The History of the Woods of Lake Travis
HOW OUR COMMUNITY CAME TO BE – an interview with Jim Vier, March 7, 2018
In the 1900s, before Mansfield Dam was even built, the Webb family owned much of the land on this end of Hudson Bend. Cattle going to market, and to gain access to fresh grazing, used to cross over the Colorado river in this area. Hudson Bend got it's name from the ford in the river where the crossings too place. Back in the early 1980s, Hudson Bend used to be very rural. To get groceries you had to go up to Anderson Mill, there were just a few restaurants here and there, and not much else in the way of services this far out from Austin. Lakeway was pretty sparse too, with developers struggling to get things going. 620 was a quiet road back then. There was no bridge below the dam……instead folks drove over the top of it, on a narrow 2 lane road, which as you can imagine, became quite unnerving when two wide vehicles were passing each other!
As an investment opportunity, back in the early 1980s, Jim decided to buy some of the land at the end of Hudson Bend and manage it as a private developer. The land he purchased pretty much covered what is now Sections 1 and 2…… about 100 acres. Jim envisioned a community, with a lakeside park, boat docks and large residential lots. He started telling friends and associates about what he was doing and folks started buying! Some folks bought just one lot, others bought two or more either adjacent or in different locations. All the lots ended up being sold via word of mouth…. friends telling friends… no advertising was ever needed. The first homes went up in ’83, starting in Section 1 and it took only four years or so for all the lots to be sold off, with most of the lots being built out by the mid 90s. The empty lots that you still see, with the exception of one, are all owned by residents of our community.
One of our more notable early residents was Guy Dawkins (see next paragraph for details!).... he built his home in Section 1, Block B, Lot #2 (Brad Vier’s current home) back in ’83. Other notable early residents are Harold Dodd and his wife Jana. They bought a lot in Section 1 and built their first home and were then one of the first to also buy a lot in Section 2 - building another home and moving there in the mid 80s. Harold also helped out on the HOA when things were getting started, and since moving in he has tirelessly helped to care for our Section 2 park (if you ever want a grand tour of it, just reach out to Harold!)
As the community grew, so did our HOA, with Jim and Guy recruiting others to take on various roles. Guy Dawkins became heavily involved in setting up and managing/leading the HOA. Between him and Jim, they defined a governance model and created a sense of community. There's a plaque in our Section 1 park pavilion with a picture of Guy, who has since passed on, recognizing him for his contributions. Linda Preble was our HOA secretary for umpteen years. John Cefai and Roger Speight were early HOA Presidents who were instrumental in helping our community become the tight one it is now. They created structure via our HOA and a sense of community with each other through events, friendships and just looking out for each other. Paula Barr and Jeri Ward continued to build on that foundation with more fine work. Ed Moncada has taken on many roles over the years, contributing his time and talent in many different ways......along with many other talented and dedicated neighbors have since served on the HOA Board which has helped make Woods of Lake Travis a great place to live.
In the early days our community got together to help clear the Section 1 park. The gatherings were called Rock Parties because the land was covered in rocks that needed to be picked up and hauled off. The bank of rocks you see on the left side of the paved road going down to the lake from the dry slips are the result of all that work!
This was the original sign that stood out at the front of Section 1. It's now proudly hanging in Jim Vier's workshop!
Here is an aerial shot of the northern end of Hudson Bend peninsula taken back in the early 1980s.
As you can see things were pretty rural back then, with just a few homes here and there.
The long road going from top to bottom of the photo is Hiline Road. Sections 1 and 2 are marked out.
The Woods of Lake Travis has watched some flooding events on Lake Travis over the years.
In December 1991 the lake rose to 710.44ft, which was up to the gazebo in Jim Vier’s back yard and almost to the park gate. More recently, in May 2016, the lake rose to 692.7ft which had water getting up close to the back of the dumpsters in the park (the park gazebo was almost totally submerged… just the finial was showing!)
In late October 2018 we had days of heavy rains in the hill country west of us, and all that water came down river causing the lake to rise rapidly to 704.33ft bringing water levels close to the park gates. LCRA had 4 of the gates on Mansfield Dam open to help get water downstream faster, avoiding an even worse catastrophe.
The LCRA has risen the flood plain a few times over the years, with the current level now being 721ft. The spillway, located at 715ft, can only let so much water through, so if the capacity outflow can’t keep up with the inflow it can/could raise flood levels further up into our community. Rain events up river in Marble Falls have resulted in Lake Travis level rising quickly…..in a matter of hours, so when rain events are happening in/around Central Texas we need to be on guard!!
In the opposite direction, the Woods of Lake Travis has also seen a few droughts over the years. The lowest level of Lake Travis that we’ve seen since the community was established was 618.56ft in September 2013.
Here is a closer up shot showing the land that makes up Sections 1 and Section 2, with some of the earlier homes that were built. Can you find where your lot/home is?!!
If any of our longer term residents have information/stories and/or photos from those early days that they would be willing to share, please reach out to the Communications Coordinator to have them added to this web page. Thank you!