Day Trips

John's Country Store may be over 95 years old, but on August 15 it celebrates its second anniversary. It has been two years since Paul Holub and his stepdaughter Debbie Krenik gave the old clapboard building a coat of white paint and breathed new life into the store that has been the center of the tiny community of Egypt, Texas, between Eagle Lake and Wharton, since 1900.

The store is part country convenience mart and part museum. And except during the hot summer months, it is one of the best barbecue stands in this part of Wharton County. It is hard to tell which items are merchandise and which are museum pieces. In the back of the store are life-like dummies surrounded by fixtures from bygone eras.

The saloon next door, built in 1874, has weathered several different owners and still retains its rustic, original look. "Everything [in the store and the saloon] is original except for the refrigeration," Holub says. "The saloon is as authentic a Texas saloon as you'll find anywhere."

A native of nearby Glen Flora, Holub was looking for a business opportunity in the area after retiring. "We started talking to some people and the next thing Debbie and I knew, we had a country store," Holub said.

Locals stop by for supplies instead of driving the 10 miles to Wharton or Eagle Lake. Farmers stop in to get lunch from the meat counter to take to the field hands. Tourists pause to look at the authentic frontier settlement or tour the nearby plantation.

Holub only occasionally smokes brisket and sausages during the summer. "It's so hot people don't eat much during the middle of the day around here," he says. When he does have it, Holub's beef brisket sandwich is piled high and almost seems to melt in your mouth.

This corner of Texas has been a rest stop for travelers since Stephen F. Austin's original colony. Legend has it that the settlement was named during the drought of 1827, when pioneers came to get corn. They called it "Going down to Egypt for corn," from Acts 7 in the Bible. Corn is still a major crop in the area.

Another story says that when Austin's pioneers first came to the area they found the red, sandy loam on this side of the Colorado River so fertile someone made the comment, "I haven't seen land this fertile since Egypt's Nile River delta."

With the Colorado River nearby, the area supported several plantations during the 1800s. At one time there were three sugar mills along the river in the vicinity of Egypt, Holub says.

About a quarter mile up the red dirt road past the store and the cemetery is the Northington Plantation. Once the headquarters for a farm that covered hundreds of acres in this part of the county, the elegant colonial house is still occupied by descendants of the family that built the place. Miss Anita, as locals call her, opens the house to tours on weekends.

The settlement is still the heart of a community. Farmers stop by to talk about the weather or to see who is available to work in their fields. In the winter, folks gather around the long table in the center of the store to swap stories and play cards or dominoes.

On Friday and Saturday nights Holub opens the saloon to music. He switches between live music, a disk jockey, and karaoke. In a community with an official population of 26, the saloon packs in a crowd of 100 or more.

There isn't much on FM102 between Eagle Lake and Wharton except Egypt and an antique mall in Glen Flora, but it is a scenic drive. The country store is open from 7:30am to 7:30pm and provides the necessities for life, from canned goods to gasoline. Looking around the store and saloon is free.

Coming up this weekend...

Bluegrass Music Festival in Llano welcomes pickers to City Park, Aug 10-11. 915/247-5354.

100-Mile Yard Sale brings a four-county area southwest of San Antonio out to the side of the road selling everything from ponies to tamales. Every town in the triangle made by US90, I-35, and FM2200 will be participating, including Big Foot and Mico, Aug 12. 210/709-3726.

Lakefest Drag Boat Races on Lake LBJ in Marble roars through the canyons at 200mph., Aug 11-13. 210/693-4449.

Coming up...

The Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner has suspended brewery tours and hospitality room service while they build a new brewhouse. The gift shop across the street from the 86-year-old brewery is still open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, and Sat 11am-3pm. Look for Shiner Beer's second Thanks a Million Festival around Oct 21.

800/574-4637. - Gerald E. McLeod