Travel column: Salado offers interesting inn, good food | Community
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Traveling south on Interstate 35 is an adventure.
Sometimes the scenery just glides by; sometimes you only see the rear of an 18-wheel; And sometimes you have a lot of time to look around, as the motorway has become a parking lot thanks to the construction work.
On a recent trip we were sometimes slower than the two to five miles per hour that stagecoaches average on the route.
We spent our first night in a historic stagecoach inn in Salado, Texas.
Even before Salado became a town, stagecoaches drove through here on the way from Austin to Waco.
But the city’s roots go back much further – to the 1820s – when Stephen Austin and Sterling C. Robertson signed a land grant treaty with Mexico in what is now Texas.
In 1836, the Texas War of Independence ended the Mexican government. In the 1850s, part of Robertson’s scholarship was sold to his son Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson, who first saw the scholarship in 1835 at the age of 15.
In 1854 the ESC Robertson began building a house in Salado. He recognized the need for a stopover and set one up. However, passengers looking for accommodation relied on the hospitality of the Robertsons’ house.
In the late 1850s, Robertson, along with other citizens, planned to build a college and officially established Salado as a city. Both happened at the same time.
Robertson donated 10 acres on a hill for the school and 90 acres for sale to raise money for the school. One of the lots was sold to Thomas Jefferson Eubanks for the construction of a hotel.
This is how the saga began of the stagecoach inn, built in 1861 and known as the Salado Hotel. By 1870 the name was changed to Salado House. The property then went through several owners until 1908 and was called Shady Villa.
The hotel survived the Civil War, the end of cattle drives on the Chisholm Trail, and would survive the Great Depression.
But the writing was on the wall. The city had shrunk to a shop and a gas station.
In the early 1940s, Dion and Ruth Van Bibber, delighted with the history and location of the derelict Shady Villa, bought it.
Over the next 47 years, the Van Bibbers transformed the old hotel into The Stagecoach Inn and transformed it from ruin into full-service accommodation, gaining national attention for the excellence of its restaurant.
They survived a number of crises, from the construction of I-35 that pushed the highway through Salado to structural problems and kitchen disasters.
For the past few years, nephew Bill Bratton had kept everything going. After Ruth and Dion died, he kept the inn for nine years before selling it.
The heyday of the inn was over. Attempts to revive it have been minimal and miserable.
While enough of us remember the stagecoach inn from Van Bibber’s time, contemporary visitors had a much less pleasant experience.
That fall, the hotel changed management and relaunched the property under the new old name of Shady Villa Hotel.
Jack, my daughter Zoe, and I recently stayed there for several nights. Our room overlooked an inviting, crystal clear, well laid out swimming pool. Our spacious and comfortable room had modern mid-century furnishings.
As a fan of showers, I am always critical of this function in every hotel. Our shower here has an A + – perfect print and a nicely angled rain shower head. The area invites you to take a walk in the shade of centuries-old trees.
After an extensive breakfast we visited parts of the inn from 1861. Low ceilings with thick beams, original wooden floors, enough authentic material supplemented by a successful reconstruction to give an impression of the old inn from the experience of stagecoach travelers. The facade of the hotel looks very similar to the original inn, although parts have been remodeled for safety reasons.
Myths mix with facts in the retelling of the story. An undocumented but often told story is that Sam Houston gave a passionate speech against the Texas secession from the balcony of the inn.
Other guests could have been General Custer, Shangai Pierce, and Jesse James. Since the guest profile has been missing for many years, positive evidence is difficult to grasp.
One definitive visitor in the 1950s was culinary writer and national columnist Duncan Hines, whose name now graces cake mixes. His praise for the Stagecoach Inn’s cuisine made the inn a gourmet destination.
After staying at the old hotel for the last time in 1973, a visit to Shady Villa was a main goal of my Texas hike. But the small town (2,126 inhabitants, no traffic lights) has a lot more to offer than the hotel.
At first, Salado Creek, a beautiful stream, drew not only Indians and cowboys to the Chisholm Trail, but eventually artists and entrepreneurs.
Once the city’s raison d’etre, the college is now a picturesque ruin, of interest to history buffs and photographers, and to those who are just looking for a nice walk or a place to reflect.
The small museum in the town’s visitor center has good history and a gift shop with lots of Scottish material. Founder Robertson was a passionate Scot, and Salado is celebrating that legacy with an annual Scottish Gathering and Highland Games, scheduled for November 12-14 this year.
Art galleries range from contemporary works at Griffith Gallery to Western art and wildlife at Prellop Gallery and Wells Gallery.
See live demonstrations at the Salado and Uniquely Salado glassworks. After watching Bryan Fritch wrap semiprecious stones with silver wire, I bought my own special malachite souvenir of the one-of-a-kind salado.
There were too many shops to see all of them. Choices ranged from boutique clothing and home decor to one of our favorite spots, Shoppes on Main Street, where we giggled over X-rated socks and enjoyed crpes at the Marketplace Cafe so much we ate there twice.
Breakfast at McCain’s Bakery and Café is a must. Be careful when you order the Guatemalan pancake ask for the little one; the big one must be the size of a pizza. For fun, food, and beer (60 on tap) head to Chupacabra.
Salado may seem like a small place on the map, but it offers great rewards for those who take the time to escape the highway. Dip your feet in the clear stream, shop till you drop, or just sit back and relax. Salado is a good place for that.
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