San Saba County

The county covers 1,136 square miles of the Llano Basin at elevations of 1,100 to 1,800 feet. North of the San Saba River the land is steep to rolling, and to the south flat to gently hilly, with shallow stony clays and sandy loams under oak, mesquite and cedar; pecans grow thickly along the Colorado and the San Saba. Deer, javelinas, coyotes, bobcats and turkeys live here. Archeological evidence shows that Tonkawa, Apache (Nde), Caddoan and Comanche (Numunuu) peoples lived in the area at different times, and Comanches and Lipan Apaches remained into the nineteenth century.

What the plaque says

San Saba County On northeastern border of the Edwards Plateau, created from Bexar County, Feb. 1, and organized May 3, of 1856, named for San Saba River. County seat of same name. Area first explored in 1732 by Juan Antonio Bustillo y Zevallos. Anglo-American settlement began in 1840's. Economy based on ranching, farming and commercial quarrying of marble, sand and limestone. Principal crops are cotton, grains, peanuts, sorghums and clovers. Ranchers market wool and mohair. Known as "Pecan Capital of the World." (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Bend State Park — 17 mi
  Old ranch country on the Colorado above Lake Buchanan, where a spring-fed creek drops 70 feet over fern-covered travertine at Gorman Falls.

More markers nearby

• Alma Ward Hamrick — steps away
• John H. "Shorty" Brown Cemetery — steps away
• United Confederate Veterans William P. Rogers Camp No. 322 — 0.4 mi
• Camp McMillan, C.S.A., Texas Civil War Frontier Defense — 0.4 mi