Telling the stories of Texas with photographs (and words too...)
The Great Giddings Christmas Tree Robbery
Žohnowane hody (that’s “Merry Christmas” in Upper Sorbian, aka Wendish) from Lee County, Texas!* It’s been a few days since I’ve posted any history, but I’ve been saving this one up for all y’all because it’s seasonally appropriate! (Okay, truth Read More …
Tracking Down C. Mendel
Y’all have almost certainly seen one or more of the multiple articles I’ve written about Howard Bland and Charles P. Vance, both of who were part of the building committee for the 1891 First Christian Church of Taylor. There’s quite Read More …
Tremors in Taylor
I still remember the first earthquake I felt. I’d been living in Black Mountain, North Carolina (a few miles east of Asheville) for a little less than a year. It was almost midnight, and I was up working. The earthquake Read More …
Advent at Holy Trinity Fedor
I had grand plans on Saturday… to get my hair cut in Georgetown, photograph most of the Lee County Lutheran churches with their Christmas decorations and the like, swing by the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum and pick up some Christmas gifts, have Read More …
Advent at Holy Cross Warda
I can’t believe we’re just ten days away from Christmas! It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that we were driving back to Hutto from spending Christmas with Margie’s family in Alabama, followed by a fun little Read More …
Advent at St. Paul's Serbin
Today we dropped by the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum in Serbin to pick up some things for Christmas gifts. Yep, you guessed it. I took a few pictures in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church too. Just a few. Only one hundred Read More …
The Blazilmar Opens with a Splash
Well, I’ve hit the mother lode of information about the opening of the Hotel Blazilmar in Taylor (now that I’ve got the spelling correct)! There’s quite a bit of coverage of progress on the building in the Taylor Daily Press Read More …
Okay… so it's "Blazilmar," not "Blazimar!"
So it turns out you can find a lot more information about the Blazilmar when you search Google with that spelling (instead of the incorrect “Blazimar” I had in yesterday’s post)! Many thanks to Gary Shelton for correcting that, as Read More …
Howard Bland, Andrew Zilker, and the Blazilmar
Back before Thanksgiving (which somehow already seems an eternity ago) we discussed how Howard Bland was responsible for the construction of the original Howard theater (which was located across the street from the current Howard). But that’s not the only Read More …
There's a wreath on the door…
Despite the “open” sign, the Taylor Cafe wasn’t open yesterday morning. (Due to the recent death of pitmaster Vencil Mares, who first opened back in 1948: https://www.taylorprovidencefuneralhome.com/ob…/vencil-mares) We stopped by so I could take some photos yesterday on the way to Read More …