Site of Harmony Ridge Community

Harmony Ridge was one of the first school communities organized in San Saba County. Several community schools ran before the Civil War, and in 1867 the county was divided into ten school districts. Between 1877 and 1881 communities set up neighborhood schools within their districts, paying teachers by subscription, and Harmony Ridge, Cherokee, Cedar Springs and Simpson Creek came first. Schools stayed on subscription until the Methodist High School opened in San Saba in 1881. When consolidation began in 1911 the county had forty-one schools, and by 1982, after consolidation ended in 1948, it had three districts.

What the plaque says

Site of Harmony Ridge Community Founded in 1870s. Among first settlers were the families of Andrew, Mark, and Polk Oliver; Stephen M. Lewis; William Faver; Matt Senterfitt; Asa J. Howard. The only building (a two-story frame structure housing Cumberland Presbyterian Church and local school) was built by citizens in 1877. Andrew and Mark Oliver gave land for building and cemetery. Community got its name because people worked in harmony on construction. Second story was removed in 1911 and brick veneer was added in 1960. Cemetery group meets yearly although community is inactive. (1971) The original building burned in 2005. The present structure was built in 2007 on the footprint of the original building. (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Bend State Park — 15 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.
• Hancock Springs Park — 27 mi
  Lampasas's city park on Sulphur Creek, with a spring-fed swimming pool that holds about 69 degrees all year, the walls of the old bathhouse and a golf course.

More markers nearby

• Chadwick's Mill — 2.0 mi
• Barnett-Hamrick Settlement, 1855-1895 — 6.0 mi
• San Saba Lodge No. 612, A.F. & A.M. — 7.9 mi
• San Saba Lodge No. 225, A. F. & A. M. — 7.9 mi