Spend the Weekend Wandering in Waring, Texas

Not a lot remains of Waring, Texas, a historic little community on the banks of the gorgeous Guadalupe River. Even in its heyday in the early 1900’s, Waring’s population only reached about 300 people. Located 12 miles north of Boerne in Kendall County, Waring is now home to less than 100 people. However, Waring has a rich Texas heritage and an undeniably beautiful Hill Country location that is well worth a Sunday drive.

The Town was Formerly Known as Waringford

Photo: Will Beauchamp, texasescapes.com

For its first 14 years, the town was known as Waringford, after Robert Percival Maxwell (R.P.M.) Waring’s hometown in Ireland. Mr. Waring had provided the land right-of-way for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway in the area. The name was shortened in February 1901 to reflect his surname.

Get Nostalgic at the Waring General Store

Photo: Will Beauchamp, texasescapes.com

Not your typical roadside stop, the Waring General Store is a nostalgic Texas dance hall, steak house, and mercantile all in one. Perfecting its backroad country look with vintage gas pumps and rusted antique signs, the store is the perfect reflection of quiet small town charm. The store is also the place to get information about the Adventure Challenge Course, located on the nearby Don Strange Ranch. The course consists of both high and low ropes courses, designed to encourage and enhance safe and entertaining individual and group development. Every Wednesday night is Steak Nite at the General Store, which draws visitors from miles away for good food, fun, and entertainment.

Memories at the Waring Schoolhouse

Photo: Will Beauchamp, texasescapes.com

For the past 57 years, the Wille family has held its annual reunion at the historic Waring schoolhouse. The family are direct descendants of Captain Helwig Karl Ludwig Adolph Zoeller, former Union officer, state representative, and Kendall County justice of the peace. The Zoellers were some of the first settlers in the area and the Zoeller Family Cemetery is also located in Waring.

70+ years of the Waring Thimble Club

Photo: pixabay.com

Another party who regularly met at the old schoolhouse was the Waring Thimble Club, a group of ladies who would meet on the first Wednesday of the month to sew, snack, and socialize. After more than seven decades of sewing blankets for charity, and creating one-of-a-kind homemade memories, the club dissolved last year, amid changing demographics. In 2003, longtime Waring resident Odis Hohmann discussed the group and its history on the Texas Country Reporter television series. See the clip here.

Waring’s Active Volunteer Fire Department

Photo: Facebook/Waring Tx Fire Rescue

In 1978, Richard Saur founded the Waring Volunteer Fire Department. The department’s eagle logo is an homage to two eagle statues that have been on display at various locations around town since the 1930’s. One is now permanently perched outside the volunteer fire department, which boasts 20 volunteers and six trucks.

Volunteers are trained in structural and wildland firefighting, and include 4 EMTs, one paramedic, and 8 swift water rescue technicians. The Fire Department’s Annual fundraiser is the second Saturday in May and they also host a fish fry the last weekend in October. The Waring VFD covers 49 square miles of Kendall county.

Though its population is small, Waring is big on Texas history, heritage, and natural beauty. Small towns like this, and the people who live there, are what make the Texas Hill Country such a memorable place to visit.