Spicewood natives have been coming home for 128 years
The class of 1913-14 in front of the Spicewood School. The building was remodeled in 1972 to become the Spicewood Community Center, where the annual Spicewood Homecoming Barbecue has been held on the second Saturday in June for 128 years. Photo courtesy of The Falls on the Colorado Museum
The 128th Spicewood Homecoming Barbecue starts at noon on Saturday, June 10, in the Spicewood Community Center, 7901 CR 404. Yes, that’s one-hundred-and-twenty-eight years of gatherings! Current and former residents bring potluck side dishes, desserts, and old stories to go along with the community-provided barbecue chicken, brisket, sausage, beef stew, and iced tea.
When the tradition began, the community met in a one-room schoolhouse for what was then called Sports Day, always held on the second weekend in June. Graduates played sports and recited poems and speeches.
W.D. Riddell was the school’s first teacher and the grandfather of former Burnet County Sheriff Wallace Riddell, who wore the badge from 1939-78, making him the longest-serving sheriff in Texas until 2008.
The Spicewood community built a bigger school in 1908, and by 1924, 11 grades were taught there. Rockvale School District No. 21 became Spicewood School in 1919 and had 104 students and three teachers. Enrollment peaked in the 1921-22 school year with 121 students and four teachers. The school consolidated with the Marble Falls Independent School District in the fall of 1949.
And through all that, every year, on the second Saturday in June, the community gathered to chat and chew at what became known as the Spicewood Homecoming, although it wasn’t always called that.
Legend has it that Spicewood got its name at a picnic to celebrate the opening of the new post office in 1900. According to the document “Report of the History Committee,” found in the archives at The Falls on the Colorado Museum in Marble Falls, neither the post office nor the community had a name.
People in the area asked Marble Falls Postmaster A.J. Cochran, who had ridden a half-day by horse and two-wheeled carriage to the gathering, to come up with one.
“As the time approached for Mr. Cochran to name the new post office, a group of children romped past with armloads of fragrant branches from a low shrub that grew on the banks of the creek,” reads the history committee report. “One little girl stopped and held out a branch to the distinguished guest.”
She asked him if he wanted to smell something nice, and he, of course, said yes. He loved the aroma and asked her what it was.
“It’s spicewood,” she said. “It grows all over here.”
“Looks as if we’ve found a name,” he said.
If you’ve ever called Spicewood home, mark your calendar, make a dish, and head over to the community center on June 10. Be prepared to share your Spicewood stories.
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Thanks for the story on Spicewood’s history!