Real Estate Photographer in Fredericksburg, TX

A highly anticipated retail development in Fredericksburg will include a $1.2 million Salt Lick BBQ restaurant, according to state documents.

A new filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), shows that construction on the 9,323-square-foot restaurant is scheduled to begin on September 1, 2025, with an opening date set for October 2026. The filing was registered on June 6. All TDLR filings are subject to change.

The restaurant will be part of the tourist-friendly Hill Country's development known as The Sycamore, which broke ground in 2023. The mixed-use retail and lifestyle project is expected to open this year. In doing so, it joins a host of other shopping and lifestyle developments coming to the area in the next few years.

According to a 2023 news release, The Sycamore is expected to include a football field-length "central amenity" that will be called the Ellipse. It will also feature other shopping stores, landscaped walkways, creek beds, a bandstand and shaded canopies. The 2023 release also announced that Salt Lick would be included.

"We could not think of a better place to plant our roots than in Fredericksburg," Salt Lick owner Scott Roberts said in the release. "We are committed to bringing the same top-notch food and service to the development and hope to add some flair and excitement with the addition of The Salt Lick BBQ, Salt Lick Cellars, and a brand new soon-to-be-announced concept that we’re very excited about. It’s something we have had in the works for quite some time."

Salt Lick BBQ is known for its Texas-style barbecue, cooked over a large open pit, with a family-friendly environment.

The barbecue joint recently opened a new restaurant concept in Buda and was even featured by Bloomberg as one of the world's "best airport restaurants" for its location in the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Salt Lick also has locations in Driftwood, Round Rock and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

MySA contacted The Sycamore developer Geoff Bley for an update on when shoppers can expect the project to be fully operational. Following the publication of this article, he responded, saying tourists and locals alike should stay tuned for a late summer update.

Okay ladies, I have found a getaway for us. Dare I say, a bonafide She Shed? Why yes, yes I do say, and the location is absolutely fabulous.

So grab the Thelma to your Louise and enter Fredericksburg in your GPS because that is where I have found the most absolutely perfect She Shed and there’s no need to bring the wine because Fredericksburg is in the heart of Texas wine country. Let me just say now, you are welcome.

Within easy walking distance of food and fun, Gillespie County has more than 75 vineyards, wineries and tasting rooms. Match those wineries with farm-to-table dining or some of the most authentic German cuisine you can find, all you need to do is add the BFFs and let the fun ensue.

Known as Fredericksburg’s Pink Glam House, this classic has high ceilings and original hardwood floors and doors. Along with the main house, there is also a guest house so you bring your entire crew to your personal She Shed for fun, food, and drink.

She Shed Goes Heavy on the Glam

Can it even be considered a legit She Shed if it doesn’t have a red lips couch? The answer is a definite no.

Completely renovated in 2022, this well-loved 1931 home got a new roof, updated electrical, HVAC, plumbing, windows, kitchen and baths. All it’s missing is you and your mimosa crew.

The Outside Is Just as Fun as the Inside

After a day of wine tastings and eating your fill, you and the girls can spend some time in the backyard enjoying the privacy. Oh yeah, there’s also the fire pit and custom cowboy pool/hot tub that your guests are sure to enjoy.

While lacking in the glam that the main house showcases, the guest house can be fixed with some stops at the fun shops in Fredericksburg.

Priced at $850,000, here’s hoping this She Shed at 703 E Highway St. finds an owner who enjoys time in Fredericksburg with the girls.

Parts of the Texas Hill Country were under a tornado watch on Monday, May 26, including Fredericksburg.

While the thunderstorms that rolled through the region Monday evening didn't produce a funnel-shaped cloud, they did produce hail, lightning shows and some flooding that made for a wild end to the Memorial Day weekend for residents in Gillespie and Kendall counties. The area is facing a severe thunderstorm threat again on Tuesday, May 27.

One of the biggest concerns from these storms is their potential to produce hail capable of causing property damage. On Monday night, Nancy Espinoza, a Fredericksburg resident, snapped a photo of one lemon-sized chunk of hail. The photo shows the spiky-looking ice next to a good-sized lemon.

Interactive Hail Maps, an online hail reporting system, showed several reports of teacup- to golf ball-sized hail in Gillespie County, where Fredericksburg is located, between 6 and 8 p.m., following the tornado watch issued by the National Weather Service.

The possibility of the tornado prompted a visit from the Texas Storm Chasers, who chronicled their search for tornadoes on Monday night.

Stephen Jones, one of the storm chasers, posted a video update around 6:45 p.m. as he and his crew took shelter from a hailstorm at a Fredericksburg car wash.

