Barton Hills in Austin in Travis County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
Philosophers’ Rock
Photographed by James Hulse, August 29, 2022
1. Philosophers’ Rock Marker
The main marker is located on the northwest section of the monument.
Inscription.
Philosophers’ Rock, or "Bedi's Rock", was the name given to a shelf of limestone that once rose out of the glittering water at the edge of Barton Springs. It was here, on hot summer days, that the naturalist Roy Bedichek and the chronicler and folklorist J. Frank Dobie sat in the sun and talked for hours about everything from classic works of literature to tall tales of lost Spanish treasure. Their great friend, the historian Walter Prescott Webb, was not a swimmer, but he would often join the talk. These three - Dobie, Bedichek, and Webb - strove to create a vibrant and distinctive intellectual climate in Texas, and their influence reached far beyond the state. This monument has been erected to celebrate their friendship, their enlightened spirit and their love for Barton Springs. ,
Sculpture by Glenna Goodacre , Site setting by Stephen K. Domigan, Presented to the citizens of Austin, Texas, on , November 21, 1994; by Capital Area Statues, Inc. , C.A.S.T. Board of Directors, Marcia Ball . Evelyn Sierra Hammond . Amon Burton . Stephen Harrigan . Mary Margaret Faral . Bill Wittliff . Lawrence Wright. , (Donors Plaque) ,
Philosophers' Rock was made possible through the generous support of the following donors: , Ron Carroll and Elizabeth Galic . Arnold White and Durkee . Austin American-Statesman . Austin Community Foundation . Austin News Agency, Inc. . Saza and Dudley Dobie . The James and Evelyn Egan Family . Mary Margater and Ray Farabee . Sherry and Tommy Jacks . Tommy Lee Jones . Lowell H. Lebermann, Jr. . Sue and Frank McBee . Merriman Morton and Dorothy Drummer . Pam and Michael Reese . The Texas Institute of Letters . Sue and Terry Tottenham . The Susan Vaughan Foundation . Lee Walker Stephanie and Bill Whitehurst . Sally and Bill Wattsers . Lola Wright Foundation. , (Walter Prescott Webb Plaque) ,
Civilization shouts, gives orders, writes rules, puts man in institutions, and intimidates him with a thousand irritating directives. In return it offers him protection, soul salvation, and a living if he can find it. Nature looks down on him and broods in silence. Its noises of running streams and wind in the trees are its own, not directed at but soothing to him because he heard them before he heard the noises of civilization. , Walter Prescott Webb, 1888-1963. , (Roy Bedichek Plaque) ,
I wish you might be here and go with me on a sunny afternoon to Mt. Bonnell or up Barton Creek. Everywhere it is beautiful. I think we could settle most of the world's problems to our satisfaction. And a thousand years from now friends such as we will, wander over these same hills inhaling the same scents and feasting their eyes upon the same beauty, and maybe the identical matter that composes our bodies now will nourish the worm that feeds the mockingbird whose songs will go thrill out over the green fields. , Roy Bedichek, 1878-1959.
Philosophers’ Rock, or "Bedi's Rock", was the name given to a shelf of limestone that once rose out of the glittering water at the edge of Barton Springs. It was here, on hot summer days, that the naturalist Roy Bedichek and the chronicler and folklorist J. Frank Dobie sat in the sun and talked for hours about everything from classic works of literature to tall tales of lost Spanish treasure. Their great friend, the historian Walter Prescott Webb, was not a swimmer, but he would often join the talk. These three - Dobie, Bedichek, and Webb - strove to create a vibrant and distinctive intellectual climate in Texas, and their influence reached far beyond the state. This monument has been erected to celebrate their friendship, their enlightened spirit and their love for Barton Springs.
Sculpture by Glenna Goodacre
Site setting by Stephen K. Domigan
Presented to the citizens of Austin, Texas, on November 21, 1994; by Capital Area Statues, Inc.
