Elitha Smith Martin

Round Mountain sits where US 281 meets FM 962 on the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau, and Elitha Martin's store served a town that lived off travelers. The post office opened in 1857, the second in Blanco County. The settlement became a stage stop on the mail road between Austin and Fredericksburg. Residents won a state charter for an academy in 1871, and it once enrolled 200 students. The town was also known as a health resort because of its elevation. A stagecoach inn built in 1874 is on the National Register of Historic Places.

What the plaque says

Elitha Smith Martin (Jan. 30, 1830-Aug. 10, 1899) Prominent local businesswoman; born in Patrick County, Virginia, she married John Martin (1826-69) on June 27, 1848. The couple came to Texas in 1856 with 4 children and settled in Llano County, where 5 more children were born. After John Martin's death, Mrs. Martin and the younger children moved here and built a 2-story hotel (100 yards E.), a livery stable, and a general mercantile store. On December 4, 1879, Mrs. Martin was appointed postmaster and served in that position until May 16, 1896, keeping the post office in the store. She was buried beside her husband in Llano County. (1974)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pedernales Falls State Park — 10 mi
  The Pedernales stepping down over layered limestone east of Johnson City, a river that can turn from a placid stream to a torrent in minutes.
• Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park — 11 mi
  The Johnson City district of the national park: the Victorian house where Lyndon Johnson grew up, and the stone barns his grandfather built in the Johnson Settlement.
• Longhorn Cavern State Park — 18 mi
  A cave carved by an underground river in the Hill Country, cleared of mud by hand in the 1930s and reached down 52 stone steps on a guided tour.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 21 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.

More markers nearby

• Joseph Bird — steps away
• Robert Price — 0.8 mi
• Home County of Pioneer Leader Joseph Wilson Baines — 3.7 mi
• Captain Jesse Burnam — 6.7 mi