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The historic German community of Fredericksburg has long been considered one of the Texas Hill Country's premier destinations replete with exceptional restaurants, colorful shops and boutiques, quaint inns and lots of Old World atmosphere – ample reasons indeed to pay a visit and stay a while. Remarkably, thanks largely to the considerable efforts of area entrepreneurs Rosemary and Dick Estenson, located within the very heart of the township there now exists an inclusive refuge amazingly feat ...

The drive to Kevin Fowler's ranch, located just minutes outside of Wimberley, is the first clue that the journey will be worth it. Gently rolling hills, the gorgeous native Texas trees, and the two-lane highway lead the way to a new wedding venue that has been molded by the country music singer and songwriter's own hands. Rustic Ranch, located at the very end of Deer Lake Road, is 130-acres of an oak-covered oasis, a place where Fowler and his family escape to, and now, have decided to share. I ...

Gems of the Hill Country, Lapidaries and Jewelers, is owned by husband and wife team Brad Hodges and B. Diane Eames, and is located in Ingram on Hwy 39, just west of Kerrville. Gems of the Hill Country is on the right, just as you enter the historic Old Ingram Loop, where a quaint collection of artisans' shops and boutiques line the street. Their shop is full of jewelry set with sparkling gems, most of them the beautiful Mason county topaz.

Nicky Manitzas of Austin, Charlie Pottorff of Flower Mound and Jeremy Cerf of McKinney grew up in different parts of Texas, yet their dreams have brought them to a college campus in the heart of the Hill Country along with 47 others to pursue their shared passion – earning appointments to the nation's military academies. Students enrolled at

First thing you need to know about Gruene is how to pronounce it: Green. The second thing you need to know about Gruene is that it's fun. No matter what your definition of fun is, you are going to find it in Gruene, that little historic district near New Braunfels. Do you have fun shopping?

Call her music Americana roots—some blues, some psychedelic rock, some bluegrass, some swing, some country. Whatever it is, it's always a beautiful toe-tapping melody. Not bad for a 61-year-old deaf lady. "My eardrums were deformed when I was born and it's been a chronic problem all of my life," Karen explains. "I didn't respond to thunder when I was a child, but I thought the sound of the fluid moving back and forth in my ear was a monster plodding its way toward me." Karen grew up on a smal ...

Of the thousands of people who take up residence in the Hill Country each year, many have been home brewers, that breed of men and women who have the urge to create what they like to drink. When that passion turns to wanting everyone else to share in the fruits of their labors, it was only natural that they would start serving up beer in the towns they call home. Fred Hernandez and his wife Jennifer, former mechanical and chemical engineers respectively, fell into the homebrew scene with a simp ...

The transformation of red oak leaves from green to a deep crimson each fall coincides with an epidemic in the Hill Country – buck fever. Even the most-experienced hunters feel twinges of nervous excitement as they fan out among hilltops and valleys in an annual quest to bag trophy whitetails or other game. For many hunters, the odds of success have greatly improved since Nature Blinds established a fabricating operation on the western outskirts of Kerrville.

MARBLE FALLS—The game, although it had to be won for the historic moment to be reached, was actually on the undercard. There was symmetry in that each moment of the action and halftime equaled a year in the incomparable coaching career of Jerry English. 40 seasons on the bench and this well-respected and admired mentor and teacher arrived at 1,100 victories.