Sacred Places, Transforming Experiences

My history article for the October 2016 NWACA Newsletter

There’s a quote I love from the book Believing in Place, attributed to Comanche elder and storyteller Carney Saupitty: “Sacred places become sacred only after some transforming experience has occurred there”. I am happy to tell you that next month I will start contributing short history articles to the NWACA newsletter; my contribution to identifying the transforming experiences that have made Northwest Hills a special place over the centuries.

I’ve lived here in Austin for 44 years, here in Northwest Hills going on 26. My kids all went through the ranks of day care to Anderson right here in the hood. I’m a retired software professional, but I’ve been a history, anthropology and archeology nut as long as I can remember. I was raised a military brat. I think the transient nature of my military upbringing meant that when I did settle here in Austin in 1972, I was keen to know more about the history of the area knowing my roots were here; my mother’s family goes back several generations to pre-Civil War Texas in little communities northwest of Austin.

One of the most historic spots in Northwest Hills is Spicewood Springs. At the Austin Charrette in January I did a short presentation of the history of the springs and the community that grew up around them. More recently I’ve had the opportunity to continue involvement in the charrette process as an advocate of preserving and promoting the history of Spicewood Springs. The springs will be the focus of several of the history articles I’ll write in the near future; a history of Indians, early settlers, land grants, old trails, old roads and maps.

But there are other stories worth telling about these hills we call home. In 2014 I hosted several members of the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, including the Comanche Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, on a visit to Austin to look at potential Indian marker trees in and around Northwest Hills (What is an “Indian marker tree” you ask? Sounds like a good topic for an article!). It was the research in preparation for that visit in particular that led me to realize that Northwest Hills and the surrounding areas had a history worth telling.

A funny thing I’ve learned from writing about Austin history; the more I write, the more I learn. The initial writing is just the start of a collaborative exploration as folks read, then add to (or correct!) the story. So I look forward to hearing from you, my neighbors, as I write about “transforming experiences” that made Northwest Hills a special place to the generations that preceded us.