At the outer edge of Austin’s city limits, 16 miles West of the city, sits the quaint community of Lakeway, Texas. What began as a relaxing resort town for vacationers and retirees, is now a growing city that has more than doubled in population since the 1990s. This exurb, although still relatively young, has a colorful and vibrant history consisting of many types of people settling in the Hill Country throughout the centuries.
The earliest settlers to the Texas Hill Country and Lakeway shared land with Native Americans, most notably the Tonkawa and later the Apache and Comanches. Looking around the lakeside community from its major road hub, Ranch Road 620, there are views of the surrounding hills and cedar fields so vast that you can almost imagine the first of the Tonkawa people to settle down in the area.
Making use of the natural flint found in the ground to make their tools and arrowheads, the indigenous people were also known for their pottery and copper jewelry. In time, more aggressive and warring tribes would push the natives out of their habitats and east of the Edwards Plateau.