Central Texas Tales

Central Texas Tales PDF Author: Mike Cox
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614237506
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Central Texas is an area as diverse culturally as it is geographically. Bordered by Hill Country in the west, green farmland in the east and Waco and New Braunfels in the north and south, this area has drawn settlers from around the globe for over two centuries, leaving their mark and their stories along the way. From a surprising story of nineteenth-century psych ops at Fort Mason and what really happened to Bevo, the UT longhorn, in 1920 to Mrs. Ross's Croghan Cobbler recipe and rumors of a Lone Star visit by old Abe himself, historian Mike Cox regales readers with over fifty stories about the fascinating people, history and places of middle Texas.

The Cedar Choppers

The Cedar Choppers PDF Author: Ken Roberts
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1623496071
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
At the low-water bridge below Tom Miller Dam, west of downtown Austin, during the summer of his tenth or eleventh year, Ken Roberts had his first encounter with cedar choppers. On his way to the bridge for a leisurely afternoon of fishing, he suddenly found himself facing a group of boys who clearly came from a different place and culture than the middle-class, suburban community he was accustomed to. Rather, “. . . they looked hard—tanned, skinny, dirty. These were not kids you would see in Austin.” When Roberts’s fishing companion curtly refused the strangers’ offer to sell them a stringer of bluegills, the three boys went away, only to reappear moments later, one of them carrying a club. Roberts and his friend made a hasty retreat. This encounter provoked in the author the question, “Who are these people?” The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing is his thoughtful, entertaining, and informative answer. Based on oral history interviews with several generations of cedar choppers and those who knew them, this book weaves together the lively, gritty story of these largely Scots-Irish migrants with roots in Appalachia who settled on the west side of the Balcones Fault during the mid-nineteenth century, subsisting mainly on hunting, trapping, moonshining, and, by the early twentieth century, cutting, transporting, and selling cedar fence posts and charcoal. The emergence of Austin as a major metropolitan area, especially after the 1950s, soon brought the cedar choppers and their hillbilly lifestyle into direct confrontation with the gentrified urban population east of the Balcones Fault. This clash of cultures, which provided the setting for Roberts’s encounter as a young boy, propels this first book-length treatment of the cedar choppers, their clans, their culture and mores, and their longing for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.

Springs of Texas

Springs of Texas PDF Author: Gunnar M. Brune
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441969
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
This text explores the natural history of Texas and more than 2900 springs in 183 Texas counties. It also includes an in-depth discussion of the general characteristics of springs - their physical and prehistoric settings, their historical significance, and their associated flora and fauna.

A Hill Country Paradise?

A Hill Country Paradise? PDF Author: Elaine Perkins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781475924602
Category : Texas
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the mid-1800s, land speculators said that Western Travis County in Texas would be a paradise, a perfect place to grow crops, raise livestock, and build a life. Settlers were seduced by such stories, and many of them including a large segment of German immigrants made their way to this promised land. What they found was, for the most part, an arid area of cedar trees, poor soil, rocks, and snakes. Still, these hardy people carved out a good life for themselves, making the best of what they had, and their descendents continue to live in the area today. Historian and Travis County resident Elaine Perkins relates the tales of these settlers in A Hill Country Paradise, a moving testament to the pioneer spirit that made this place prosperous. From the earliest settlers through two world wars, Perkins reveals the tragedies and triumphs of those who made the county their home. This historical record brings this Texas county's past to life, recalling residents fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War, breaking ground for a new homestead, rustling cattle, taking advantage of burgeoning business opportunities, squabbling, and heralding the arrival of electricity. Vivid details, solid research, and an intriguing narrative make A Hill Country Paradise not only educational, but also entertaining, securing the memory of this county's past for future generations.

Out of Darkness

Out of Darkness PDF Author: Ashley Hope Pérez
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab ®
ISBN: 1467776785
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
A Michael L. Printz Honor Book "This is East Texas, and there's lines. Lines you cross, lines you don't cross. That clear?" New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive. Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history—as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people. "[This] layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town is a pit-in-the-stomach family drama that goes down like it should, with pain and fascination, like a mix of sugary medicine and artisanal moonshine."—The New York Times Book Review "Pérez deftly weaves [an] unflinchingly intense narrative....A powerful, layered tale of forbidden love in times of unrelenting racism."―starred, Kirkus Reviews "This book presents a range of human nature, from kindness and love to acts of racial and sexual violence. The work resonates with fear, hope, love, and the importance of memory....Set against the backdrop of an actual historical event, Pérez...gives voice to many long-omitted facets of U.S. history."―starred, School Library Journal

Tales from the Manchaca Hills

Tales from the Manchaca Hills PDF Author: Edna Turley Carpenter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Texas
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description


25 Years Later

25 Years Later PDF Author: Darwin Hamilton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781722499846
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
This book is a memoir and reflects the author's present recollections of experiences over time. It chronicles the shear desire, determination and resilience that is required to overcome some of life's greatest personal challenges that test the mettle of a person, human spirit and conscious.

The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore, 1916-1954

The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore, 1916-1954 PDF Author: Texas Folklore Society
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 9781574410556
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
A representative anthology of Texas folklore from the first half of the twentieth century, including legends, ghost stories, songs, proverbs, and other writings.

Austin's Montopolis Neighborhood

Austin's Montopolis Neighborhood PDF Author: Fred L. McGhee, Ph.D.
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467131768
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Montopolis is a multiethnic neighborhood located approximately four miles southeast of downtown Austin. The area was long visited and occasionally occupied by various Texas Indian nations; the first documented European or American to settle here was Jessie C. Tannehill, who in 1830 built a cabin and townsite and gave the new community its pretentious name. Instead of establishing a permanent presence in Montopolis, however, subsequent European colonizers looked a few miles upriver to the new settlement of Waterloo, later to be called Austin. Rural and sparsely populated, the remainder of the 19th century saw the Montopolis area used primarily for plantation agriculture. In the 1920s, succeeding waves of Mexican migrants helped establish the modern neighborhood that exists today. Between the 1950s and 1970s, the City of Austin annexed Montopolis, although the area retains much of its rural character.

Central Texas Tales

Central Texas Tales PDF Author: Mike Cox
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614237506
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Central Texas is an area as diverse culturally as it is geographically. Bordered by Hill Country in the west, green farmland in the east and Waco and New Braunfels in the north and south, this area has drawn settlers from around the globe for over two centuries, leaving their mark and their stories along the way. From a surprising story of nineteenth-century psych ops at Fort Mason and what really happened to Bevo, the UT longhorn, in 1920 to Mrs. Ross's Croghan Cobbler recipe and rumors of a Lone Star visit by old Abe himself, historian Mike Cox regales readers with over fifty stories about the fascinating people, history and places of middle Texas.

Indian Depredations in Texas

Indian Depredations in Texas PDF Author: John Wesley Wilbarger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Frontier and pioneer life
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
Reliable accounts of battles, wars, adventures, forays, murders, and massacres together with biographical sketches of many of the most noted Indian fighters and frontiersmen of Texas.