Hill Country Gem: Mason

The small town of Mason boasts fine wine and good food, plus rock-hunting and bat flights

By Dale Weisman

Ah, the idyllic getaway: tasting the latest vintage at a boutique winery, lingering in antiques shops and art galleries, settling into a cozy B&B, and experiencing that German sense of comfort and congeniality—Gemütlichkeit—at every turn.

Fredericksburg? Could be. But I’m actually 42 miles up the road, in Mason, a smaller, quieter, German-Texan town often overlooked by tourists. Although I’ve driven through this Hill Country gem many times, I’ve neglected to explore Mason’s myriad charms. This time, I opt to stop and smell the rosés (and syrahs and grenaches) at Sandstone Cellars Winery, indulge in savory gorditas at Santos Taqueria, stroll the town’s postcard-perfect courthouse square, search for precious topaz, and catch a bat flight from a wild cave (one that has no trails or electricity).

At Mason’s own mini-Trafalgar Square is the town’s epicenter, the 1910 Classical Revival county courthouse, shaded by lofty pecan trees. Extra-wide streets and century-old mercantile buildings surround the stately structure in a thriving historic district, where gift and antiques shops, restaurants, B&Bs, art galleries, and the Mason Square Museum rub shoulders with a country store, Western-wear shop, pharmacy, law and real estate offices, the venerable Mason County News, and the austere, Romanesque 1894 county jail, still in use.

The neon-adorned Odeon Theater, another landmark on the square, has operated continuously since opening in 1928. Walt Disney’s film Old Yeller, based on the novel by Mason’s prolific native son Fred Gipson, premiered at the Odeon in 1957. Nowadays, you can watch first-run films and catch the likes of singer-songwriter Joe Ely and the Mason Country Opry.

In 2004, Mason’s first winery, Sandstone Cellars, opened in the beige bungalow next to the taqueria. Mason County’s first vineyard was 11 years ago. The Hickory Sands soil and moderate climate proved ideal for Mediterranean grapes, such as Touriga, Mourvedre, and Syrah. After his vines flourished, six more vineyards were established in Mason County, creating a singular terroir for what Pullum calls “fusion wines,” a complex mélange of local fruit. These wines are winning awards and impressing oenophiles.

Strolling Mason’s Square: History and commerce mingle in downtown Mason

Set off by towering pecan trees planted in the 1920s, the majestic Mason County Courthouse claims center stage in Mason, but it’s not the only interesting feature of this picturesque downtown. For starters, the courthouse square is really a rectangle that’s one block wide and two blocks long, one of only nine “two-block squares” in Texas.

More than two dozen buildings that date from the late 1800s to the early 1920s rim the square, including the Mason House—originally the Mason House Hotel—thought to date to 1870. Other venerable structures include the 1879 C&G Building, which was once a saloon and pool hall where several people died in gunfights. “A Walking Tour of Mason’s Courthouse Square,” a nifty brochure available from the Mason County Chamber of Commerce (325/347-5758; www.masontxcoc.com), describes 46 buildings on the square and helps visitors appreciate their history and Mason’s heritage as a whole.

See the full article in the September 2009 issue.

Subscribe

Order back issues