Welfare

Wednesday, November 30, 3026

Did I grab your attention with the title?  I hope so.

Actually Welfare is the name of a small community between Kerrville and Boerne in the Hill Country of Texas.  

Today it is a ghost town but in 1848 Carl Joseph and Augusta Beseler along with their sons emigrated to Texas from their homeland to settle on Carl’s land  grant and open a general store.  The town grew up around the general store.   The community was first named Bon Ton or Boyton but changed to Welfare when the post office was opened in 1880 with Carl Beseler as the first Postmaster. 

We spotted the sign below and thought we would stop for lunch, but alas we somehow failed to see the Café so continued on our way coming across these farm buildings.

 Further along the road is the town of Waring which was founded in 1887 by R.P.M. Waring and named for the founders hometown of Waringford in Ireland.  The name was not changed to Waring until 1901.  From its founding until service was ceased in 1970, the town was a station on the Kerrvile branch of the San Atnonio and Aransas Pass Railway.  In Waring we found this old General Store and gas station, a church and this old school. 

You never know what you will find when you drive the back roads through old towns and we always enjoy being surprised by what we find.    

Our RV neighbors here in the Park went with us this evening for the Wednesday night  hamburgers at the local Elks Lodge.  It is a very active Lodge and officers make a point of greeting all visitors each time they attend and tonight was no exception.  Nice to be remembered by name and welcomed.  All of us bought 50-50 tickets tonight and to our surprise, Ron won $102 enough to pay for our meal tonight, our stay at the RV Park tomorrow night with quite a bit left over. 

Coming back to the Park after dark, we are able to enjoy the many, many lights which this Park puts up for the Christmas season.  Don’t think I have ever heard about another Park that does this much.  It really is beautiful.  Below are a few pictures Ron took.  Some he took just do not show the sight as it really does look in person.

Rental cabins at the Park

Signing off as we make our way to Las Cruces and then Arizona.