Explore Texas’ history at our 1800s adventure sites!
A system of marked trails and pathways begins and ends at Sprinkle Corner, and your Walking Tour of Texas’ colorful past should begin on the porch of the General Store. The tour moves from one landmark to another. Travelers should stay on pathways at all times. Each of the historic sites depict specific periods in Texas history.
1899: Sprinkle Corner represents small rural community at the turn of the last century, featuring historic buildings, homes and exhibits
1897: Dessau Church, built in 1867 by early settlers from Germany that hosted an early congregation of formerly enslaved Texans and where Elvis Presley sang gospel songs in 1955
1892: Freedmen’s Farm, onetime home of the Dodson Family, a site just beginning restoration to showcase the successes of successful emancipated Texans
1886: Cotton Planter’s Farm, home to the Bell Family, a prominent Texas family, including dependencies, barns, gardens and outbuildings
1884: Scarborough Barn, a circa 1850 peg-and-post barn likely the oldest one still in agricultural use in Texas
1881: Tenant Farm, a log building with an unusual witches-hat roof that will eventually house an exhibit on a tenant farm family
1878: Texian Farm, home of the Jourdan Family that highlights the can-do spirit of early Anglo settlers from Eastern States
1873: Stagecoach Stop, an actual stage cabin that displays the travails and surprises of early-day travel and where the Jolly Family from England once lived
1871: Chisholm Trail site allows you to stand where the famous trail moved north from Austin, with Longhorn cattle on the prairie nearby
1869: German Blockhouse, a restored stone fortress once built to protect Eastern European settlers from frontier marauders
1866: German Emigrant Farm, home of the Kruger Family that shows how early European settlers made Texas their home
1853: Tejano Farm, a future site that will depict Texas’ historic ties to Mexico and Hispanic culture and its strong influence on modern life
1844: Tonkawa Encampment, a real First Peoples historic site showing how Texas’ indigenous residents once lived and flourished
1842: Walnut Creek Greenbelt showcases what Texas was like when the early settlers arrived and camped along the historic creek
1839: Republic Overlook depicts the area when Republic President Mirabeau Lamar chose Austin as Texas’ new capital, while standing on adjacent bluffs along Walnut Creek
1835: Campamiento Mexicano, a future site that will represent a small military camp in the days when Texas was still part of Mexico