Place
Bee Cave Road
The principal east-west route connecting Austin to the hill country settlements west of the Colorado River. Paved in 1931, the road's improvement opened the West Lake area to year-round travel and made the surrounding ranches viable for new businesses.
For most of the nineteenth century Bee Cave Road was a wagon trail — passable in dry weather, impassable after rain. Travelers from Austin descended to the low-water crossing at the foot of the hill, then climbed the steep grade up onto the ridge that the Davenports and their neighbors ranched. The 1931 paving was the first improvement that made the area accessible by automobile in any season.
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