the state.
Old Burnet County Jail: 109 S. Pierce St., Burnet; 9 to 11 a.m., Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Michael Barnes writes about the people, places, culture and history of Austin and Texas. He can be reached at mbarnes@gannett.com. Sign up for the free weekly Texas history digital newsletter at statesman.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: History day trips around Central Texas perfect for the holidays
