Have you ever considered that the colonization of this state by Stephen F. Austin — the “Father of Texas” — was a probable cause of the American Civil War? 

Several kind readers have forwarded me the real estate listing for what was until recently the headquarters building of the LDBrinkman Corporation. The building is for sale, though quite out of the price range of this rural printer.

How did a small isolated settlement on the edge of the western frontier become so prosperous, after a devastating Civil War? Especially when it took two days to travel the existing military supply road to the nearest large village of San Antonio. 

The Ingram Garden Club hopes everyone’s garden survived the onset of this cooler weather we’ve been having. 

All the students of St. Peter’s School had a special visit from the city of Kerrville firefighters and Fire Pup.

Members of a local Republican group said they enjoyed playing bingo with a room full of veterans at the VA Medical Center in Kerrville on Tuesday.

To recognize October as Family History Month, the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library will join the Genealogy Network of Texas for a series of webinars starting at noon Oct. 18 in the library’s first floor meeting room.

They refer to themselves as “Mooney Drivers” and since the 1950s, their enthusiasm for piloting Mooney Aircraft has brought visitors, business and new residents to the Kerrville area. 

Growing up in the country in the Permian Basin of the High Plains of Texas, I have many fond memories of finding horny toads and box turtles and of listening to quail calls and the sounds of pump jacks. But after leaving Texas to finish my graduate education, I did not spend much time in the…

It’s all there: the famous water lilies, the wisteria-draped Japanese bridge and the glorious explosion of natural color and texture that is Giverny, the home and gardens of Claude Monet, French painter, a founder of French Impressionist painting. In the 43 years he lived and painted in Give…

I received a nice letter last week from the daughter-in-law of Louise Hays, telling me about some photographs of the building of the Louise Hays Park in a single day. The letter told how the images had been copied and given to the city of Kerrville, and the folks at the city were kind enough…

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word “change” in a verb tense: “As to become different or to undergo transformation.” 

Last weekend, I hopped in my truck to explore parts of the county I don’t get to visit very often, traveling along Wharton Road, crossing the Guadalupe, continuing on to Center Point, and then around several sites in that city.

Trees are an important part of the Hill Country landscape. With our environmental factors including heat, drought and soil conditions, trees in the Hill Country are fighting continuous challenges. 

Regular readers will be familiar with the fact that while the vast majority of my columns deal with nature in the Hill Country, I do sometimes write about topics having a wider scope. Last week, I wrote about being a good citizen of the Earth. It got me to thinking about a National Geographi…

Texas is a large, diverse state, and plants that work for one region may not always be the best choice in a different region. The Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) created the N.I.C.E. Native Plant Partners program (formerly called Operation NICE!) to help nurseries offer natives that ar…

Philip Johnson has been named Concertmaster of Kerrville’s Symphony of the Hills, beginning with the 2019-20 season.

At the risk of being obvious, my topic today is avoiding the obvious.

Editor’s note: The following originally ran in The Kerrville Daily Times on March 31, 2005. Musician and songwriter Tom Kellar — who was a Times staff writer at the time — landed a much-coveted phone interview with Daniel Johnston several months after the release of “The Late Great Daniel Jo…

This past weekend, the city of Kerrville celebrated its “130th Birthday” with several events along the river, including a musical performance in Louise Hays Park called “Riverfest.” 

Are you naturally curious? If so, you have likely enjoyed the sensation of learning about subjects that your mind was piqued to explore by curiosity. 

A few years ago, an edition of Texas Wildlife magazine contained two articles about coyotes that I found fascinating and informative. Here are, briefly, some of the things discussed in these articles.

There was a time when Kerrville’s Jefferson Street had a nickname: Church Street.

Descendants of artist Lee Ethel are on a scavenger hunt, and they need your help.

At the May convention of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Joshua D. Brown member Judy McVay was appointed State Registrar for Members at Large by newly elected Registrar General Mary Ann Oliver.

Men and women with choral experience who are interested in joining the Hill Country Chorale, Kerrville’s community chorus, are invited to a free reception at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at Ryan Hall, First Presbyterian Church, Kerrville.

ROCKSPRINGS — The Devil’s Sinkhole Society, the nonprofit volunteer Texas Parks friends group that provides Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area tours and operates the Rocksprings Visitors Center, is proceeding with an active year. 

Most of us are fascinated by watching animal behavior, especially their interactions with their own species. It is these intraspecies interactionsand associations that we call, anthropomorphically, “animal societies.”To start with the basics, some animals are loners and some like to be part …

With the Arcadia Theater in the news recently, I thought it might be useful to share the old girl’s history. Here’s the story of the Arcadia from my files:

I’m the type of computer user who doesn’t require or want “assistance” from typical word processing software, thank you very much. A good example was that annoying paperclip thingie that used to pop up in Windows to ask if you needed help. First thing I did on every computer was turn him off…

Dear Readers: A great safety measure to protect your pets in case of a fire? A sticker on the window telling first responders how many and what types of pets you have inside.

The Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library is sporting new magazine holders as of Aug. 2, courtesy of funding from the Friends of the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library. 

The Hill Country Youth Ranch Auxiliary will meet Aug. 26 in the Cailloux Activity Center at Schreiner University. The meeting will begin at 11 a.m. with lunch at 11:30 a.m. The cost of the luncheon is $17.