This area was a magnet for prehistoric peoples and played a key role in early Texas history. Bastrop’s Old Town has an impressive number of historic homes and buildings. And our unique culture reflects a number of diverse influences, teeming with seminal figures in blues and jazz music.
Prehistory
With its rich and varied vegetation, plentiful wildlife and easy access to water, the Lost Pines area around Bastrop was attractive to nomadic hunters and gatherers. Archaeological evidence of the Tonkawa tribe and earlier peoples has been found throughout the region. In fact, during construction of Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa, site surveyors discovered a well-preserved prehistoric campsite containing stone tools, hearths and mussel shells dating back as much as 2,100 years.
View artifacts on display in the Cardinal Point Interpretive Center at Hyatt Lost Pines. Explore even more prehistoric possibilities at the family-friendly Dinosaur Park.
Return to top
Early Texas History
Although the dense Lost Pines hampered Spanish efforts to colonize East Texas, the Camino Real (King’s Highway) pierced the woods and became a major artery for commerce and immigration.
In 1804, the Spanish established a fort where the Camino Real crossed the Colorado River. The Baron de Bastrop later tried to establish a settlement on the site, but was unsuccessful in attracting settlers. This respected legislator and diplomat went on to help Stephen F Austin establish his original colony. What “de Bastrop” wasn’t, however, was a real Baron. Nevertheless, Austin named the town after his friend and established a “Little Colony” of 100 families. The first settler to arrive was Josiah Wilbarger (who later survived an actual scalping!). Less than a decade later came the Texas Revolution. The people of Bastrop played a key part in that event.
Three men from Bastrop County signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.
The Mina Volunteers from Bastrop were the first to respond to a call for a militia and fought in the first battle of the revolution.
Bastrop soldiers laid down their lives at the Alamo and helped defeat Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto.
After the war, Bastrop was almost named the capitol of the new Republic of Texas — but narrowly lost out to the tiny community of Waterloo (now Austin). Bastrop was incorporated under the laws of Texas on December 18, 1837.
Find out more about our proud local history at the Bastrop County Historical Society Museum.
Take a trip along the Texas Independence Trail and go back in time to the Texas Revolution.
Find historic courthouses, cemeteries, military sites and over 100 Texas Historical Markers in Bastrop County at the Texas Historic Sites Atlas.
Return to top
Historic Homes & Buildings
Roughly bounded by Highway 71, the Colorado River and the Union Pacific Railroad, Old Town Bastrop features more than 130 places where history buffs can get their fix.
Cultural Crossroads
The Colorado River Bridge (“Old Iron Bridge”)
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Bastrop’s old iron truss bridge, originally erected in 1923, is now a pedestrian walkway and the spot to join the "Society of Bridgespitters".
Bastrop Opera House
Built in 1889 and lovingly restored, the Bastrop Opera House is still home to local and touring theater productions as well as live music.
Kerr Hall/Kerr Community Center
Built in 1914, Kerr Hall was the heart and soul of our African-American community and even served as a USO facility during World War II. Stop by and see if you can hear the echoes of legendary performers, such as “The Grey Ghost” (Roosevelt T. Williams).
Civic & Commercial Buildings
Bastrop Country Courthouse
Bastrop’s proud courthouse was built in 1883 using 1.3 million bricks, Austin cut stone, and lumber from the Lost Pines forest.
First National Bank
Built in 1889, the original location of First National Bank of Bastrop is now home to the Bastrop Old Town Visitor Center.
Lock’s Drug
At this turn-of-the-century drug store on Main Street, you’ll still find a genuine soda fountain serving up old-fashioned sodas and ice cream.
Homes & Churches
Bastrop has a wealth of culturally significant churches and historic homes ranging from double log houses through Greek Revival, Victorian, Prairie and Classical Revival styles.
Learn more about our historic homes and buildings at the Bastrop Old Town Visitor Center.
