Mankins Crossing

A wagon needs a firm river bottom, and this reach of the San Gabriel has one: a shelf of solid limestone under shallow water. A river-crossings survey that draws on Clara Stearns Scarbrough's county history adds what the plaque leaves out. Harvey Stearns built a cotton gin on the west bank in 1892, so farmers came here to sell as well as to cross. The concrete low-water bridge of 1931 was still in use when the survey was written in 2008. Samuel Mankins, who bought land at the ford in 1849, gave the crossing his name.

What the plaque says

Mankins Crossing (100 yards west) This historic crossing on the San Gabriel River was named for pioneer settler Samuel Mankins, who purchased land along the river in 1849. The limestone bed in the river provided a convenient crossing for area farmers. A nearby community included a school, church, and cotton gin. A 1914 concrete and gravel causeway was replaced by a State Highway Department concrete bridge in 1931. After the Highway Department built a new bridge on higher ground at Highway 29 in 1958, the Mankins Crossing bridge became a popular recreational site for area residents. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 5.7 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Inner Space Cavern — 6.8 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 11 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Mount Bonnell — 25 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.

More markers nearby

• The Double File Trail — 0.6 mi
• Texan Santa Fe Expedition — 0.6 mi
• City of Weir — 2.0 mi
• Community of Jonah — 2.4 mi