C.A.S.T. Board of Directors
Marcia Ball • Evelyn Sierra Hammond • Amon Burton • Stephen Harrigan • Mary Margaret Faral • Bill Wittliff • Lawrence Wright
(Donors Plaque)
Philosophers' Rock was made possible through the generous support of the following donors:
Ron Carroll & Elizabeth Galic • Arnold White
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& Durkee • Austin American-Statesman • Austin Community Foundation • Austin News Agency, Inc. • Saza & Dudley Dobie • The James & Evelyn Egan Family • Mary Margater & Ray Farabee • Sherry & Tommy Jacks • Tommy Lee Jones • Lowell H. Lebermann, Jr. • Sue & Frank McBee • Merriman Morton & Dorothy Drummer • Pam & Michael Reese • The Texas Institute of Letters • Sue & Terry Tottenham • The Susan Vaughan Foundation • Lee Walker
Stephanie & Bill Whitehurst • Sally & Bill Wattsers • Lola Wright Foundation
(Walter Prescott Webb Plaque)
Civilization shouts, gives orders, writes rules, puts man in institutions, and intimidates him with a thousand irritating directives. In return it offers him protection, soul salvation, and a living if he can find it. Nature looks down on him and broods in silence. Its noises of running streams and wind in the trees are its own, not directed at but soothing to him because he heard them before he heard the noises of civilization. Walter Prescott Webb, 1888-1963
(Roy Bedichek Plaque)
I wish you might be here and go with me on a sunny afternoon to Mt. Bonnell or up Barton Creek. Everywhere it is beautiful. I think we could settle most of the world's problems to our satisfaction. And a thousand years from now friends such as we will, wander over these same hills inhaling the same
Photographed by James Hulse, August 29, 2022
2. Donors Plaque - Philosophers’ Rock
The donors plaque is located on the right side of the main marker of the monument.
scents and feasting their eyes upon the same beauty, and maybe the identical matter that composes our bodies now will nourish the worm that feeds the mockingbird whose songs will go thrill out over the green fields.
Roy Bedichek, 1878-1959
Location. 30° 15.855′ N, 97° 46.251′ W. Marker is in Austin, Texas, in Travis County. It is in Barton Hills. It is on William Barton Drive 0.2 miles west of Barton Springs Road, on the left when traveling west. The marker and monument are located at the entrance to the Barton Springs. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2201 William Barton Drive, Austin TX 78746, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Central Texas. It is also in the American South. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Republic of Texas, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
At the urging of his friends, Walter Prescott Webb and J. Frank Dobie, he took a leave of absence in February 1946 to write his first book, Adventures with a Texas Naturalist. His second book and third books were awarded the Carr P. Collins Award for the best Texas book of the day by the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL). His last book was released posthumously.
(Submitted on September 4, 2022, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)
Webb worked as a bookkeeper in San Marcos and as an optometrist's assistant in San Antonio. Then, in 1918, he was invited to join the history faculty at the University of Texas. He wrote his Master of Arts thesis on the Texas Rangers in 1920 and was encouraged to pursue his PhD. After a year of study at the University of Chicago, he returned to Austin, where he began a historical work on the West. The result of this work was The Great Plains, published in 1931, hailed as great breakthrough
Photographed by James Hulse, August 29, 2022
4. 4th Plaque - Roy Bedichek
in the interpretation of the history of the region, and declared the outstanding contribution to American history since World War I by the Social Science Research Council in 1939.
(Submitted on September 4, 2022, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)
Dobie began to publish his first articles in 1919; by 1920 he was writing articles mostly about Longhorn cattle and life in the southwest. That year, he left the University of Texas faculty to work on his uncle's ranch in La Salle County, north of Laredo, where he developed a desire to write about Texas ranch life and southwestern folklore.
(Submitted on September 4, 2022, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)
Photographed by James Hulse, August 29, 2022
5. The Philosophers Rock and Markers
The Philosophers’ Rock and Markers are located at the entrance to Barton Springs.
Photographed by James Hulse, August 29, 2022
6. Barton Springs
Photographed by James Hulse, August 29, 2022
7. Closeup of the Philosophers’ Rock
Credits. This page was last revised on February 1, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 1, 2022, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas. This page has been viewed 4,596 times since then and 245 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on September 4, 2022, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.