Download a brochure of Old Town Bastrop, including an overview map of historic homes and buildings here.
Check out Bastrop’s historic Bed & Breakfasts. View addresses and descriptions of Bastrop’s historic churches here.
Return to top
Cultural influences
According to local historian Ken Kesselus, there are six distinct influences on the culture and lifestyle of Bastrop County:
American Southerners who moved to Texas during the 1820s and ′30s
German immigrants who arrived in the mid-to-late 1800s, fleeing a lack of opportunity and oppression at home
African-Americans who arrived first as slaves and then as free people after the Civil War
Hispanic peoples, whose influence was first in the early Spanish culture and then again in the late 1800s as expert coal miners arrived to man the newly operational mines in Bastrop County
World War II soldiers who served at Camp Swift, which ultimately housed 90,000 troops as well as 3,865 German POWs
Late 20th-Century newcomers who chose the laidback life of Bastrop over what they saw as increasing crowdedness and “big city” change arriving in Austin
Find out more about all the different cultures that make Bastrop unique at the Bastrop County Historical Society Museum.
Return to top
Bastrop County Blues & Jazz
The juke joints, house parties and cotton fields of Bastrop County are a wellspring of blues and jazz. From Live at Lost Pines to the Kerr Community Center, you can soak up a wealth of music history.
The Grey Ghost
Barrelhouse piano player Roosevelt T. Williams was born in Bastrop in 1903 and became known as “The Grey Ghost” because of the way he’d slip in and out of town, riding on boxcars from gig to gig. It’s also a poignant reminder of how he slipped in and out of the spotlight, before a triumphant return to music in the late 1980s. In 1996, The Grey Ghost passed into legend at the age of 92.
To hear one of The Grey Ghost’s only recordings, click here.
Snuff Johnson
The son of Bastrop County sharecroppers, country bluesman Alfred "Snuff" Johnson was born in nearby Cedar Creek in 1919. After picking up his uncle’s guitar, Snuff began playing his “black cowboy blues” at parties and balls. After serving in WWII, however, Snuff settled in Austin and the paying gigs ceased until his rediscovery in the early 1980s. Snuff Johnson died in Austin in 2000.
To listen to Snuff Johnson’s music, click here
Sonny Rhodes
Born Clarence Smith in Smithville in 1940, Sonny Rhodes has brought joy to pure blues fans the world over. He began singing and playing around Bastrop County while still in his teens, developing a trademark lap-steel guitar style that melded classic blues and Western Swing.
To learn more about Sonny Rhodes, click here.
To listen to Sonny Rhodes’ music, click here.
Hannibal Lokumbe
Born Hannibal Marvin Peterson in Smithville in 1948, Hannibal Lokumbe is an award-winning trumpet player and composer. After living and performing in New York for 25 years and touring the world multiple times with groundbreaking masters such as Roland Kirk, McCoy Tyner and Gil Evans, Hannibal came home to Bastrop. Here in his home county, he composes large-scale symphonic pieces and commissioned works for the Kronos Quartet and many others. Hannibal is also deeply devoted to sharing culture and music with the people of his community, particularly children.
To learn more about Hannibal Lukumbe, click here.
To hear a sample of his music, click here.
Hosea Hargrove
A subtle, refined blues guitarist and vocalist, Hosea Hargrove grew up in Crafts Prairie, a hotbed of blues players in the 30s and 40s. His style, rooted in acoustic country blues but electrified through the influence of Willie Thornton, has permeated Austin’s Eastside blues scene since the '50s. Hosea’s playing is deceptively simple — there’s never a wasted note, never a showy phrase when an elegant silence will do. He played with and was a big influence on both Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s style. Now in his 80s and a recent inductee into the Texas Music Hall of Fame, Hosea still performs in Austin and regularly at Shellers Barrelhouse Bar at Hyatt Regency Lost Pines.
To hear Hosea Hargrove’s music, click here.
Return to top