Got a convertible car and a hankering for a sweet drive close to town? Have a bicycle and looking for the perfect spring ride? Here it is, right there for the picking, as pretty as you please. One piece of advice from someone who lives there – watch out for the black cows at night.
Things to Do
Fredericksburg Insider: Take a Scenic Drive Down Lower Crabapple Road
Lower Crabapple Road
Photo: Robert C Deming
To find drives like this in much of Texas you will be on unpaved roads, but not in Gillespie County. With a tradition of middle-class expectations from its founding, every road in the county is paved. This is not a road to be driven fast, but slowly, and mindfully, for this is a fast-disappearing experience in the Texas Hill Country. The above photo was taken at the Crabapple School, not far from FM 965 and Enchanted Rock.
Picnic?
Photo: Robert C Deming
So, you put together a picnic, grabbed your significant other by the hand, and loaded up in that convertible automobile on a perfect weekend day and drove to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area – to find it was it was closed. Don’t despair! The perfect picnic spot is but five miles south of the Rock. Next to the pictured classic country church is an old schoolhouse.
Could you imagine going to school as a kid here?
Photo: Robert C Deming
To make this sweet loop, leave Fredericksburg from West Main Street on North Milam, FM 965. The speed limit is 70 mph, but you’re only driving 45 because the scenery is breathtaking. Thirteen miles north you will find two turns to the right for Crabapple (they connect in a few hundred yards, take either one). You will see Crabapple Creek as you make the turn. The school and church are on your right in a short distance. City dwellers, please note – this is all private property, so stay on the highway right of way; It isn’t likely anyone will object to your roaming the grounds of the church and school because you are going to leave no trace of your visit. The group which cares for these old schools will have a tour and BBQ the weekend of April 1-2, 2017.
The road crisscrosses Crabapple Creek.