The purpose of this web site is to share the stories and legends of Central Texas with a broad-based audience. The author is an enthusiast of recording history through writing. Her first book was a family history book which focused on her grandparents' immigration to the United States from Germany and eventually becoming homesteaders in Oklahoma. After she and her husband moved to Salado in 2000, she wrote the history of the First Baptist Church in anticipation of the church's 140th anniversary in 2004. Neither of these books are in print.
In 2014, she co-authored Salado, a pictorial history book using over 200 vintage photographs to illustrate the frontier spirit of Salado's rich, diverse history. The book starts with the Gault Site, located southwest of Salado, moves to the colonization of Central Texas led by empresario Maj. Sterling Clack Robertson, and then to the establishment of Salado and Salado College under the leadership of Robertson's son, Col. Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson.
Her newest book, Gristmills of Central Texas, was released this past summer. For this pictorial history book, the author selected photographs that not only illustrate facts about the gristmills of Central Texas but also allows the reader to experience a glimpse of pioneer life as it was lived in a mill settlement. The book, which contains photographs and information regarding over 50 gristmills, has been distributed throughout Central Texas all the way from San Antonio to Fort Worth.
After completing the gristmills book, the author then wrote detailed articles about the eight mills that once lined Salado Creek. She also wrote a series of articles on the Capt. Robert and Lydia Halley house in Salado. All of these articles were printed in the local newspaper and all are printed on this web site.
Making its initial appearance in print is, Letters from Addie. Addie Barton was a missionary to Mexico from 1884 until the Mexican Revolution drove her from the mission field in 1921. During her time in Mexico she exchanged letters with her family back home in Salado. Addie's original handwritten letters, which are housed at the Bell County Museum in Belton, Texas, have been typed and are now for the first time, made public. Through these letters, readers will be able to experience the joys and the heartaches of Addie as she ministers to the people of Mexico.
The author was born and reared on the farm her grandparents homesteaded near Chattanooga, Oklahoma in 1907. In 1959, she married the boy from the town next door. She and her husband were living in Houston when her husband joined the space program at NASA in Clear Lake City. The author, a graduate of the University of Houston, began her teaching career in 1973 as a teacher with the Pasadena Independent School District. When she retired in May of 2000, the couple moved to Salado, their chosen place of retirement.
The author can be contacted at cccarson39 (atsign) gmail.com.