Hills of Home:: Art, Music and Lake Escape of Marble Falls

By John Morthland

Along US 281 on the hillside just south of the Colorado River in Marble Falls, an historical marker honors Oscar J. Fox, the Western composer who set existing poems to original music to create such cowboy standards as Git Along Little Dogies. That very spot, with its sweeping view of the Hill Country and across the bridge over Lake Marble Falls, moved Fox, who was born in Burnet County, to write the music for the 1925 The Hills of Home. And I have to say, I’m with Mr. Fox: That entryway into Marble Falls from the south never fails to inspire.

With its rich history, bucolic setting, and range of diversions of both the indoor and outdoor variety, Marble Falls has always been one of the gems of the Highland Lakes region. The town’s namesake waterfalls once cascaded 20 feet along the river, but became engulfed by the lake when Max Starcke Dam was built in the 1950s.

Today, Marble Falls hosts such contrasting annual events as the LakeFest Drag Boat Races in August and October’s Sculpture on Main project, and the Bluebonnet Music and Fine Arts Festival (March) and blazing Walkway of Lights during the holidays. There’s a lively art scene with lots of live music. And as long as that spectacular southern “front door” offers the view that it does, Marble Falls will se

em like a picture-perfect getaway.

The Essentials

Marble Falls

Marble Falls lies 45 miles west of Austin and 85 miles north of San Antonio. For more information, call the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce at 830/693-2815; or visit the Web site. Also find more on the Historic Main Street Association Web site. Contact information for sites featured in the story follows.

Restaurants

The Real New Orleans Style Restaurant, 15041-B US 281 N., Round Mountain (11 miles south of Marble Falls), 830/825-3600.
Blue Bonnet Cafe, 211 US 281, 830/693-2344.

Lodging

The Wallace Guest House, 910 3rd St., 830/798-9808.
Horseshoe Bay Resort, 6 miles southwest of Marble Falls, 877/611-0112; . Resort Yacht Club, 830/596-0881.
The Boat House, 1222 CR 132A, Kingsland (12 miles northwest of Marble Falls), 325/388-5585.

Galleries

Pogue Sculpture Gallery and Foundry, Inc., 7670 FM 1431 E. (7.5 miles east of Marble Falls), 830/693-9544.
jSpace Gallery, 206 Main St., 830/693-5973.
Riverbend Fine Art, 710 1st St., 830/693-6632.
Patina, 1506 FM 1431 W., 830/637-7662.

Attractions

Falls on the Colorado Museum, 905 3rd St., 830/798-2157.
Longhorn Cavern State Park, 6 miles west of US 281 on Park Road 4, 830/598-2283.
Vanishing Texas River Cruise, at Canyon of the Eagles Lodge, where FM 2341 ends 14 miles north of US 29, 512/756-6986.
The Uptown Marble Theater, 218 Main St., 830/693-9996.

See the full article in the June 2009 issue.

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