The Texas Hill Country has gotten a lot of attention over the past decade. Development battles have splashed across headlines, while Hallmark-worthy towns have landed on travel lists and caught the eyes of celebrities. But there are still quieter corners of the countryside, including a tiny town known to road-trippers that\u2019s built near the ruins of a turning point in Spanish colonization.<\/p>\n
Menard is a blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it town at the junction of U.S. highways 190 and 83. A closer look at the structures lining the highways reveals unusually old stone supports \u2014 stonework with a\u00a0backstory that some believe traces back to a failed 18th-century Spanish outpost.<\/p>\n
Menard\u2019s story doesn\u2019t stop with European colonization. The town of fewer than 2,000 people, like many tucked into the rolling hills of the Texas Hill Country, is at a crossroads.<\/p>\n
Will Menard fade like so many old Texas towns that never found a new chapter? Or could its largely intact historic downtown, spot along the San Saba River and residents eager for renewed investment help the town get a second look?<\/p>\n
Some investors are already working to bring new life to what could have become another abandoned relic of Texas\u2019 historic downtowns.<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t some bustling downtown chock-full of businesses, a nearly abandoned row of charming and historic buildings is seeing a resurgence.<\/p>\n
Bobbi Heyman Compton looked out over the street from a wing of Menard Manor \u00a0\u2014 the town\u2019s nursing home and assisted living facility on the first floor of a century-old building \u2014 reminiscing on what used to be a lively, though still humble, business corridor in this quaint town. She has a vision for what it could be.<\/p>\n
Many locals you engage in meaningful conversation with (and just about anyone will) have a vision for the tiny Texas Hamlet. In fact, it\u2019s hard not to develop one yourself. The missing link is more upstarts willing to shell out the money.<\/p>\n
However, there are successful businesses proving it\u2019s worth the time and money. Texas Scratch Kitchen \u2014 a trendy yet nostalgic bakery, shop and caf\u00e9 owned and operated by a pair of young sisters who grew up in town \u2014 is drawing in locals and travelers alike with its fresh-baked French classics, sourdough loaves, cheery vibes and locally sourced buys.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an aptly themed eatery up the street, at the very start of the once-booming downtown corridor, called Silver Spur Steakhouse & Saloon, playing on the Wild West trope Texas is known for. Even the town bank, First State Bank, is a remodeled historic building with highly recognizable limestone bricks.<\/p>\n
Menard\u2019s historic features sit against a landscape that was especially green in early May, thanks to recent rains that had replenished the San Saba River. At the time, the town looked far removed from other parts of the Hill Country, where continued drought had left stretches of browning foliage just miles away.<\/p>\n
Locals said the lush scene was not typical year-round. But the rain had temporarily transformed the area, making for a scenic walk along a small trail across the river from the town\u2019s center.<\/p>\n
Lizards ran everywhere, and my foot was 6 inches from a snake\u2019s mouth at one point. But charm and history come at a cost, a through line when speaking to the people who are keeping Menard alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Hill Country has gotten a lot of attention over the past decade. Development battles have splashed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[820,30063,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-306292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-mysastaff","tag-mysatravel","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}