Welcome to Seguin, where history comes to life in True Women, by native Janice Woods Windle. What began as a family cookbook to give to a son and his bride turned into "epic tales of war and adventure, love and murder, violence and redemption." The mini-series first aired on CBS.

The True Women Cookbook tells how the novel came to be written, adding more pictures and stories to the recipes.

Hill Country, based on the life of the author's remarkable grandmother, opens with LBJ's memorable visit to the family home.

The latest family-lore and fact-based historical novel, Will's War, relives the trials of the author's grandfather during a wave of anti-German hysteria. Many scenes are set in Seguin.

The best way to see the sitesis on a guided tour, to visit some places otherwise not open to the public. Contact the Chamber at 830-379-6382.

If you cannot schedule a tour, follow the self-guided route to the marked sites.

1 - Bettie Moss King Home
920 E. Court Street

Turn into the parking area in front of the barn to view the house where Janice Woods Windle grew up.

"My mother, Virginia Woods, still lives in the family homeplace. It was the home of her grandmother Bettie Moss King from the day she married, in 1887, until the day she died, in 1945,just after the end of World War II. A few months later, my mother, my father, Wilton Woods, my littlebrother, Wilton, and I moved into the home."

"True Women was conceived here. I flew from El Paso once or twice a month to work at the dining room table. In the book, my great-grandma Bettie King is one of the three main characters. When the mini-series was filmed, she was one of 130 or so speaking parts - but was cut in the editing.

"Originally this house had three rooms. A dogtrot became the hall when a long dining room and a kitchen were added. Finally, the Greek Revival porch was put across the front."

"Whoopity, whoopity . . . the sound I heard above the pecan trees in June, 1948, just before my tenth birthday. I remember the voice to this day: HELLO DOWN THERE, GOOD PEOPLE! THIS IS LYNDON JOHNSON, YOUR CANDIDATE
FOR THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

The day the helicopter landed, our yard was filled with milling voters and local Democratic candidates hoping to ride his coattails. A Western band played "Rose of San Antone." The street was linedwith cars decorated with crepe paper streamers and posters . . ."

"The house was there. Standing ageless, solid, fine. Bettie walked onto the porch, touched one of the high white pillars, and looked up at the blue ceiling. She had never felt more secure, more protected. The house on Court Street would be there breathing, living, guarding the family, generation after generation forever."

2 - Euphemia's New House
112 N. Heideke

Turn right from the barn lot, go to corner, turn right on Heideke.

This is Euphemia's "new" house, built in 1887. After they married, Euphemia and William King lived here above King Branch in a two-room log cabin. Dismantled and sent to the Texas Rangers Centennial exhibit, it never returned.

3 - King Cemetery
Under a motte of ancient oaks

Turn right on Mountain. Go two blocks to Peach and turn right. Go one block to Gonzales, turn left. The cemetery is on your right.

Euphemia Texas Ashby King lies alongside members of her beloved family, including seven Rangers and Granny Boyd, Seguin's first Sunday School teacher.

4 - Granny Holley Home
Corner of Court and Heideke

Turn right at King, and right again on Court, passing the Bettie King home. At the next corner on the far left is the 1890s house.

Granny Holley went to the aid of "Mr. Henry" after a wagonload of cotton overturned, breaking his hip.

5 - Wild West Show
On the south side of Court

On your left, behind the Creekside office building, the Wild West Show was held.

Here for the last time Euphemia saw the great
Comanche warrior Tarantula, a powerful adversary
reduced to a circus act, and she gave him her horse.

6 - Idella Lampkin Home
On the south side of Court

Her home site is now Auto-Zone parking.

The character who frames the book, Idella was a mystic, one of those rare beings whose soul floats free in time. It was said she "could talk with the dead, and her greatest gift was the finding of things lost."

7 - Nuge Moss Lay Home
533 E. Court

Stay on Court to the light at San Marcos. Turn left.

On the right as you turn, the insurance office is in the former home of Bettie's sister Nuge. Their lives went in different directions. Nuge ended up scratching out a living on a ranch on the dry plains of South Texas.

8 - Hollamon Oaks
315 Glen Cove

San Marcos doglegs into Glen Cove. Pass the Glen Cove sign, make the first left.

The house dates back to the Republic of Texas. In 1857, Euphemia walked to the Hollamon home on its rise above the Guadalupe. Then a Senator, but running for Governor, Sam Houston made an impassioned speech beneath the great oaks and elms.

9 - Pink Rosebud House
Corner of Nolte and Milam

Leave Glen Cove, turn left on Nolte. Pause at Milam St.

View the barren field on the near right corner, site of Pink Rosebud's naughty house. The madam said, "Whatever you may think of me, do know that I love this town."

10 - Magnolia Hotel
Corner of Donegan and Crockett

Turn right on Milam.
Turn left on Donegan

Begun about 1842, an overnight stagecoach stop for almost 30 years. The back part of the hotel, visible after you turn, is one of the oldest concrete buildings in America.

11 - Wurzbach Bells
St. Andrew's Episcopal

Turn left on Crockett and go one block.

