ATTRACTIONS
One-room schools, like this one in Crabapple, are spread all across Gillespie County. These used to serve all students in the area. — Standard-Radio Post file photo
GILLESPIE COUNTY OFFERS VISIT TO HISTORIC COUNTRY SCHOOLS G
illespie County believes in preserving the history of public education.
One-room schoolhouses dominated the countryside for decades before consolidating with larger districts or closing. The Fredericksburg Independent School District, Harper ISD and Doss Consolidated Common School District came along later, but the country schools remain. The sites and even memories can still be revisited, courtesy of a visit on the Gillespie County Country Schools Trail.
‘SCHOOLS TRAIL’ The “schools trail” gives visitors and residents a chance to venture into the earlier days of Texas, when German settlers came to the Texas Hill Country and established rural schools to educate their children. Among the old school houses on the driving trail are Cave Creek, Cherry Mountain, Cherry Spring, Crabapple, Grapetown, Junction, Lower South
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Grape Creek, Luckenbach, Meusebach Creek, Nebgen, Pecan Creek, Rheingold, Williams Creek (Albert), White Oak, Willow City and Wrede. In the 1950s and 1960s, the schools were consolidated into the Fredericksburg Independent School District. On Jan. 23, 2006, the Gillespie County Commissioners Court established the Gillespie County Country Schools Trail. This trail linked the 16 historic former country schools with the Vereins Kirche, which is a replica of the first school built in 1847 in the county. The 120-mile trail leads visitors to the countryside to see one, several or all schools, along with early school barbecue pits, outdoor pavilions, stages and stage curtains. Many of the historic sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
‘FRIENDS’ The Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools, in conjunction with several organizations, sponsors the trail and various activities throughout the year
Spring&Summer2021
