Sonja Sommerfeld | TPWD
Travel
Loving Lockhart
Come for the barbecue, stay to explore this town’s many charms.
As I enter Lockhart, a huge red steel building on my right — home of the legendary Kreuz Market — signals my arrival in “The Barbecue Capital of Texas.”
Kreuz Market started smoking meat in 1900, and with the opening of competitors like Smitty’s and Black’s, barbecue pilgrims have been flocking to town for generations. The Legislature made it official, proclaiming: “No community in Texas can best the city of Lockhart when it comes to an appreciation for the extraordinary alchemy of post oak and patience.”
Other Texas towns might want to wrest the prestigious title from Lockhart, but with a handful of homegrown barbecue restaurants that, cumulatively, have been in business for more than 300 years, Lockhart can claim to know quite a bit about brisket and ribs, Texas style.
For now, the barbecue can wait. Down the road from Kreuz, Caldwell County’s stunning courthouse, constructed of cream-colored limestone trimmed with Pecos red sandstone, dominates Lockhart’s historic downtown square. Completed in 1894 and renovated in 1994, the courthouse, designed by architect Henry Guidon, was built during what historians consider to be “the golden age of Texas courthouses.” As I park, I hear the loud dong of the courthouse’s clock, a sound not often heard in our digital world.
It’s no accident that the four-sided Seth Thomas clock atop the courthouse’s central tower still works, as does the 900-pound bell. When it stopped in 2006, Gene Galbraith, now in his 90s, restored it. Two years later, he opened the Southwest Museum of Clocks and Watches, one of three clock museums in the U.S., across the street from the courthouse.
Sonja Sommerfeld | TPWD
At that time, of the 55 Texas courthouses with clocks, only a handful worked. With the support of the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Association of Counties, Galbraith and his proteges have so far repaired 14 Texas courthouse clocks.
Volunteer docent Lazarus Dugas greets me as I step into the museum. An aspiring horologist in a black tuxedo, the 10-year-old takes me on a tour of the museum’s collection, which includes a clock designed by Benjamin Franklin, a pocketwatch with Hitler’s face on it (given to a Brownshirt during World War II) and a clock owned by P.T. Barnum. The Barnum clock plays organ-like circus music and took three years for Galbraith to restore.
The museum’s oldest timepiece, obtained from an English monastery, is a 1639 clock that measures time with dripping water.
Next stop is another of Lockhart’s historical gems, the Caldwell County Museum. A rare example of the Norman castle style of architecture, it became the county’s jail in 1908. The first floor, once the jail keeper’s home, now houses historical artifacts.
I gaze into the hatted and bearded faces of the “Trail Drivers of Texas,” a photo display of the cowboys who drove cattle north up the Chisholm Trail from 1867 to 1884. Lockhart was its southern terminus.
The rest of the building contains dilapidated but fortress-like jail cells, last occupied in 1983. I can’t help but imagine residing there — not a pleasant thought. Nonetheless, I enjoy watching a family of visitors from Kyle, the Ver Steegs, explore each barred cell, including the one reserved for solitary confinement.
Sonja Sommerfeld | TPWD
I love a good library, so I’m off to the Dr. Eugene Clark Library, a French Renaissance-style, red-brick building that is Texas’ oldest continuously operated library (housed in its original building). Architect T.S. Hodges designed the library and the jail. The library, which has dark wood walls, a pressed tin ceiling, stained-glass windows and green glass reading lamps, provides a quiet refuge and myriad services for Lockhart’s residents.
During the holidays, library staff bedeck it with “gorgeous” decorations, says Kellie Salome, who recently relocated to Lockhart to escape Austin’s high housing costs. “It really sparkles inside.”
On the first Friday and Saturday in December, the library’s annual fundraiser, Dickens’ Christmas in Lockhart, transforms the town. Vendors sell scrumptious food and unique crafts, and performances abound — choruses, juggling and magic shows.
There is a lighted parade around the square; Santa is in residence in the library; and people dressed in period costumes delight kids and adults alike.
A lighted, decorated “disco boat” with an onboard DJ blares music — some Christmas tunes, some not. The festivities culminate in the lighting of thousands of holiday lights in the historic downtown.
“The lights make everybody feel good and happy,” says Layne Tanner, co-owner of Lockhart Arts and Craft, a downtown bar and coffeehouse.
Chase Fountain | TPWD
In addition to history and old-timey barbecue establishments, Lockhart possesses an inclusive cultural streak. I browse downtown shops such as Fields Stable Antiques; the Culinary Room, which is famous for its “Banana Pudding by the Scoop”; Lone Star Workshop, an artisan gift store; and two hip vintage shops, Golden Hour and Magic Mirror.
