Friends of the Tye Preston Memorial Library, Canyon Lake 

We visited the opening event for 2024 Canyon Lake Reads, the brainchild of the Friends of the Tye Preston Memorial Library. The Canyon Lake Reads program sees the hill-country community of Canyon Lake come together to read the same book and participate in a month of enrichment activities based on the story. 

This years pick is Bold Crossings, a coming of age tale by way of historical fiction from Austin-based author Lance O. Osborne, set in the Texas plains of the 1800s. The March 2, 2024 opening event at the Tye Preston Memorial Library included in-character readings from the author and friends, as well as a prelude to the battery of popular educational activities and historic site visits designed to bring the book's historical context to life. 

To learn more about the work of Friends of the Tye Preston Memorial Library, click here. 

Castro Colonies Heritage Association, Castroville 

A photo from a past historic resource survey taken in 1936 depicts a Medina County building in the region's unique style.

Next up, we visited Castroville, Texas to get a look at Medina County's unique collection of Pioneer-era structures and meet with Castro Colonies Heritage Association as they undertake an expansive survey funded in part by a Texas Historical Foundation grant.  

The County is thought to be home to as many as 150 structures built between 1800-1890 in the region's unique vernacular style, combining local period building techniques with the traditional sensibilities of the provincial French settlers that followed the famous Henri Castro to the region. As development continues to encroach westward from San Antonio, this survey and subsequent National Register inclusion will document and protect these distinctive structures. 

Visit Castro Colonies Heritage Association online to learn more.