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A piece of living history in The Hill Country By Parastoo Nikravesh Alegria Barn

Nestled next to Wolf Creek and surrounded by a picturesque dry stack stone rock fence is Alegria Barn. Upon entering, an unmistakable smell of old pine greets you and the high ceilings and wooden beams catch your attention. The building has rustic charm and elegance, but it is more than a standard Texas Hill Country barn — it is a piece of living history.

Alegria is an antique barn that is over 200 years old and originally built in Exeter, New Hampshire — a city known as one of the capitals of the American Revolution.

Alegria Barn, a property owned by the James Avery family, was originally a gift. “Alegria — which is known to mean joy, hope, happiness — was a personal project of Mr. Avery’s for a very long time. He actually purchased Alegria as a gift for his wife Estela Avery,” said Summer West, director of sales and marketing for Alegria.

Because of Estela Avery’s commitment to local nonprofits, James Avery wanted to give her a place to donate or make available for the community for nonprofit or private events and for Avery family functions.

After searching for the perfect place, Avery eventually found Alegria in New England and brought it back to The Hill Country and finished rebuilding it in 2003.

“Something we pride ourselves on about Alegria is that it was artisan designed with an event in mind. For Mr. Avery, the events he had in mind were the events he and Estela would host for the community and privately.”

Located between Kerrville and Fredericksburg at 15475 S. State Highway 16, Fredericksburg, Alegria has specially crafted artisan features, but at the heart of the building is the history. “There’s a lot of unique and historical components and it was very important to Mr. and Mrs. Avery that the original, historical architecture was intact once they got this project going,” West said. The building was originally a working dairy barn and the elements of those days are still apparent. There are 600 lbs poles made of New England pine that divide parts of the room that would represent where the dairy stalls would

❝Something we pride ourselves on about Alegria is that it was artisan designed with an event in mind.

have stood and the second floor was the hay loft where they could open and close the windows to maintain the humidity of the building. Additionally, there are several square nails and around 300 wooden peg poles that held the building together. All original features. “The beams at the top are part of the original structure,” West said. “The top of the building is curved because back in the day when ship builders were not building ships they had to have something else to do, so they would help to build these barns. Those days, barns were prefabbed — because it takes longer than a day to cut a tree and prepare it for building — so if you look closely you can see if we put a large ship up there, upside down, you could tell that was the bow of a ship.” Another historical element is the unique, pleasant smell.

“There is a smell in here and that is a natural wood smell and we don’t do anything to it. That is the smell that the wood produces,” West said.

The newer features are all created by local artisans such as the fence, working fireplace and chairs and tables. Today, Alegria hosts guests from all around the region for weddings, business meetings, nonprofit events and more. The barn can hold around 250 people for a seated dinner and up to 1,500 people with added tents and other rentals.

“The public has been very gracious and super excited to get in here. The goal is to have it open to the public for them to utilize this space as an area to meet, make business meetings happen and host events,” West said. Before entering the property, visitors can see a sign displaying the Alegria name, that was originally designed by James Avery himself.

“The sign out front that welcomes our guests as they come in that says ‘Alegria,’ I would consider a private design of Mr. Avery’s,” West said. “He passed away almost two years ago and after that they were going through the kitchen and in one of the cookbooks appeared a hand-drawn ‘Alegria,’ so we took it and had it cut out of metal and powder-coated and that is his handwriting and his design. He was a true artisan, so he drew on everything”

Photos Courtesy of Leah Thomason Photography

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