History
The land within the preserve has been inhabited for several thousand years, and a number of Native American artifacts have been found on the property, including human remains. After the arrival of European settlers in the mid-1800s, the area became part of a working ranch. The bottomlands were converted to cropland and the remainder was used for grazing. Eventually becoming the Bar-O Ranch, several parcels of land were subsequently donated by Louise Merrick between 1976 and 1982 to establish the Hill Country State Natural Area. Ms. Merrick stipulated that the property was “to be kept far removed and untouched by modern civilization, where everything is preserved intact, yet put to a useful purpose.” The preserve was opened to the public in 1984 with 4,753 acres (19.23 km2). In 1986 a further 616 acres (2.49 km2) were acquired, bringing the total size to the current 5,369 acres (21.73 km2).
Read more about this topic: Hill Country State Natural Area
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)