Hidden History of Burnet County (Brief History)

A beloved watchmaker, a reluctant politician and a legendary Texas Ranger.

The legacy of Burnet County rises from a solid prehistoric batholith of pink granite that built the state capitol, established an industry and is still being quarried. The natural beauty and resources of the region drew the attention of politicians on the path to power, including a U.S. president whose influence built the dams that electrified rural Central Texas. As communities modernized, its citizens made history, electing the first female mayor in the state before women could even vote.

Author Suzanne Freeman, whose own roots sink deep into the rocky soil of Burnet County, chronicles the remarkable people, both famous and forgotten, who shaped the county and the Lone Star State.

Suzanne Warwick Freeman is the editor of the Picayune Magazine in Marble Falls. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She worked as an editor at Scholastic Inc. in New York for fourteen years before she returned to Central Texas. While at Scholastic, she started the award-winning Scholastic Kids Press Corps. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her teenage daughter and, when not reporting and writing, spends time with her four grandchildren.