Lifestyle

Who Fits In? A 2-Part Topic on Regional Cities in the Texas Hill Country (Part I, Austin)

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Tony Maples Photography

 

The Texas Hill Country consists of 25 counties in Central and South-Central Texas featuring a landscape designed through the dissolution of limestone, a network of underground springs, drainage systems, and caves, and tall, rugged hills; rugged much like the people that reside in them. But also like the Texas Hill Country, consisting of many layers, there exists many small towns and large cities that make up this geographical region and economic mainstay of the state, and the debate has long since been had in backyards, back rooms, and even back seats, over which cities actually “fit in” or belong to the area so many of us call home. That being said, the discussion is now being brought to light out here on our pages, for many a reader and visitor to comment on. Do you feel that the city of Austin is truly a part of the Texas Hill Country?

Who Fits In the Texas Hill Country: A 2-Part Topic on Regional Cities (Part I, Austin)

Photo: Facebook/X Games

If you’d like to talk “elephants in the room,” many a TexasHillCountry.com reader has both appreciated and abhorred the city of Austin on numerous occasions. Like all cities and towns in Texas, it has its own attributes that make it quite unique, but some of those qualities have really made fans of our page either extremely love the city and welcome it into the fold, or extremely detest it, and not hesitate to make that fact known.

Who Fits In the Texas Hill Country: A 2-Part Topic on Regional Cities (Part I, Austin)

Photo: Facebook/Over Austin

What is it about the city of Austin, Texas that has so many people choosing a side of the fence to be on with respect to its belonging in the Texas Hill Country? Cartographically, it is a natural “terminus,” if you will, for the very region we all love so fondly. Topographically, it has the characteristics of the Hill Country we’re familiar with. But socially there appears to be some debate, and perhaps that’s where this veritable can of worms needs to be opened. We welcome your comments and feedback. The floor is yours, and we await the consensus, once and for all.