After our stop in Shiner we arrived in Fredericksburg, where we stayed for a few days before heading east toward Florida. The draw for Fredericksburg is that it is in the heart of Texas wine country. We drove through Fredericksburg on a previous trip but only spent one night. Ironically, despite being in the middle of wine country we didn’t visit any wineries! We did manage to drink a bit of Texas wine, did a little shopping and some sightseeing.
I was really taken with the public library. Housed in the former Gillespie County Courthouse that was built in 1881-1882 and used until 1939, the building was subsequently converted to the current use as the library. The limestone exterior, high ceilings and wooden trim are a reminder of the days of fine craftsmanship. The library even has a card catalog, although the drawers are empty now.
The town of Fredericksburg is like a lot of small towns these days, just with a Texas twist. Instead of antiques and country crafts there is cowboy art and turquoise jewelry. Lots of interesting restaurants, though. We had several really nice meals during our stay.
We stayed in a really cool hotel located at the Gillespie County Airport. Named the Hangar Hotel, it is styled after a WWI aircraft hanger, complete with an Officer’s Club, the name of the lounge. It was fun watching all the planes coming and going, and made for some interesting photography.
Ha. Book catalog on cards. I remember going through that all the time. Much more fun than a digital catalog I think!
I agree! There was something magical about finding the card in the file then locating the book in the stacks. Like a treasure hunt!
Now I just request the books online, they get sent to my local library branch and I go in and pick them up. Not nearly the adventure!
I’m going with the assumption that you will have to make another trip since you missed the wineries. I like the idea of the hangar hotel. I saw one of those card catalogs the other day but can’t remember where or when. I am also impressed with the craftsmanship on buildings over 100 years ago, especially compared to how we build things today. I noticed that when I lived east of the Mississippi a few years ago.
I don’t know, Monte. I hate to say it but I think we’re kind of done with Texas. There is wine everywhere, and Texas is OK but there are lots of places yet to visit.
The older craftsmanship is very impressive, for sure. A homebuilder once told us that they only build homes to last 50 years, which is a far cry from the home around us that are much older than that. It’s a real shame and it wouldn’t take a lot more to make a house to last.
There’s a card cat at the Museum and although it’s been digitized, it’s still in use and some still prefer it. A lot of work went into it.
This one was empty, but I would guess there are plenty of them around that are still kept up.