Mar 01
Lockhart is known as “the Barbecue Capital of Texas” with good reason. It’s home to some of the most decorated barbecue joints in the state. There are four barbecue restaurants vying for stomach space: Smitty’s Market, Kruez Market, Chisholm Trail Bar-B-Que, and Black’s Barbecue. If you want to truly savor all that is Lockhart BBQ, two days would be recommended. Otherwise, you’ll end the day exploding meat!
On our visit, we sampled two of the four: Smitty’s Market and Chisholm Trail. Below is some information on each of the four places.
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Feb 22
After passing through Martindale and Maxwell, we eventually arrived to our destination of Lockhart, otherwise known as “the Barbecue Capital of Texas.”
The History
While few may recognize Lockhart for it’s barbecue, make no mistake, this town is no one-hit wonder. With indian battles, the development of a brand new county, the Chisholm Trail, cotton farming, oil drilling, railroads, movies AND barbecue, the story of Lockhart is one that this history-loving Pisces Girl can really sink her teeth into.
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Feb 08
Another small community we passed during our BBQ roadtrip to Lockhart was Maxwell, TX. Located just 8 miles west of our destination, off the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (also known as “The Katy”.)
The History
In 1887, the Katy built through the town of New Martindale and it’s name was changed to Maxwell, in honor of Thomas Maxwell, who obtained the original land grant for the community in 1845.
Maxwell’s earliest inhabitants came from Alabama, but the 1880′s saw an influx of German groups, whose influence is still apparent in the community. As was traditional to German communities of the day, social life in early Maxwell included singing, dancing, and shooting clubs. Mexican farm workers added a second group to the local population.
Leading up and through the early 1900′s, Maxwell showed it’s resilience as fire threatened to destroy the town three times. First in 1887, then again in 1910 and a third time in 1922!
In 1980, the town became the location for the movie Raggedy Man, where locals took small roles in the film.
Union Pacific purchased the Katy and opened new routes to San Marcos in 1989. By 2000, the town’s population had grown to 500 people.
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Feb 07
Last month, Schwabs, the in-laws and I went on a BBQ Roadtrip to Lockhart, TX. In typical fashion, we took the scenic route and stopped to explore some of the smaller communities we passed along the way. One of which was Martindale.
The History
Sitting on the banks of the San Marcos River, Martindale was founded in 1855 by George and Nancy Martindale. Four other families joined them from Mississippi and a town was born.
It developed into an agricultural community and by 1949, two of the town’s most prominent families were supplying over 65% of the hybrid corn seed and a large percentage of the pedigreed cottonseed produced in Texas.
In more recent years, the city’s historic charm has attracted several film scouts. Television shows, music videos and movies have been filmed in town: A Perfect World, starring Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner, The Newton Boys, starring Matthew McConaughey and Ethan Hawke, and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Not bad for a sleepy little town!
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