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Welcome to Comfort, Texas

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Comfort, Texas, is a Hill Country gem. The small, historic town occupies a central location with scenic drives leading to Fredericksburg, Boerne, and Kerrville. San Antonio is only 30 minutes away. Comfort is the perfect nucleus of all the beautiful Hill Country has to offer. The town features almost 100 historic building constructed before 1910, seven of which were designed by noted architect Alfred Giles. Much of the town is designated a National Historic District.

Welcome to Comfort Texas

Photo: Comfort Historic District

Comfort has a population of only 2,500. Downtown is one of the most well-reserved business districts in all of the Lone Star state. You can walk among the two-story, stone buildings and stop at vibrant antique shops, restaurants, and B & B’s. Three wineries call Comfort home. Enjoy tasting rooms with friendly, knowledgeable sommeliers. There are plenty of outdoor activities as well. The Flat Rock Ranch offers mountain biking or you can play a few rounds on the Buckhorn Golf Course. The Cave Without a Name, possibly the most beautiful cavern in Texas, is located nearby.

Welcome to Comfort Texas

Photo: Big Joshua Creek Road

Enjoy the limestone solution cave’s stunning Stalactite and Stalagmite formations along easy walkways with good lighting. Several campsites are nearby along the Guadalupe River. Visitors can camp, fish, and swim. When the weather turns chilly, hunting season offers an outdoor activity for fall and winter.

German immigrants founded Comfort in 1854. These original settlers were part of the Freethinker movement in Germany. Ernst Hermann Altgelt, born in 1832 at Dusseldorf on the Rhine, led a party of surveyors into the Hill Country and measured the lots for the town. When his work was finished, he chose to stay and make a home in Comfort with his new wife. Freethinkers from New Braunfels arrived in the area and began living in a communal lifestyle. Most of the current day population is made up of descendants of these German pioneers.

Welcome to Comfort Texas

Photo: Comfort Meet Market Scarecrow

In October, Comfort goes all out with the Scarecrow Invasion. From the 15th to Halloween, a wide variety of scarecrows appear on the lawns of homes and businesses. Also in October is the Comfort Village Antiques Show at the Comfort Park. November 7th is the town-wide garage sale. Diva Day comes a week later on the 14th, a day of sales and promotions to jump start holiday shopping and decorating. Girls Nights Out is held November 17th.

Christmas in Comfort can’t be missed. It’s a small town holiday experience like no other. If you’ve been missing the Christmas spirit, this November 28th event might be just what it takes to bring back that old time feeling once again. The annual event features over 125 arts and crafts merchants, a food court, a Lighted Night Parade, and of course, Santa Claus. Each year the historic district comes alive with the Christmas spirit.

Welcome to Comfort Texas

Photo: Faust Hotel

Hotel Faust is a two-story boutique hotel which the New York Times called the “crown jewel” of Comfort. Built in 1880, the hotel boasts 135 years of history. The walls are twenty-inch cut limestone, the ceilings are fourteen feet high. Deep porches feature rocking chairs. The elegant hotel has been updated for modern conveniences but remains true to its past. Gather around the fireplace in the parlor and bask in the warmth of this Texas State Historic Landmark’s rich history.

You can enjoy a fine meal, a cup of global-blend coffee or genuine goats’ milk at High’s Café and Store. Comfort Pizza is another excellent dining choice. It’s housed in a charmingly renovated filling station. Their pizzas are works of art. Be sure to try their craft sodas like the prickly pear cactus drink.

The Elephant Store is dedicated to raising awareness about elephant conservation efforts. They sell handcrafted goods from indigenous artisans in Asian elephant countries. Net profits go to a conservation fund.

Fridays and Saturdays you can stop by the Comfort Public Library’s Backdoor Bookstore. Located on the corner of 7th and High Streets, they sell gently used books and other items.

The Old Tunnel Park is located 13 miles north of town. Huge clouds of bats depart at sunset.

Welcome to Comfort Texas

Photo: Wikipedia

Comfort is also home to one of only two bat roosts in the U.S. Albert Steves erected a Hygieostatic Bat Roost in 1918 on his farm. The roost attracted bats in order to cut down on the mosquito populations—insects which sometimes carried malaria. Steves coined the name of the roost based on a pair of Greek words: Hygiea, meaning health, and stasis, meaning standing. The roost is a shingled tower in a pyramid-shape and stands 30 feet tall. The bats enter through a dormer. The tower’s concrete base is raised seven feet so wagons can be driven underneath the structure and loaded with guano. The bat roost is located a mile and a half east of Comfort on the south side of RM 473. In the 1980s, it was designated a Texas State Landmark and included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Welcome to Comfort Texas

Photo: Wikipedia

The Treue der Union Monument is dedicated to 35 German supports of the U.S. Federal Government who were attacked by a company of Confederates at the Battle of the Nueces in August 1862. The Unionists were en route to Mexico. They planned to cross the border, then make their way to Union-held New Orleans and join Union forces against the confederacy. Many of the slain were members of the Union League, a militia which was active in Republican politics in the years before and after the Civil War. Controversy over the Battle of the Nueces continues to this day in the Hill Country. The monument was erected in 1866 over the place where the dead were buried. An 1866 thirty-six star flag flies at half-staff at the monument.

Come to the Hill Country and enjoy the historic settings in modern Comfort.