There are art galleries, too. Commerce Gallery specializes in contemporary art depicting West Texas but also exhibits work by “Lockhartians.” When I was there, the gallery featured paintings by Austinites Patrick Puckett and Camille Woods. I can’t help but buy a “Came for BBQ. Left with Art” T-shirt from co-owner Tamara Carlisle.
“It happens all the time,” she says. “People come in — they'll be like from Smitty’s — and then they’re walking out with a big piece of art. Their fingers still have barbecue sauce on them.”
Another gallery, Soundwaves Art Gallery, is a nonprofit that raises money for charity. Owner Tim Wakefield collaborates with artists like Billie Eilish and Brandi Carlile to create individually signed canvases that are visual representations of sound waves of iconic songs.
One of the best times to enjoy Lockhart’s downtown stores is during First Friday, which occurs on the first Friday of every month, when shops stay open late, galleries have openings, and live music and giveaways abound.
When I stop in at Little Trouble, an eclectic restaurant located in the basement of the historic 1898 Brock Building, I learn about another reason to come to Lockhart: to skate at the Lockhart Skatepark, a former swimming pool in Lockhart City Park.
“It’s one of the most unique bowls in Texas,” server Jodi Centeno-Walker tells me. “If you go there on a Friday night, it’s really packed. People love it.”
Welcoming to both beginner and advanced skateboarders and roller skaters, the park has 3-, 4-, 6- and 9-foot “drop-ins,” places where skaters transition from flat platforms to curved areas.
Across the street from Little Trouble, Arts and Craft lives by the mantra “You Belong Here,” celebrated in a neon sign and echoed by its Wi-Fi login, “goodenough.” The owners host myriad live music events with both local and traveling bands; game nights; flash fiction nights, during which customers compose then read aloud original prose; and monthly open mics.
In mid-December, they throw “The Worst Christmas Party,” to which people bring “terrible” food like Jello molds with Spaghetti-Os.
“We put the whole spread out and everybody’s like, ‘I'm not going to eat any of that.’ And then by the end of the night, most of it is gone,” Tanner says.
Sonja Sommerfeld | TPWD
Sonja Sommerfeld | TPWD
Reluctant to leave but hungry, I leave Arts and Craft and walk to Smitty’s, whose walls have been collecting smoke for more than 100 years. When I ask James Fullilove, son of owner Nina Sells, if they have any plans to change their offerings, he harkens back to the changes that Smitty’s has implemented.
“We didn't have anything. You’d get your paper, your soda water, your meat, your crackers and you’d go sit down. We didn't have sauce,” Fullilove reminisces. “We used to just sell shoulder. We didn’t even sell brisket. Now we have turkey, prime rib, shoulder, brisket and a lot of sides.”
The sheer volume of meat consumed each week at Smitty’s is mind-blowing: 6,000 pounds of beef, including 3,500 pounds of brisket. Additionally, they produce 3,000 sausage rings a day.
“They’re three to a pound, and we do it all by hand,” Fullilove says. “We grind it. We mix it. We stuff it. We tie it. We hang it on sticks, and we cook it. And then we put it in a barrel and chill it. The next day we sell it.”
Noamfein | Dreamstime
Barbecue in hand, I drive 10 minutes south to the respite of Lockhart State Park’s 264 acres. With a swimming pool, four miles of hiking trails and 20 campsites, the park is a wonderful place to spend a day or a week. I eat on a shaded picnic table adjacent to the picturesque rec hall, one of the park’s many structures built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Available to rent, it is a popular destination for weddings, birthday parties and class reunions.
CCC-built dams along Clear Fork Creek create small gurgling waterfalls and pools used for fishing and irrigating the park’s golf course. Built by the Works Progress Administration, the course is the only one at a Texas state park.
“We’re probably the most affordable golf in Texas,” says Shawn Fisher, the park’s superintendent.
Green fees are $10. With the park entrance fee and cart rental, it costs less than $30 to golf 18 holes. The fairways double as a wide-open setting for stargazing parties, and the water hazards serve as a venue for frog watches and amphibian hunts.
“We’ll go out there with little nets and catch all kinds of frogs and show them to the kids and then we can release them right back into their homes,” Fisher says.
As I finish my mouthwatering meal, the sun is sinking low in the sky and home beckons. I might have come for the barbecue, but I left with an appreciation for the art, the architecture, the history, the music and the community that make this town such a pleasure to visit.
Chase Fountain | TPWD
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