PHOTOS BY GARY ZUPANCIC/WIMBERLEY VIEW Docent Karon Campbell explains the early history of the Wimberley Valley.
Ellie Jennings portrayed Amanda Wimberley.
Scott Johnson of the WIC points out the location of the Winter’s Mill behind the Ozona Bank.
Annual history tour remains in memories
It’s a rite of passage for Wimberley fourth grade students and besides that, there’s cookies involved. The Wimberley Institute of Cultures’ yearly trek around downtown Wimberley to see Wimberley’s history and imagine what it looked like in the 1860s.
Docents, sometimes dressed in period clothing, relate those names that the town was founded on: Winters, Wimberley, Cude, Pyland and a lot more names. The first stop was the new Wimberley Valley Museum. Next, across Ranch Road 12, was Ozona Bank too see Cypress Creek and where the early mill stood.
Some of the other stops on the along the way are the Mill Race, the Pyland Blacksmith Shop, the James C. Lane House, which is (now Kiss the Cook) and other historic sites. Now, the fourth graders in town the experts on Wimberley’s history and something they won’t soon forget.
Or hopefully won’t forget. In applying for one of WIC’s scholarships for graduating high school seniors, the question is asked what they remember about the tour. Some applicants relate the best part of the tour was the cookies.
The WIC has been woven into the fabric of Wimberley with the 4th grade tour, with scholarships for graduating seniors, of course, the WIC Pie Social and now the permanent Wimberley Valley Museum. They are preserving the town’s history and making it relevant to today’s youth and the whole Wimberley Valley.
The “Walking Tour of Historic Wimberley” pamphlet can be found at the Wimberley Chamber of Commerce.
For more information and/or membership on the non-profit Wimberley Institute of Culture see their website at: wimwic.org.