Portfolio

Project:	RURAL GILLESPIE COUNTY PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY (in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, Texas) Texas Historic Resources Fellowship Project
Sponsors:	Texas Architectural Foundation San Antonio Conservation Society National Register Office of the Texas Historical Commission
Format:	Color slides, black & white prints, field notes, field sketches, mapping, bound report
Date:	1983
As an attempt to analyze the regional vernacular style of the Texas Hill Country, nearly one hundred sites were recorded by Bess Althaus Graham over a two-month period. Rural structures included churches, schools, farmsteads and ranches in an area about sixty miles west of Austin. Extensive field notes on each site were used to describe the relationship between the built environment and the natural landscape. The bound report organizes the structures by function, form, and building materials, with an additional section showing the context of sites within the network of rural communities. Recipient, Gillespie County Historical Society Award of Merit

Map(top) of Gillespie County shows location of surveyed communities in the northeastern quadrant of the county. A corresponding map (below) shows desirable farmland in the area.

Willow City

Cave Creek

Rheingold

Big Flat

Cherry Spring

The area was originally settled by German immigrants in the nineteenth century, with Anglo settlement infringing the eastern section of the county. Building types included limestone and contrete block (Basse stone) masonry, log structures, heavy timber framing, and wood framing with wood siding, pressed tin, or stucco veneer.