Crossing From History to Recreation (Spring Branch, Texas)

A particularly attractive crossing of the Guadalupe above Canyon Lake can be found on FM 311, a couple of miles east of its intersection with Highway 281, and it is often devoid enough of traffic that drivers can slow down to enjoy the view. Cars parked along the road near the bridge are tribute to this spot’s use as a recreational area, and many people have fond memories of days spent boating or fishing from it.

“I used to fish here quite a bit [and] caught my biggest bass of my life under the bridge,” said Canyon Lake native Ronald Lowe. “A tree had washed down, got stuck on a pylon, I threw a spinner bait just past it and caught a seven-pound, seven-ounce bass way back in the late ’90s.” 

“I kayaked 311 to Rebecca Creek last winter,” said Jason Gillett of Canyon Lake, noting that it took nine-and-a-half hours because his group was fishing and it “is a twisty stretch of river” that included “six sets of rapids, four of which we had to portage over.” (Right: Drainage areas on either side of the FM 311 bridge over the Guadalupe provide easy access to the river and a regularly used by people to move boats or tubes down to it.)

That this spot is publicly known to have any historic significance, however, is largely tribute to a Texas Historical Commission marker that was erected nearby in 2013 (top right). Local historian Brenda Anderson Lindemann, author of Spring Branch and Western Comal County, Texas, 1858-1998, was instrumental in getting that marker placed and compiled the information for the article titled “Esser’s Crossing at Wesson” on the Comal County Historical Commission section of the Comal County website. Wesson was a community founded on the banks of the Guadalupe in the mid-19th century by settler Charles Esser but which, according to the Texas State Historical Association, has been a “ghost community” since World War II. 

“Esser's Crossing is one of the four key bridges in the Spring Branch area that helped bridge traffic and commerce in our area,” said Paula Rieker, who assisted Lindemann with her book and whose current personal focus is on the history of the 711 Ranch, now site of the Mystic Shores development. “It is the oldest bridge in our area and only the second high-water bridge in the county.” (Right: A high-water wood and wrought-iron bridge was built at Esser’s crossing and served the area for half a century before being condemned and replaced. Photo courtesy Comal County Historical Commission.)

“The original crossing was an area of flat rocks in the river, where it was safe to enter the river … and pass over [it] in a wagon,” Rieker said. “You can look down at the river and still visualize the original crossing. Esser hosted travelers at his home and on his grounds as a ‘way station’ from New Braunfels to points north.” (Right: In 1858 German immigrant Charles Esser homesteaded and purchased property near the crossing and then provided a public way-station. Photo courtesy Comal County Historical Commission.)

Today, this spot is apparently and somewhat inexplicably held to be a “secret” by any number of Canyon Lake residents. A post on the “Everything Canyon Lake TX” Facebook group asking for information about it was, in fact, responded to with crying-face and angry-face emojis, veiled threats, and complaints that if “town” people learned about it they would spoil it and throw trash everywhere. 

Significant amounts of trash in the parking area that never made it into conveniently-placed barrels, however, indicate that some locals already have littering covered, and the 1:10:100 rule for social media interaction suggests, based on the number of responses to posts about the spot, that some thousands of people know about it already. (This article appeared for the first time in the Canyon Lake section of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung newspaper.)

And, whatever proprietary feelings anyone might have toward the spot, general manager Mike Dussere of the Water-Oriented Recreation District of Comal County — the agency that placed the trash barrels at the site — said the space leading down to the river on either side of the bridge is a public right-of-way. So, anyone so inclined can pause to enjoy Esser’s Crossing, either for what it has to offer today or the role it has played in the history of our area. 

Large areas of flat bedrock along the banks of the Guadalupe River are part of what made Esser’s Crossing an ideal spot for wagons and stagecoaches.

Tis the Season to Support Local Businesses

Black Friday kicks off the start of the holiday shopping season with deals at big chain stores and, three days from now, Cyber Monday will encourage shoppers to spend their gift-buying dollars at online shopping sites. In the midst of all that, smaller businesses — including those in our area — will be striving to get people in their communities to support them by doing as much gift buying as possible locally.

“We absolutely support Small Business Saturday and promote it via social media. That’s part of our mission,” said Kim Collora, Executive Director of the CanyonLake Area Chamber of Commerce, who also personally backs the ideas behind this program designed to promote smaller stores. “I live out here and I work out here, so when I have to go Christmas shopping I check out the little boutiques that we have out here. We are a small community supporting each other and I think that’s important to do.”

