Sign Up  /  Login

Let's Go To Luckenbach LbNA #33742 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 1, 2007
Location:
City:Luckenbach
County:Gillespie
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Planted by:monarchtrailer
Found by: jimnjennie
Last found:Feb 23, 2008
Status:FFFFaaaaaaaa
Last edited:Aug 1, 2007
Members of the Luckenbach family and other German immigrants moved 11 miles northwest of Fredericksburg in the 1850's and settled along Grape Creek. They established a school and post office, with William Luckenbach as the first postmaster.

In 1970 an ad was placed in the local paper: “TOWN FOR SALE” —lock, stock and dancehall.
At this point, Luckenbach’s second life began. Luckenbach was purchased by a collection of only-in-Texas characters—Hondo Crouch and his cohorts, Guich Koock and Kathy Morgan, who had what might charitably be described as over-active imaginations. Hondo imagined it was an old west fairy-tale-like principality and gave everybody titles. He formed a make-believe town and proclaimed himself Mayor. He made Marge the Sheriff and appointed ambassadors to foreign countries. The trio began to use the nearly-abandoned buildings as a backdrop for anything that smacked of mirth and diversion: “Hug-Ins”, a Luckenbach World’s Fair, Ladies State Chili Bust, the Mud Dauber Festival — and daily sessions of song-picking, domino playing and beer drinking beneath the 500-year-old oak trees. Today, over thirty years later, these events are still celebrated and the pickers are still pickin’ out under the big oak trees.

In 1973, Texas country-rocker, Jerry Jeff Walker came to Luckenbach to record an album. Walker wanted a laid-back Texas locale for a backdrop and Luckenbach was laid-back with a vengeance. Jerry Jeff and his Lost Gonzo Band took over the old dancehall, stacked hay bales for sound baffles and sat around the ancient saloon writing songs during the day. At night, they recorded in the dancehall— fast and loose.
The album, Viva Terlingua, went “gold”, and made Luckenbach a destination point for everyone who heard it. It produced such Texas classics as: Gary P. Nunn’s, “London Homesick Blues” (Home With The Armadillo); Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother”; Guy Clark’s, “Desperadoes Waiting for A Train” and “Sangria Wine”.

Four years later, Bobby Emmons and Chips Moman – penned an idyllic ode to the burg—“Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics)”—which became a massive hit for Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson, bringing Luckenbach to its ultimate worldwide fame. Tour buses and tourists from around the world began to make Luckenbach a regular stop when visiting Fredericksburg area attractions, such as: The Admiral Nimitz Museum, Enchanted Rock State Park and the L.B.J. Ranch in Stonewall.

Hondo passed away in 1976, the year before “Luckenbach Texas” became a hit, but his spirit is carried on by a collection of descendants.
In the Nineties, Luckenbach has become something of a cottage industry, a trademark-registered slice of old-time Texas.
The legendary Dancehall still hosts monthly dances by some of the best Texas musicians going, many of whom were toddlers when Viva Terlingua and “Luckenbach Texas” became hits. Texas minstrels such as Pat Green, Gary P. Nunn, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver, Tommy Alverson and their audiences come to partake of the timeless ambiance, the cold beer, and the increasingly rare sense of being in the center of the known universe, a place where everybody is truly somebody. Many of the Luckenbach faithful celebrate the music, magic & memories of times they’ve spent in Luckenbach by returning for special occasions.

Directions to the box:

Get yourself to Luckenbach, Texas. Park in front of the Post Office, and read the historical marker which sits in the center of the Luckenbach loop, next to a large tree.
After reading the history of Luckenbach, walk East towards the creek that runs behind the Post office and through Luckenbach. Cross the bridge and walk straight up to Hal John & Judy Wimberly's Memorial Campfire Monument. From the monument, walk South towards the 12 foot gate, approximately 15 steps to the cedar fencepost. The cedar fencepost is the second post from the left side of the gate. Let's Go To Luckenbach sits at the base behind this post.
Please place back and cover as found!
Also check out Going Batty at the Bat Tunnel which is not too far down the road in Kendall County.