Mystery Building Solved
You remember a few weeks back we discussed an unusual rock house James Mather found on a newly acquired parcel of land way out County Road 214? Neither James nor anyone else I spoke to knew anything about the structure. At that time I promised to visit the Exxon station more regularly, hoping to find the answer to the riddle. In my imagination I could just see a rugged, bewhiskered old man wearing scruffy boots and patched jeans, with a sweat stained hat, having coffee there. And in my fancy I would approach him and he would have the answer to our riddle.
Well to my astonishment last Thursday, as I promised, I was having a cup of coffee with a bunch of gentlemen at the Exxon, when in came that very man I had imagined. I introduced myself, and he offered me a calloused hand that had done a life of hard work, and said he was pleased to meet me. “Sir, we have a mystery here in Liberty Hill that you may be able to shed some light on.” I shared with him the house James had found and the fact that no one knew anything about it. “No, he said, I am afraid I can’t help you with that. I am from out west and I don’t believe I have ever been in these parts.” You can imagine my disappointment as the old man paid for his coffee, got into his battered pick up and drove off to the west.
Gary Spivey was sitting at our table. Gary Spivey, our historian. He said, “I overheard your questions to the old man and the riddle of the newly found building. What do you want to know about that house?” Well, Gary did not fit the description of the man I knew would reveal the answer to my quest. In fact, Gary was wearing Nike running shoes, walking shorts, purple Liberty Hill tee shirt and a baseball cap. Hardly the sage I was expecting. However he did have the answer to my question. “The building was a stage stop on the road from Austin to Lampasas and further northwest,” he said. Gary stated in the 1830’s as roads were spreading to the north and west, a stagecoach could only travel from 10 to 20 miles, before the horses had to be changed. And the passengers needed rest also, so the stops were placed that far apart. The stage road northwesterly from Austin came to what was to become Liberty Hill and made a fork; one going west, another going north. The north fork of the long ago road is where our stage stop is located. So I found a Texas map and laid a straight edge on the map from Austin to Lampasas and sure enough, the line passes close to our mystery stage stop. Gary said one early stop was at Jollyville, just north of Austin. Others were placed along the route northwest.
So there you are. Mystery solved. If you have a question, hang around the Exxon station until a wrinkled, battered, whiskered, booted old man comes in for coffee. Then ask Gary. Odds are you will get the answer.