If all you know about Salado is that it’s a small village between Austin and Waco that you can’t even see from Interstate 35, you’re in for a surprise.
Get off that freeway and check it out.
That’s what frequent visitor Jan Smith of Wimberley does.
“It’s a wonderful little town. It’s out of the way but convenient to get to. It has a great restaurant and many lovely shops.”
The restaurant she refers to is at the Stagecoach Inn, one of the oldest continuously operated inns in Texas. It had been closed for a bit, but recently re-opened after renovations. The hotel portion of the inn is currently undergoing remodeling and is scheduled to reopen in Spring 2018.
Salado has a number of restaurants with excellent, often distinctive, foods and Lively’s Bistro with delicious corn and bacon chowder-like soup.
As you roam through the town, it’s difficult to remember Salado’s population is barely over 2,000 people.
“We have the charm of a small town and it’s a great place to relax,” says Erin Klingemann of the Salado Tourism Bureau. “We have a village full of artists and lots of distinctive shops.”
“Distinctive” is an understatement. You will discover most of the shops here do not offer routine items for sale. You’ll find an antique mall and stores like the huge Springhouse Emporium full of new and vintage home décor, gifts, Ginger cottages with hidden shapes and art.
The number of art galleries is impressive for such a small town.
Some of the most impressive are the Prellop Fine Art Gallery, home to Larry Prellop, chosen as the Keep Texas Beautiful Artist of the Year; the Sirril Art Gallery, where artist Michael Pritchett displays the most eclectic and revolving collection of original art in Salado and the gallery of Ronnie Wells, who was recently named by the Texas Legislature as the Texas State Sculptor.
Salado is full of the unexpected. Stroll around town and buy some clothing, jewelry, rubber stamps, herbs, furniture, antiques, religious artifacts, even vinyl records.
You’ll find a craft beer brewery with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and live music, a winery, a distillery, and a large candy shop.
See artists at work. You can watch glass art being created at the Salado Glassworks next to a ceramic studio and take glassblowing lessons at CIG Glass.
You’ll find more distinctive places than could be listed here.
Get some exercise and be able to get around town much more easily thanks to the new LoneStar eBikes. They rent and sell electric bicycles, making pedaling around fun and effortless. They also do guided and self-guided tours.
Most of the galleries and shops are along Main Street, which is relatively close to the interstate, but you will never know that highway is there.
“You go a block off the freeway and you feel like you’re in the country,” says Salado City Administrator Don Ferguson. “”It’s a breath of fresh air and offers diversity and relaxation with unique character.”
Don points out that most of businesses here are homegrown, not franchise retail shops.
“This is really Main Street America,” he says.
As you wander around Salado looking in the galleries and shops, you will find art all around you in uncommon places. Almost hidden among the trees by a small creek is a fence with several bicycles threaded through it. Metal butterfly benches are all over town. Sitting on a porch bench in front of several shops is a “plant man” who has to be seen to be believed.
Stroll through the beautiful Sculpture Garden that showcases works of art by Texas artists among the native flora and fauna. The Garden was designed with help from Texas Master Gardeners and Central Texas Master Naturalists and is a certified Texas Wildscape.
Don’t stop there. Take a walk along Salado Creek and Pace Park, Texas’ first designated natural landmark where you can still see wagon wheel ruts in the limestone creek bed. Here you’ll find picnic areas and public access to swim in the historic creek and view the original Tablerock.
At the riverside park, next to the Stagecoach you will also see a sculpture recalling Sirena, a native woman who, stories say, became a mermaid thanks to a magical catfish in this very creek.
Don’t miss Tablerock Goodnight Amphitheater, named after that historic creek rock. Originally built as the Goodnight Amphitheater in 1979, much of the construction was done by area work-release people, according to Jackie Mills, the president of the Tablerock Board of Directors. Comfortable seats were donated by Fort Hood.
Jackie also wrote “Salado Legends,” a musical highlighting some of the town’s history. It’s now in its 25th year.
The actual Tablerock is a huge, flat monolith in Salado Creek. A flood in 1921 toppled the rock and it eventually split, she says. But it is still prominent on the bank of the creek.
“Indians thought it was a healing place,” Jackie explains. “And in the 1860s, the college boys and girls weren’t allowed to socialize so they would meet at Tablerock.”
That historical aspect figures large in her play, as does Salado’s heavily Scottish influence. Scots were the largest primary group of settlers in this part of Central Texas, and the Scottish Robertson family was instrumental in founding the city and the college.
The second weekend in November you can enjoy the 56th Scottish Gathering and Highland Games on the grounds of the Salado Civic Center. Heralding all things Scottish, this landmark event is the oldest such festival in Texas.
Tablerock Amphitheater also has a bed and breakfast inn and a scenic Pocket Garden with a walking trail, a natural area, a picnic area with natural stone tables and benches, and one of the few cattle-dipping vats still intact in Texas. The vat was built in the late 1800s to help rid cattle of ticks.
And if it’s history you like, Salado has more than its fair share considering how small it is.
From 1866 to 1885, thousands of cattle were driven right down Main Street in Salado on the famed Chisholm Trail and the Stagecoach Inn was a popular stop.
In 1867, Salado incorporated and became a boomtown, but when the railroads bypassed the town, trade moved away and the population dwindled. Revitalization began in the 1940s as the fame of the Stagecoach Inn’s dining room spread.
Salado College was another historical aspect that boosted the town’s popularity.
The college operated from 1860-1885 and from 1895 to 1913 and was one of the first coeducational institutions of higher education in Texas.
A series of fires destroyed the college but you can explore the ruins today.
Another touch of history is found at the Baines House Inn (see adjacent story). The main house dates to the early 1860s and was once home to George Washington Baines, great grandfather to President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Remarkably, 19 locations in Salado are listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
Even the churches in Salado are unusual, like Saint Joseph’s Episcopal. Almost hidden in a copse of trees it has a beautiful chapel much larger than it appears from the outside and sits adjacent to an antique and book shop and a law office.
Salado is located midway between Austin and Waco.
For More Information
254-947-5040, salado.com.
