The Texas Hills

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While many of the Hill Country's old towns thrive, other once-active settlements with names like Welfare, Buda and Driftwood (the last known for one of Texas's most famous barbecue establishments, the Salt Lick) are charming ghosts of their former selves. Even the small, vital town of Blanco (pop. 5,300), where you can still get made-from-scratch doughnuts at the Blanco Bowling Club Cafe, has its reminder of a more distinguished past. In the town square stands a huge, abandoned limestone courthouse with an elaborate mansard roof. Built in 1885, it was the town's pride and joy until the county seat was moved to Johnson City in 1891.

Of all these dozens of remnants of Hill Country history, I particularly liked Fischer (pop. 20) on the Little Blanco River in an area of vintage stone houses, barns and fences. Its corrugated-steel store and post office was built in 1902, and stepping inside takes one on a trip to another era. Ancient cracker and coffee tins and boxes of fossils rest on old counters surrounding a woodburning stove. To one side, a black-enameled safe bears the name of the town's founder, Herman Fischer, in gilt letters; since the post office was opened in 1876, the postmaster has always been named Fischer.

At the Fischer Bowling Hall, ninepins are still set up by pin boys, and at the Fischer Dance Hall next door, which was used in the filming of Willie Nelson's movie Honeysuckle Rose, the wood floors have been put to toe-tapping, foot-stomping use ever since the hall was built by a one-eyed carpenter in 1898.

The Texas Turnaround

Just as so many of these little settlements have had their booms and busts, in the last few years much of the state of Texas has suffered an economic downturn that some compare to the Great Depression. In fact, the effects are hard for those of us in more prosperous parts of the nation to even imagine. These economic woes have spilled over into the Hill Country, where real estate companies frequently advertise foreclosed properties, and many people selling homes have cut their asking prices nearly in half. It's definitely a buyer's market in housing here. Keep in mind, though, that jobs are few and wages are typically low. Many residents have to commute to San Marcos (the county seat of Hays County, pop. 25,286), Austin or San Antonio to find work. Those contemplating a move here, who dream of living off the land, should be aware that late spring frosts, battering hail and long dry spells frequently wipe out crops, and, as noted, cloudbursts rip the valleys with unexpected floods.

By the same token, birds sing, wildflowers bloom, deer pause to peruse you before crashing through the brush, fish hover in creeks and rivers that run enchantingly clear and cool through the rocky landscape, and, most important of all, people smile and say hello. Come to think of it, they laugh a lot, too.

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