A Place Called Bastrop

Memorial Day Episode: Honor Flight Austin

Late on a recent Saturday afternoon, our anxiety was high at Washington’s DC's airport after navigating a mob in the terminal and then seeing our gate to Austin jammed with some 20 people in wheelchairs. But that anxiety quickly ebbed as Sarah and I realized that these people were veterans as evidenced by their hats that read Vietnam or Korea. On talking with them and the sponsor, we learned there were also a couple of WWII veterans on the flight, including a woman Marine, who told everyone that she was not just 100 years old, but a 100 and a half years old. The group had just finished a 24-hour whirlwind tour to see the war memorials and monuments. Attending to these veterans were an equal amount of volunteers, including Bastrop’s Joe Beal, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran himself, who has done this flight nine times—eight as a volunteer. To honor Memorial Day, Ken Kesselus interviews him to learn more about Honor Flight Austin.  Lucian Perkins

As Bastrop County Grows, How Do We Meet Its Challenges?

We talk with Debbie Bresette, Executive Director of Bastrop County Cares, an organization quietly bringing together organizations, churches, businesses and individuals to solve the issues of our county.

Something Magical is Happening at Bob Bryant Park.

Flowers, fruits, vegetables, birds and bees will soon flourish in Bob Bryant Park. And residents along with their children will be able to learn from Bastrop’s Master Gardeners how to grow their own plants and food at the community garden being created there or in their own spaces. Join host, Olga Maystruk to find out what's in store at this park for 2022.

How the Texas town of Bastrop was named.

In 1820, Moses Austin, the father of Stephen F. Austin, is ordered out of San Antonio by sundown, after meeting with the Spanish governor in a failed bid to start an American colony in Spanish-controlled Texas.  Dejected, he walks out and while crossing a public square, runs into Baron de Bastrop, whom he hasn’t seen in twenty years. Local historian Ken Kesselus tells us the rest of the story of how Bastrop got its name.

A Judge's Decision

When the controversy over Bastrop’s Confederate monuments first arose, County Judge Paul Pape was not inclined to approve their removal from the county courthouse. Then he began to research their origins and while going through the archives of the Bastrop Advertiser, the oldest newspaper in Texas, he read first-hand accounts about the statues in 1908 and their dedication in 1910. Listen to what he learned and why he changed his mind.