Luling, Texas

April 28, 2018

Luling was established in 1874 and was the western-most stop of the Southern Pacific Railroad.  It’s about 15 miles from where we stayed in McMahan.  A grist mill was established on the San Marcos River there and later was expanded to include a cotton gin, sawmill, and electric power generator.

The Rev. William Johnson, a farmer and Baptist minister, moved built a cabin about 11 miles outside of Luling in the 1870s.  The cabin has been moved to Luling.

Edgar B. Davis had been successful in several careers:  shoes, manufacturing and rubber planting.  He retired to Luling and drilled an oil well in 1922 that proved to be in one of the most significant oil fields discovered in the southwest.  The population in Luling grew from 500 to 5000.

The wide photograph in the center of this display shows oil derricks in Luling in the 1920’s.

The Central Texas Oil Patch Museum was founded in 1992 to illustrate the life and time of the oil boom in the area.

Edgar B. Davis is keeping an eye on Luling from the second floor.

During the oil boom, Luling was a little less refined than it is now.

Luling hosts 184 oil wells now.  Residents began to decorate the pumpjacks that bring the oil up, and sign artist George Kalesik has added a professional touch to them.

Luling hosts a Watermelon Thump every summer, complete with carnival rides, a car show, music,  a queen, a parade, and contests for watermelon-eating, watermelon seed-spitting, and watermelon-growing.

Even the water tower gets in on the fun.

This might be a good time to talk about our experiences with Texas barbecue because Luling and Lockhart are on the Texas Barbecue Trail.  In fact, the Texas Legislature has designated Lockhart the BBQ Capital of Texas”.  Before Texas, we ate at barbecue restaurants that offered a menu from which one selected a protein, smoked meat with barbecue sauce, and a number of side dishes.  When we ate at barbecue restaurants in Texas, we first went to the meat counter where we chose from among sliced brisket, pork chops, chicken, and sausage (regular and jalapeno).  Our selection would be placed on a stack of brown paper sheets.

Meat counter and firebox at one restaurant.

Side dishes were handled in several ways.  A few restaurants have side dishes at the meat counter; more often, side dishes are chosen at a separate counter.  Typical side dishes include slaw, green beans, potato salad, ranch beans.  At no restaurant did a waitress take our order and return with a plate of food.

Seating area

Don’t ask: There are no forks at this restaurant.

This trophy had been around long enough that smoke had given it a reddish color that doesn’t show in the photo.

We shared the restaurant in Luling with a group of bikers from Austin who had come over for lunch.  Their three-wheelers attracted a lot of attention outside.

We took a different route getting back to the campground from Luling when we saw some African antelope (they were too fast for us to get photos) at what looked like a hunting preserve.  Great scenery!