First observed in 2010, Small Business Saturday is held two days after Thanksgiving and is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday that encourages holiday shoppers to patronize small and local brick-and-mortar businesses. It was initially organized by entities that included the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express, and continues to be supported by the latter organization and many local politicians and small business groups throughout the country.

One Canyon Lake store that participates in Small Business Saturday is Bad Girlz of Texas, “a funky and eclectic boutique with something for everyone” that opened up in Sattler about eight years ago.

“Our local community really does support us,” said owner Andie Morgan (shown above right). “We wouldn’t have been here this long if not, and the locals have been fabulous. We’ve had people come in here on Small Business Saturday and say, ‘It’s important to support local business, so I’m shopping here.’”

Because the weekend after Thanksgiving tends to be a good one for her store anyway, Morgan said, she has never before held sale then but decided to this year.

“When you come to the counter with your purchases Friday through Sunday you can pick a card from our discount tree and it will have a discount of 10% to 50% off,” Morgan said. “There are three or four 40% cards, two or three 50% ones, and a lot for 15%, 20%, 30%, and 25%.”

“Canyon Lake has been wonderful and I’m trying to support those who have supported me,” Morgan said of her motivation. There are a number of ways she already does that, to include throwing a customer appreciation party with free food, drinks, and music the first Sunday of every month.

“We also usually give away something. For November we gave away free 2018 calendars, sometimes we’ll do a 75% off clearance, one time we gave away pairs of sunglasses,” Morgan said. “It’s to give back, and to support local music.” Twice a year, she said, the store also has a big clearance sale and then donates everything that is left to causes that have included the battered women’s shelter in New Braunfels and Wimberley flood relief.

CanyonLake Ace Hardware in Sattler is another local business that will have special deals this weekend, to include coupons people can use to get discounts on their purchases.

“We feel very close to our community and have a lot of interaction with it, and I feel like they’re very supportive of us,” said Store Manager Lyndy Sherman. “We’re having something on Black Friday, and then on Saturday and Sunday there’s a save $10 coupon.”

Many other businesses around Canyon Lake will also be doing special things for the weekend, so consider saving some gas, sticking close to home, and checking out what they have got going on — and, in the process, supporting our local community! 

This story originally appeared in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung newspaper on Friday, November 24, 2017, and I am re-posting it here in support of Small Business Saturday. 

A Wet and Wonderful Halloween in Sattler, Texas

A very real certainty of getting soaked, rather than any irrational fear of ghosts or ghouls, is what kept many people around Canyon Lake from turning out for Halloween in Sattler, which ran from about 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hundreds of people braved the damp and gloom to come out for the popular annual “Trunk or Treat” event, however, and dozens of local businesses, organizations, and individuals pitched in to make it fun and successful.

“It's a wonderful alternative to a more traditional setting in neighborhoods, since the majority of the homes in our area are so spread out,” said Comal County Commissioner Jen Crownover (Precinct 4) in a statement. “It's a great place where everyone comes together. It really is a cool evening of fellowship in our community.”

Comal County Sheriff’s Office deputies and constables were deployed along FM 2673 in Sattler to keep traffic slow and safe as trick-or-treaters made their way along the road in the driving rain, stopping to collect candy and other treats at local businesses and from people giving them out from their cars in parking lots. Umbrellas served as accessories for many costumes or were held over smaller children by parents, and clusters of people could be seen sheltering in doorways and under overhangs hoping for a break in the downpour.

“It’s hard for the kids to trick-or-treat in the neighborhoods or to go door-to-door,” said Andie Morgan, proprietor of the Bad Girlz of Texas boutique (at far right in the image here, along with Bonny Lyons, costumed as a “Harry Potter steampunker”). She had a full 80 pounds of candy on hand — including popular chocolate footballs — to pass out to children (along with parents, reporters, and anyone else who needed a treat). 

Morgan noted, however, that the weather was having an impact on turnout, and that she was seeing maybe a quarter as many trick-or-treaters as she does when the conditions are better.

“Normally that much candy does not get me to 8 o’clock, but this year it will because it’s raining,” she said.

And there were plenty of other opportunities for kids willing to deal with the trick of the weather to collect their well-deserved treats.

