Texas Hill Country

The Texas Hill Country is a region of Central Texas, USA, that features rolling, somewhat rugged, hills that consist primarily of limestone but includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite outcropping in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located some thirty miles northwest of Fredericksburg. The Hill Country also reaches into portions of the two major metropolitan areas of Central Texas, especially in San Antonio's northern suburbs and the western half of Travis County, ending just west of downtown Austin. The region is the eastern portion of the Edwards Plateau bounded by the Balcones Fault on the east and the Llano Uplift to the west and north. The terrain is punctuated by a large number of limestone rocks and boulders and a thin layer of topsoil which makes the region prone to flash flooding.

Several cities were settled at the base of the Balcones Escarpment, including Austin, San Marcos, and New Braunfels, as a result of springs discharging water stored in the Edwards Aquifer.

Because of its karst topography, the area also features a number of caves, such as Inner Space Caverns and Natural Bridge Caverns. The deeper caverns of the area form several aquifers which serve as a source of drinking water for the residents of the area.

Several tributaries of the Colorado River of Texas -- including the Llano and Pedernales rivers, which cross the region west to east and join the Colorado as it cuts across the region to the southeast -- drain a large portion of the Hill Country. The Guadalupe, San Antonio, Frio, Medina, and Nueces rivers originate in the Hill Country.

The area is also unique for its fusion of Spanish and Central European (German, Swiss, Austrian, Alsatian, and Czech) influences in food, beer, architecture, and music that form a distinctively "Texan" culture separate from the state's Southern and Southwestern influences. For example, the accordion was popularized in Tejano music in the 19th Century due to cultural exposure to German settlers.

In recent years, the region has emerged as the center of the Texas wine industry.Fact|date=May 2007 Three American Viticultural Areas are located in the areas: Texas Hill Country AVA, Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country AVA, and Bell Mountain AVA.

The Hill Country is also known for its tourism. In 2008, "The New York Times" declared it "the No. 1 vacation spot in the nation." The Hill Country has also made Texas second to Florida as the most popular retirement destination in the United States. The region has attracted baby boomers as they near retirement age.Bobbi Gage, "Baby boomers being drawn to Hill Country", "Llano County Journal", July 2, 2008, pp. 1, 7A]

The region has hot summers, particularly in July and August, and even the nighttime temperatures remain high, as the elevation is modest despite the hilly terrain. The mercury ameliorates in the spring and fall. Winter temperatures are sometimes as much as ten degrees cooler than in other parts of Texas to the east.

Frederick Day, a demographer with Texas State University in San Marcos, said that the Hill Country life-style reminds one of the small towns of the recent past. "Like old America . . . [the] cost of living is pretty low. To people who have spent their work life in Houston or Dallas, the Hill Country is very attractive."

The region called Devil's Backbone is located near Blanco.

Notable people from Texas Hill Country

* Lyndon B. Johnson - President of the United States, born and raised in Stonewall, Texas.
* Tommy Lee Jones - Actor, born in San Saba, Texas.
* Hondo Crouch - humorist, proprieter of Luckenbach, Texas where "Everyone Is Someone in Luckenbach", a song by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson memorialized the small town near Fredericksburg where he lived.
* Fred Gipson - novelist who authored "Old Yeller", "Savage Sam," and "Hound Dog Man", lived in Mason.
* Harvey Hilderbran -- State Representative from the western Hill Country since 1989, a Republican from Kerrville.
* Gerald Lyda (1923-2005), general contractor and cattle rancher, born and raised in the Hill Country community of Marble Falls, founded Darragh & Lyda Inc. with Burnet County rancher Steinmetz Darragh, owned & operated Lone Star Livestock Commission Company in San Antonio and owned the 320,000 acre * La Escalera Ranch in Texas; Darragh & Lyda, Inc., in a joint venture with H. A. Lott Inc. of Houston, Texas, built the Tower of the Americas and most of the major structures associated with HemisFair '68, San Antonio's world's fair. Lyda's company was nationally-recognized for its construction of The Alamodome.
* Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commanded U.S. Naval forces in the Pacific during World War II was from Fredericksburg and Kerrville.
* Rudy Robbins -- singer, songwriter, actor, stuntman from Bandera.

See also

* List of geographical regions in Texas
* Enchanted Rock
* Central Texas
* Cherry Springs Dance Hall
* Llano, Texas

References

External links

*
* [http://www.hillcountryrider.com Information for Bikers & Cyclists touring the Texas Hill Country]