Living in Hill County

Said to be “ The riches dirt in the world” brought farmers from far stretches of the world. In the 1870’s one of the most influential groups to settle Hill County were the Czechs. They came from Austria-Hungary via Fayette County. They had neat, well managed farms, strong spirits and kept to them selves speaking their own language and practicing their old world customs. They settled in the Abbott area and just south down into theMcLennan County town of West. There’s a Historical marker in front of the “Turkey Shop” along the freeway at Abbott. (Did I mention I love the food at the “Turkey Shop”?) The Czechs keep their customs alive for future generations in so many ways including their wonder food, (my favorite, Kolaches) and their yearly celebration called “West Fest”, which happens on Labor Day in the town of West every year.

My family and I live near Abbott. My kids have all grown up and married into the local heritages. We have a beautiful piece of land which is mostly farmed by a local Czech family, now related by marriage, but my brother and I maintain a small garden. And like the Czechs, I must admit the dark, rich soil with slightly rolling hills and big trees is what captured my heart when I first saw the property. The farm girl in me emerged and I wanted to live here. The pecan and fruit trees, flowering bushes and bulb flowers that surrounded the old ranch house were planted over the last 100 plus years by the Czech family that lived here but the grapevines and vegetables are my babies.

Owning and working the land does something to your soul. It gives you a sense of pride and belonging. Our land has history of it’s own from the family that lived here for so long before us and now we're adding to it.
If you’d like to own land but don’t know how to get started, check out our website. www.Texaslegacycountry.com and let us help. We specialize in Texas land and it's needs. It’s easy to use and grows daily. Plants some roots, be part of Texas history and own a farm or ranch of your own and grow your own garden.

Hill County

As I traveled through the mountains of information I found on the internet about Hill County,( not to be confused with hill country) I was overwhelmed with how much history took place in this county alone. (I am starting with Hill County for a reason, it is my home and dear to my heart.) Depending on how far back you want to travel and how in depth you want to get you could spend years researching. There are 89 Historical Markers in Hill County telling us about everything from Indians making their homes here along the lakes and the rivers and frontiers men and Spaniards made their camps here ( Phillip Nolan was killed near the town of Blum by Spaniards in 1801) .
The county was established in 1852 and is named after Sam Houston’s secretary of war under the Republic of Texas, Dr. George Washington Hill. Forts were established to protect the settlers from the Indians, though the Indians were pushed out by the mass of settlers. The Chisholm Trail followed along the river and was used to move thousands of head of cattle but the land, the soil to be more exact, is what really brought the people to Hill County.

Hello!

I am a real estate agent that specializes in land in the state of Texas. I was a police officer for many years in a big city here in Texas but my body got old and tired and I decided to do something I thought would be easier. It was a smart move for a few years but a bad move in this economy. I started out in residential sales but because of my upbringing and life style selling land; ranches, farms and recreational land, became my passion. There is nothing like spending the day driving around on hundreds of acres of gorgeous ranch land on a gator or a mule or even horse back. I live on a farm just outside of Waco, Texas where we have large pecan trees, fruit trees, a vegetable garden, stock ponds, tall grass, wild flowers and a few animals to share it with. I love our place and can’t imagine living in the city, especially in these times.

As I think about the economy, it’s interesting to note that as houses lose their value, land seems to hold or even rise in price especially around here. That’s partly because of the gas and oil being found but mostly because the increasing shortage of land. But if land is in such demand why does it take so long to sell? The answer is advertising! If you don’t know it’s for sale, you can’t buy it. Unlike houses and sites like Realtor.com there was not easy to locate and use source for land. To resolve this problem my team and I created and are building http://www.texaslegacycountry.com/ , a land e-zine.

Our goal is not only to build a place for folks to find land but also once they have it, find the resources they need to work and maintain it. It’s just in the beginning stages, though at last count we had fourteen counties of Texas land for sale on it. We’re also looking for rep’s to sell advertising space so that we can grow and take on more counties and someday more states. But in the meantime, I’m looking for ways to get the word out about our site so I decided to start a “Blog”.

I’m not sure what a blog is really suppose to be about but this one will be about Texas land and high light a county every month and a property every week. Texas land is full of history, beauty and will warm you deep into your soul. So, I’ll tell you a little history about it as well as the details on each property. I invite you to look at our site and choose properties you’d like to hear about then let me know. Maybe you’ll find a piece of land that calls out to you and you’ll join me in the country, planting gardens, canning fruit, watching the horses graze and living the good life.