Holocaust Remembrance
One of the deepest scars in the history of humankind is the Holocaust. Friday, January 27 is International ... Read More »
San Antonio’s Grande Dames
Three grand San Antonio hotels, the St. Anthony, Gunter, and Crockett, opened in 1909. The timing is hardly a coincidence. Founded at the crossroads of early travel routes, San Antonio saw significant growth after Texas became part of the Union and again with the arrival of the railroad in 1877. According to the Texas Almanac, San Antonio was the state’s most populous city in 1909. And, says architect Irby Hightower, principal of Alamo Architects Inc., these hotels filled a growing need for lodging and places to conduct business. Even during tough economic times in the 1920s and 1930s, San Antonio prospered thanks to oil and ranching money. Through the years, these hotels made enough money to remain open but not so much to tempt their owners to tear them down and build something bigger. All three have continuously operated as hotels, and thanks to recent renovations, they retain their original grandeur. Read More »
Main Street Remake
With its spreading oak trees and architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the scene is what you might expect to see in a cinematic depiction of Texas small-town life before interstate highways, strip malls, and big cities wrested rural downtowns of their vitality. But this is no time warp. Thanks to public and private restoration efforts, a strong local economy, and a convenient location between Houston and Austin, La Grange’s downtown square thrives with a charm that feels both vital and vintage. Read More »
Pioneers of Posh
It’s safe to say that an elegant, 19th-Century mansion was not what I was expecting to see as I drove down a ... Read More »
Hail to the Boys of the CCC
When I was a child, Texas’ state parks were beloved vacation destinations. I became intimately familiar with ... Read More »
Liberty Delivered
Remember the Alamo? It was there that William B. Travis penned his famous letter, signed “Victory or Death,” on ... Read More »
Frontier Spirits
Some say my lodging for this evening—the commander’s quarters at historic Fort Concho—is home to a ghost. About 13 ... Read More »
Forgotten Conflict
When historians expound on the most important action in the Civil War, they usually focus on battles fought east ... Read More »
Hot Dish
In the closing decades of the 19th Century—and especially after the arrival of the railroad in 1877—many ... Read More »
Tribal Treks
The Caddo Indians were among the first Texans, moving into the Neches Valley about 1,200 years ago. For nearly a ... Read More »
Mystery Solved?
Billy the Kid, one of America’s most notorious gunslingers and Wild West frontier outlaws, was shot dead in New ... Read More »
Pine Curtain of the Past
Looking up into the thick pine canopy of deep East Texas, it’s hard to believe that the pristine forests the ... Read More »
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