Tell me about Texas Hill country

quote:

---

garner state park

---

quote:

---

I think Kerrville and Boerne are great

---

quote:

---

the Freethinkers, being ardent advocates of democracy and freedom from religion, were fleeing primarily from political and religious tyranny. They came to the United States seeking freedom from dictatorial monarchies and clerics. The Freethinkers refused to accept political absolutism and the authority of a church, religion, or its supposedly inspired scripture. They insisted on the freedom to form religious opinions on the basis of intellectual reasoning powers and not on blind, unquestioned faith

---

quote:

---

The Texas Hill Country Freethinkers numbered an estimated 1,000 individuals with close to 250 documented surnames. This group came primarily from the intellectual core of the German states, with many of them being highly respected nobles, philosophers, scientists, physicians, and engineers.

---

quote:

---

Education was of paramount importance to these intellectual immigrants. They built schools and libraries which also served for defense against occasional renegade Indian attacks. They educated their children to be independent and self-reliant, and with minds free from prejudice. They strongly encouraged a skeptical outlook on the pronouncement of others in their own study of right and truth. Very important in their education was the development of a spirit which would sustain the courage of their convictions without regard to personal consequences. Girls, as well as boys, were strongly encouraged to pursue their highest potential level of aptitude.

---

quote:

---

Duke Paul, brother of the king of the German State of Wuerttemberg, along with Frederick Law Olmsted, one of America's greatest landscape architects and noted travel authors, visited and marveled at a level of culture and sophistication such as not found elsewhere in the entire South. They remarked that their discussions were worthy of "golden goblet" conversations conducted at the most luxurious palaces in Europe. They noted that the crude cabins were stocked with classical books, fine paintings, and musical instruments.

---

quote:

---

Nowhere in Olmsted's wide-ranging travels had he found people so free of bigotry and so willing to discuss their ideas and beliefs. Along with the German immigrant-built cities of Fredericksburg and New Braunfels, the Latin Colony communities were the only ones in the South where white agricultural laborers were exclusively found.

---

quote:

---

Anywhere in Hill Country give us a walkable downtown, interesting shops, restaurants, etc.?

---

quote:

---

Fredericksburg buts it's over run with touristas and shops that cater to them.

---

quote:

---

Fredericksburg

---