Jones also later caught video of a lightning storm over Boerne as the tornado risk continued.

Katlyn Stamper took video near Fredericksburg and Mason, Texas, at around 6 p.m., showing an electric green sky.

"At the time I took this video, a tornado warning for that area was being issued," Stamper said.

In the Boerne area, one resident posted a video of a flash flood that closed Rolling Acres Trail, a residential street in Fair Oaks Ranch.

In Kerrville, Lawrence Campbell also saw a large cloud front heading his way as he watched closely for a potential tornado. He said he believes he briefly saw what might have been a funnel cloud, but ultimately, nothing touched down.

"No hail, some rain, some lightning, thunder," he told MySA. "But it all passed us."

A sleepy Hill Country town with more than 75 wineries has caught the attention of Americans from all over the country.

Fredericksburg, Texas, has transformed into one of the state's most buzzed-about travel destinations for its wine production and stunning views of nature — and it's quickly become a rival to California's Napa Valley.

The town, which has also been compared to Aspen due to its wealthy clientele and beautiful mountain views, was founded in 1846 by German immigrants as part of the German settlement of Texas.

The town became known for its distinctive blend of Texas and German culture, with settlers maintaining their German traditions, language, and architecture while adapting to American culture.

'It's a quaint little town. You go there and you don't expect to get so much,' local realtor Cesar Amezcua told the Daily Mail.

'You have a Main Street that is full of high-end shops and great restaurants and wine tasting rooms. And now you're seeing five-star hotels being built. Full-on high-end luxury.'

Fredericksburg began as a modest winemaking region, but is now a paradise filled with local attractions like Enchanted Rock and spas that source their organic products locally.

'We used to go to the same two wineries — now I don't even know how many there are,' said Amezcua.

He says the wineries started popping up when land buyers realized the clay-like soil was ripe for growing grapes.

'The soil is fantastic. Beautiful reddish color. Very rich,' he added.

The Hill Country's year-round hot climate also helps.

The many wineries don't just offer tastings and events, they're also full experiences.

'They throw parties with live music,' Amezcua told the Daily Mail.

'Many are kid friendly. Some have full kitchens you can rent out. Now we have distilleries. We have breweries. You can just show up at noon and by 5pm you've done some real damage.'

There's even an urban wine trail visitors can follow for a day of tastings.

Many of the vineyards paired their own chef-prepared bites (like locally grown peaches) with the wines they produce.

Getting around the area to winery hop is easy and fun.

'There's little limos that take you around. You see the pink limos for the bachelorette parties,' Amezcua said. 'Then there's bus tours that take you from winery to winery.'

But Fredericksburg isn't just for wine lovers. There's something for every kind of visitor.

For families, there's a small waterpark and there are kid friendly games at many of the wineries.

'Mommy and daddy can go in and have some wine while the kids are splashing around,' he added.

The area is peppered with plenty of AirBnbs, tiny homes, and cabins for rent.

'There's places that have treehouses, beautiful, beautiful architecture out in the middle of nowhere,' he said.

Amezcua says investors and even celebrities are taking notice of the area and all it has to offer.

'There's some high-powered families. A couple celebrities,' he said, hinting that Fredericksburg's proximity to Austin's star-studded scene is a draw.

Sandra Bullock and Willie Nelson have been spotted in the area, he added, but the A-listers can go unnoticed in its 'laid-back atmosphere.'

Beyond the wine and luxury, nature lovers will also find plenty to do, like climbing Enchanted Rock, a pink granite mountain located about 17 miles north of Fredericksburg.

'Enchanted Rock — if you're into that — it's incredible,' Amezcua said.

'We go once a year. My children love it. I go up there, I take a yoga mat and people make fun of me, but I just take a nap.'

Downtown, there are endless adventures to be found.

Fischer & Wieser's das Peach Haus, which offers unique jams and jellies made from fresh fruits picked in the region, is a popular spot for tourists.

With a local spa, restaurant, and peaceful cottages to stay in, the Hill Country Herb Garden is a luxurious retreat for visitors.

All 14 cottages have their own special themes and décor, along with a front porch with rocking chairs and a swing.

For history buffs, Fredericksburg's National Museum of the Pacific War displays preserved documents and art from World War II in the Pacific.

Visitors are invited to picnic in the town square, called Marktplatz, in celebration of the city's German history.

In the middle of the town square is Vereins Kirche, a replica of a 19th-century German church that is brightly lit with holiday lights from November through December.

Antique shops and stores with locally made goods line Main Street.

Local Texans love to make daytrips for the town's Oktoberfest.

Fredericksburg is only an hour-long drive from Austin and San Antonio and a four-hour drive from Dallas and Houston.

