Ernst Altgelt and people from what is now Germany founded Comfort in 1854 in the Guadalupe Valley of the Texas Hill Country. When the Civil War began, many of these freethinking people opposed secession. Some attempted to go to Mexico and were surprised by Confederates near the Nueces River. A few Unionists escaped; some were killed, and others were wounded and later killed. In 1865, friends and relatives retrieved their remains, and they now lie under the Treue der Union Monument. The first school was built in 1856, but not until 1892 did Comfort build a church. Charles Apelt created the Armadillo Farm, which made lamps, purses, and baskets from armadillo shells. Today descendants of original settlers live on family ranches and in houses built by their ancestors. Comfort is unincorporated to this day, and it retains a sense of its freethinking independence.

"More examples of Texas' rich heritage of locally made nineteenth-century furniture and information on the craftsmen who produced it"--

This book features ten tours to Central Texas that capture the essence of its flavor and charm. Included in this guide are historic tidbits, folklore, geography, major attractions, maps, listings of accomodations, a calendar of events, and more.

Braiding strands of earthen insight with uproarious storytelling, Texas Hill Country legendary author Becky Patterson recreates the history of the Steiler Hill Ranch in twenty-four anecdotal chapters interspersed with original artwork. The result is a mixture of memoir and montage, treasure chest and tableau vivant of a world that’s beautiful, brash, and wonderfully heartbreaking. Patterson -- the daughter of Texas folk hero and self-proclaimed mayor of Luckenbach, Hondo Crouch -- has big shoes to fill and she does so successfully in this colorful collection of Hill Country and Texas ranch vignettes. Foreman and general cowboy guru Raymond Kuhlmann tells stories of the Goat King and German drinking songs, the buzzard traps and Mexican corridos that filled the nighttime pastures. First-person accounts and vivid historical narratives evoke the ranch’s past, overlaid with Patterson’s breathless personal histories of afternoons spent rescuing a doe in a nightgown, or saving a porcupine from a pack of dogs. This is a book that will connect you to whatever patch of earth you hold dear. It is poignant reminder of the landscapes we’ve forgotten to keep close, of the land that does not belong to us but simply is who we are. The Ranch That Was Us is an affectionate reminder to go outside and touch the earth that is you.

Fourteen-year-old Kenny Roy Willson fantasizes about escape from his hometown of Comfort, Texas, following his alcoholic father's release from prison.