“Every year it’s been a tradition for us to hand out candy to the local kids,” said Perry Connel of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8573 in Sattler (at left in the image at the top right of this page). “Even when it rains the kids still come, so we stay out here!”

Edible items were not the only things being given away, and another local group used the event as an opportunity to get coats and jackets into the hands of people who needed them (right).

“Most of them are children’s jackets that we give to anyone who needs them. Whether they need one, five, it doesn’t really matter,” said James Dudley of the Saved by Grace congregation of Canyon Lake. “Halloween is kind of a dark holiday for a lot people, so it’s a good time for us to bring some light into the community.”

Dudley said that many of the jackets are provided by local schools, which provide his group with unclaimed items from their lost-and-founds, and that his group then cleans and repairs them as necessary. He said this is the sixth year that his group has given away coats at Halloween in Sattler and that they expected to distribute between 250 and 300 of them during the event.

People were also able to enjoy the Mountain Valley Middle School Hawk Band Haunted House (below), for which students and staff clearly spared no effort to transform the band hall into a creepy and scream-filled Halloween attraction — and which was all the more fun in that it was out of the rain! 

New Farmers' Market Comes to Sattler, Texas

A new farmers’ and artisans’ market has opened in Sattler, Texas, and gives locals the opportunity to both buy and sell foodstuffs, arts and crafts, and other things produced in our area. 

Sattler Farmer’s Market is the brainchild of Jessica Japhet, whose family moved from San Antonio to Comal County when she was in middle school in the late ’90s and who has run her own home-based Toots’ Sweets Bakery since September 2015 (shown at right in front of VFW Post 8573 in Sattler, where the Sattler Farmer's Market sets up). She has acquired some experience with farmers’ markets over the years, including the one in San Marcos, which she has exhibited at, and a number of others in the area where her parents have sold their kettle corn.

“My goal for is just to make something really nice for the community to have,” Japhet said. “We don’t have anything like this out here and it will give people a nice place to come and hang out on the weekends and educate people about our area and its agriculture and arts. Having small businesses and locals selling is also going to help our economic growth. A lot of older people live out here, too, and it will be easier for them to come here than to New Braunfels or San Marcos. I have a really good feeling about this.”

Japhet is organizing the Sattler Farmer’s Market with the cooperation of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8573 at 14625 River Road, and on Saturdays it will be located in the open area between it and the Comal County Justice of the Peace facility (and, she said, people are welcome to use the parking lots for either location). On Sundays, which Japhet said she expects to be busier than Saturdays for the market, vendors will also be set up along the River Road side of the VFW hall and people will be able to park in the lot for Real Pit BBQ, which is closed that day. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days and, Japhet said, every weekend for the rest of the year.

“We’ve got a great turnout so far and I’ve been reaching out to more farmers to let them know that we’re here,” Japhet said. She added that she has thus far accepted 18 applications from vendors and that they will all be present at the market this weekend, some on either Saturday or Sunday and some on both days. She also said that just this week she contacted 60 area farmers and has been following up with and hearing back from them.

“Right now we have people doing jerkies, jams, jellies, salsas, and farm-fresh eggs,” Japhet said, and she will also be selling her own baked goods at the market. “It’s open for handmade goods and local artists.” There are other local events where local artists have the opportunity to sell their work, she said, but many of them are open to only a limited number of vendors or are held just once a year.

Japhet said she believes the Sattler Farmer’s Market will grow steadily as the weather improves, especially after the tourism season begins, and is planning turning it into a bit of a fair the weekend after Easter, May 7-8, which she is referring to as a “Spring Fling.”

“We may have a BBQ, I’m thinking the fire department or police might want to come out and do a meet-and-greet, maybe have a bounce house,” she said. “Kind of make it a whole family thing for people who want to hang out and give them something to enjoy on top of purchasing things.”

For more information or a vendor application, go to bit.ly/SattlerTXFM. Sattler Farmer’s Market also has pages on Facebook and Twitter. A 10-by-10 vendor space at the market costs $15 a day and people can choose to sell their goods on either one or both days. 

Donya and Peter Kokocha of Papakoko's Woodworks were among those who exhibited at the Sattler Farmer's Market on Sunday, March 4. To their right is Jessica Japhet's own Toots' Sweets Bakery stand and, at the far right, the Bow Hunters Jerky stand.