'It's a very nice weekend getaway,' said Amezcua.

Pleasant temperatures and wildflower season make March, April and May a prime time to visit.

Fredericksburg's well-known fall festivals, including the popular Fredericksburg Food & Wine Fest, make fall the perfect season to visit.

'There's a lot of tourism — that's their number one product,' Amezcua. 'That's where they thrive.'

If you've visited the city of Fredericksburg to taste Hill Country wine or historic Texas peaches, you may have noticed diminutive structures peppered around town. They’re called Sunday Houses, and their story started before Texas was even a state.

There was little infrastructure in place when the Republic of Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. The new country needed roads, towns and schools, but with coffers drained by war, there was no money to pay for them. What Texas did have was land—lots of land. So much land that word was dispatched to Europe, promising 320 acres to every family willing to take a chance on a new life overseas.

Early German settlers

Thousands of dreamers crossed the Atlantic Ocean, ultimately landing in ports like Galveston to stake their claim. The first immigrants to arrive in the Texas Hill Country were primarily of German descent. They founded New Braunfels in 1845, the same year Texas joined the United States.

In 1846, a group of 120 settlers led by John Meusebach left New Braunfels to establish Fredericksburg, named for Prince Frederick of Prussia. It took the pioneers 16 days to make the 90-mile journey by wagon, which would take 90 minutes by car today. The settlement numbered approximately 500 family heads and single men by the following year.

A treaty is formed

Evelyn Weinheimer, archivist and historian at the Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg, told Chron that things didn’t go exactly as planned. The Hill Country was home to the Comanche, who were understandably displeased that Europeans now claimed the land for themselves.

"John Meusebach knew the settlement could not remain until a peace treaty had been negotiated with the Native Americans first," Weinheimer said.

Negotiations ensued, and in 1847 a treaty between Muesebach and head chiefs Buffalo Hump, Santa Anna and other Comanche leaders was signed. Known as the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty, the agreement promised harmony between the European settlers and Native Americans. The document is unique since it was brokered with private citizens rather than the federal government, and is considered one of the only unbroken peace treaties in U.S. history.

Fredericksburg continued to grow, with 754 residents counted during the 1850 census. Although the pioneers didn’t each receive 320 acres, families and single individuals were given a 100-by-200-foot town lot and a 10-acre out lot (or a parcel of rural farmland).

"Once the families moved to the out lot or even larger tracts of land, they wanted to come to church on Sunday," Weinhemier said.

But why 'Sunday' houses?

The roads were still nonexistent or primitive at best, and it was a slow wagon ride to town. Many families arrived on Saturday, attended church on Sunday, and stayed through Monday morning. They built small Sunday Houses to provide shelter and a place to socialize and rest over those weekends.

The Sunday Houses were usually clustered near Catholic and Protestant churches. The 1.5-story structures were built of limestone or wooden frames covered with clapboard. The design featured a one-room ground floor for cooking, eating, socializing and sleeping. In some Sunday Houses, a slender stairway in the corner led to a sleeping loft for children, while others accessed the loft via a staircase or ladder affixed to the exterior.

According to Weinhemier, approximately 50-100 Sunday Houses were built in Fredericksburg between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She estimates that 40 authentic Sunday Houses remain today. You can see their gabled roofs on a guided trolley tour via Frederickburg Tours or on a self-guided walking tour of the Fredericksburg National Historic District. One notable stop is the 1904 Weber Sunday House at the Pioneer Museum. The building offers a glimpse into the past with period furnishings, including a woodstove, a narrow bed, a dining table, chairs and a hutch.

Where to find Sunday Houses in Fredericksburg

Tourists today can enjoy many of the cozy, historic homes firsthand since many of the remaining historic Sunday Houses have been converted into everything from coffee shops like Sunday Supply to short-term rentals and hotel rooms. The experience is so popular that replica Sunday Houses are found throughout modern-day Fredericksburg.

Authentic Sunday House rentals include the Loeffler-Weber House on Main Street. Built in 1846, the cabin features antiques and rustic furniture to complement the period architecture. The historic structure has been renovated to include modern amenities such as Wi-Fi, central heat and air conditioning, a bathroom with a walk-in shower, and a private hot tub.

Replica Sunday Houses include the stylish Trueheart Hotel, with 13 Sunday House-style suites and rooms gathered around a central courtyard with a large wood-burning limestone fireplace. Accommodations feature spa-like bathrooms, private decks or patios, and whimsical cowboy-core decor.

They say everything is bigger in Texas. Although the saying isn’t necessarily true of Sunday Houses, the petite domiciles offer a unique excuse to visit the Hill Country all the same.