Last week I introduced a thing or two which we 34 Elderhostlers learned
during six days in Granbury, Texas [in February 1999]. Welcomed by the Mayor, we were told by novelist and historian Elmer Kelton about the old cattle drives. We visited the studio of one of Texas's great sculptors, Covelle Jones. We chuckled during a comedy staged by local professionals.

Granbury is the seat of Hood County. The land rises from 600 feet above sea level to the 1,229 feet high plateau called Comanche Peak. Picture 426
square miles astride the Brazos River and enjoying 300 days of yearly
sunshine. Imagine grasslands and limestone hills. In 1998 the county had an estimated 53,384 residents: 94.03% Anglos, 4.67% Hispanic, 0.18% Black and 1.12% Other.

The warrior whom Sherman overwhelmed at Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood, gave his name to the county in 1866. Growth accelerated after 1969 when the De Cordova Dam on the Brazos was completed 15 miles below Granbury. Today 30-mile long Lake Granbury helps make tourism the county's leading money maker. Also important are farming and ranching. Cattle raising is strong, along with production of peanuts, grain sorghum and pecans.

Granbury, the county seat, is named for Confederate Brigadier General
Hiram Brinson Granberry (also Granbury), an officer of General Hood's,
killed in 1864 at the battle of Franklin. The town stands out in Texas for
original buildings not only intact but still in use, most built between
1870 and 1900 from hand-cut local limestone. In December 1998, TEXAS
HIGHWAYS  proclaimed Granbury's the Best Town Square in Texas..

Public and private attention to us 34 Elderhostlers was unprecedented. The
Hood County NEWS appears twice weekly. Its issue of Wednesday February 10 reports the elderhostel lectures of Elmer Kelton and sketches coming events. The Saturday February 13 issue includes colored photos of a distinguished  American Indian couple who spoke to us. Also pictured are
an Elderhostler learning to use a branding iron while, in a third photo,
"Pat Killough of North Carolina tries his hand at roping."

The snapshot of apprentice cowboy Killough was taken during a morning visit outside Granbury to Avery Corral. We watched for an hour a young mare being lovingly broken to saddle. In the teeth of a howling "blue norther," local men and women displayed one of their passionate hobbies: roping calves. One young roper was a wife and mother who works at a clothing store. She let us ride her horses and explained the area's family-friendly lifestyles. The young entrepreneur who shod two horses before our eyes said that he makes very good money in that trade. But his fun comes in roping calves in rodeos. We sensed the pride of the  man who served us lunch  from his restored chuck wagon. He and his mother cooked us food any trail driver would have died for.

Many people living near Lake Granbury commute to work in Fort Worth.
Typical is journalist Jon McConal who spoke to us about being the
thrice-a-week "State Columnist" for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on the internet at www.star-telegram.com).

Religion is welcoming and cooperative in Hood County. There are 47 churches in the county of which Baptists have 20, while Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Mormons have one apiece. We visited the privately owned Comanche Peak, which lifts its broad, brooding head hundreds of feet above the plain. It has long been and remains sacred to Comanches and other Indians. Our group having Wednesday evening free, someone  said, "Let's take in a movie." Whoa! Not so fast! The Granbury cinema is closed Wednesdays. So is the Granbury Opera House. As I confirmed by speaking with a journalist, a librarian and others, Granbury, like several nearby communities, still keeps some things publicly holy. Wednesday evening is for church-going. Even the public schools honor this when scheduling extra-curricular events.

We spent time with a revered Indian couple, Comanche Monroe Tahmahkera and his Cherokee wife Sandra. Sandra Tahmahkera is a nurse born and raised in East Texas. She is a gifted observer of Cherokee-Comanche differences and a serious student of Comanche ways and language. Monroe, an ex-Marine, is a descendant of legendary chief Quanah Parker. He told us of Comanche love of jokes and tricks and demonstrated his strong skills with knots and ropes. 

Having noticed south of Granbury a little body of water called Squaw Creek, I shared with the Tahmahkeras and our group the recent attention by the U.S. Department of Justice's Human Rights Division to North Carolina's Buncombe County's Erwin High School because of girls' sports teams called "Squaws." Neither Monroe nor Sandra cares for the word "squaw." As Sandra said, "I was always taught that 'squaw' is a nasty word." She had just told us of the reverence Comanches have for the mysteries of human procreation, with elaborate sexual taboos, including prohibition of 4th cousin marriages. She said that she believes that most Indians, when they feel free to speak, share her feelings and her husband's about "squaw." She was familiar with linguistic scholarship and the original, non-pejorative Algonquin origin of the word. She added, "I don't dispute that for a minute. But scholars can't tell you  how words make real people feel nowadays." The couple also gave us a bibliography of recommended books for studying Texas Indians.

Granbury and Hood County, Texas are good places to marry and raise
families.The excellent public schools draw youngsters from many farms and ranches where boys and girls raise their own goats, sheep and other animals and learn and compete within 4-H Clubs and Future Farmers of America.

Experience for yourself the unmatched volunteer network behind the Granbury Elderhostels. Go to Granbury in February 2000 for a warm howdy from Jo Hill, Bob Tuuk and Eddie Lane. Their Elderhostel comes but once a year and can accept no more than 40 of you. So introduce yourself right now to the network's driving spirit, Naomi Smith, Elderhostel Program Coordinator, Granbury Convention and Visitors Bureau, 100 North Crockett, Granbury, Texas 76048 (ph: 1-800-950-2212).

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for Asheville TRIBUNE