Grapevine, Texas

Grapevine is a city and suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex located in the U.S. state of Texas. The city is almost entirely located in northeast Tarrant County, with small portions extending into neighboring Dallas and Denton counties.^[3] As of the 2010 census the city population was 46,334. The city's moniker is derived from the native grapes prevalent in the area.^[4] 

City Office on Main St.

In October 1843, General Sam Houston and fellow Republic of Texas Commissioners camped at Tah-Wah-Karro Creek, also known as Grape Vine Springs, to meet with leaders of 10 Indian nations.^[6] This meeting culminated in the signing of a treaty of "peace, friendship, and commerce," which opened the area for homesteaders. The settlement that emerged was named Grape Vine due to its location on the appropriately-named Grape Vine Prairie near Grape Vine Springs, both names an homage to the wild grapes that grew in the area.

The first recorded white settlement in what would become the modern city occurred in the late 1840s and early 1850s. General Richard Montgomery Gano owned property near Grape Vine and helped organize the early settlement against Comanche raiding parties before leading his band of volunteers to battle in the American Civil War. Growth during the 19th century was slow but steady; by 1890 roughly 800 residents called Grapevine home, supported by such amenities as a newspaper, a public school, several cotton gins, a post office and railroad service.

We enjoyed walking Main St. and had dinner last night at Big Fish on Main.
The architecture was really wonderful.  Here are more pictures of the original buildings that line the Street.

Sauer-Beckmann Farm - Living History Farm

Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site
Hill Country, Texas
Day-use facility reservations: (512) 389-8900
Farm Reservations for Groups (830) 644-2252, ext. 229

The Beckmann family acquired the property in 1900.  A good cotton crop in 1915 allowed Emil and Emma Beckmann to build a new barn, to add a frame room onto the old rock structure and to construct porches connecting to a lovely Victorian house covered with fashionable pressed tin.

In 1966 Edna Beckmann Hightower sold the site to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  Archeological surveying and restoration work was undertaken and the farm opened to the public in 1975.  Since then, time has stood still and the farm remains forever a small piece of Texas as it was at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The house is cleaned, meals are cooked, butter is churned and cheese is made. 

Some chores are seasonal, such as canning & butchering.  Farm animals, however must be cared for on a daily basis, including activities like feeding, milking, gathering eggs & slopping the hogs. 

The setting for the present-day living history activities is an authentic Hill Country Farm.  Visitors may see the family scrubbing the floors with homemade lye soap, or plowing the garden with a team of horses.

Shores of LBJ Lake at the Sunset Point Resort

Shores of Lake LBJ

Pic of House on the other side of that Privacy Wall

House on LBJ Lake

He's going in for the kill

Boat launch adjacent to Resort