C.W. Burdett

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about C.W. Burdett, out of Hays County. Now, some folks leave a place and it forgets them by sundown.

Clarence W. Burdett was not that kind of man. Born in 1913, Burdett got his hands dirty early.

In 1932, still a young man, he was out in Wimberley supervising the construction of his family's store. And he wasn't working with just any material, either. He brought in native and colored stone from other locations, setting a tone for the work he'd do the rest of his years in that town.

He married Pansy Rollins, and together the two of them built something nobody in Wimberley had ever seen before: Camp Waloa, the first girls camp the town had ever known. That alone would be enough for most people. Not Burdett.

He looked at Wood Creek and saw possibility. He built around fifty rock homes along its banks, plus spring boxes, plus dams. Fifty rock homes.

That is not a man who worked slowly. Then he looked at Lone Man Creek, and something clicked. He recognized the tourist attraction that Wimberley held for people with money and wanderlust.

So he split up his property along that creek and built small rock cabins, selling them to wealthy vacationers coming up from Houston. Here's the part worth sitting with: Clarence W. Burdett only lived in Wimberley for eighteen years.

Eighteen years to build a family store, a girls camp, fifty rock homes, spring boxes, dams, and a row of vacation cabins along Lone Man Creek. He passed in 2001. But three of those little rock cabins he built are still standing today.

Some men plant trees. Burdett stacked stone. And stone, as it turns out, has a long memory.

What the marker says

Clarence W. Burdett (1913-2001) helped build his family’s store in Wimberley in 1932, supervising the construction of the building using native and colored stone brought in from other locations. He married Pansy Rollins and together they built Camp Waloa, the first girls camp in Wimberley. Burdett lived in Wimberley for only 18 years, but left a lasting impact on the buildings there. He built around 50 rock homes along Wood Creek as well as spring boxes and dams. He recognized the tourist attraction to Wimberley, so he split up his property along Lone Man Creek and built small rock cabins to sell to wealthy vacationers from Houston. Three of the cabins he built are still standing. (2014)