The bell tower honors Harry Wurzbach, the only Texas Congressman to vote for a bill to make lynching a crime.

12 - Preserving Our Heritage
Seguin Conservation Society

Stay on Crockett two blocks. Turn right on Live Oak.

The Oldest Church.

This 1849 building is Texas' oldest surviving Protestant churchhouse.

It was built for one of the early annual conferences of Methodists in Texas.

Euphemia and William King were married in this church.

Union Army Camp.

Under these oaks, the Army of Occupation camped. Euphemia feared for her children, who walked to school past the Yankees.

13 - Male Academy
Corner of Austin and Convent

Go to Austin and pause. to look at the two-story concrete schoolhouse across the street on y our left.

On the left is the school Euphemia's sons attended. Dedicated in 1850, today it is St. James Catholic -- the state's oldest schoolhouse in continuous use.

14 - Juan Seguin Statue
Between Nolte and Donegan

Turn right on Austin. Past the light, Central Park is on your right.

The park boasts a statue of Juan N. Seguin, a character in True Women. The Tejano hero of the Texas Revolution is portrayed as he paraded through this town newly named in his honor.

Created in 1838 as a market square "for the people of Seguin forever." The park was the location of the hearing after Pink Rosebud offered land for the public school.

15 - Female Academy
Joe F. Saegert Middle School

Just past the Courthouse, turn left on Court. Go three blocks, then right on Bowie one block.

Seguin High when Janice Woods was a freshman, on grounds used by educational institutions for almost a century and a half.

Annie Franklin, Euphemia's teacher at Rutersville College, later taught at the Female Academy that once stood here.She challenged men's right to govern society.

16 - Leon Studio
111 W. Gonzales (mid-block on right)

Turn right on Gonzales, and pass the light.

Leon and Nelda Kubala made a photographic record of Seguin and its citizens - including Bettie Moss King and the friends she called The Girls.

17 - Brother Dodson Home
811 N. Austin (mid-block on right)

Turn left on Austin. Go past the light at College about two blocks to the Queen Anne house.

In 1887, Brother T.J. Dodson performed the double wedding of his friend Henry King to Bettie Moss and Tom Lay to Bettie's sister Nuge.

Later he married William Bergfeld (the main character in Will's War ) to Virginia King, daughter of "Mr. Henry" and Bettie Moss King.

In the third generation, Brother Dodson married Wilton Woods to Virginia Bergfeld, a granddaughter of "Mr. Henry" and Bettie.

Wilton and Virginia Woods were the parents of Janice Woods Windle, author of True Women.

18 - Dr. Stamps Home
600 N. River (Little Red Barn Playschool)

Turn right on Humphreys, right again on River. Just past the light, the Stamps home is on the left.

Dr. Stamps cared for Mr. Henry's broken hip. "Time is the very best doctor," he said.

19 - Women's Federated Clubs
Corner of River and Ireland

Go two blocks to Ireland.

On the far right corner is the oldest building in the state erected to house women's organizations, now 100 years old.

OPTION 1 - Turn right on Ireland and park
in the big lot behind the Clubs House.
The Chamber of Commerce - entrance on Austin St. -has other self-drive tours.

OPTION 2 - Explore scenic Capote Road.

20 - George King Home
1117 E. Court

Continue on River. At the second light turn left
on Court. Go east, passing the Bettie King home.

Just after the light at King St., the insurance office on the right was the home of Bettie's son, George, and his wife, Nellie, and their children, including George Henry King, killed in the last battle of World War II.

21 - Capote Road Bridge
Over the beautiful Guadalupe River

Stay on Court to the second light. Turn right at Hwy 123. At the next light, go left on FM 466 for a few miles.

A lifeline known as Capote Road for over a century. Every July 4th, local farmers celebrated here.

22 - Moss Farm
On Capote Road

Continue to the intersection. Keep left on FM 466 to Polecat Creek.

On the left past Polecat Creek was the farm home of Leonard and Mollie Moss, and their children, including Bettie. The Braddocks, killed in the storm, lived just east.

23 - Capote Baptist Church
At the Historical Marker

Continue on FM 466.

Idella Lampkin is buried in the graveyard next to this graceful, century-old country church.

24 - Capote Road
FM 466 to Gonzales

On the Billy Fleming farm, the stallion "Old Billy" sired offspring called Billy horses - an early line of quarter horse.

From El Capote Ranch (see Historical Marker), Teddy Roosevelt took horses to Cuba in the 1898 Spanish-American War.

Old Baldy in the Capote Sand Hills served as a landmark for early travelers in these parts.

Follow Capote Road to Cost. Turn left on Hwy 97. The "Come and Take It" monument marking the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution is ahead on your left.

The Gonzales Chamber, 830-672-6532, has directions to the 1842 home of Sarah McClure Branches at Peach Creek.

Open from 2 to 4 p.m. on the last Saturday of every month, April to November, and other times by appointment.

San Marcos Points of Interest

True Women and Hill Country both chronicle the Woods family in San Marcos. For information, contact the San Marcos Chamber at 512-396-2495.

To arrange a speaking engagement by Janice Woods Windle, call 915-543-3972. Visit her Website jwwbooks.com.