DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The land along Cypress Creek in Kerr County goes by the name Sturdy Oak Farm, named for an ancient live oak standing on the property. And if you think that tree has seen some history, well, hold onto your hat.
The Lich family has owned this place since 1879, and in 1945, Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Perry Lich became the owners. That's a long family story all by itself.
But the land's story, it goes back considerably further. Considerably. Three significant prehistoric sites have been found on this property, and what they tell us is that human beings have called this stretch of Cypress Creek home for at least ten thousand years.
Ten thousand years. That ancient live oak the farm is named for, it's practically a newcomer by comparison. Now, what draws people to a place for that kind of stretch of time?
Springs. The sites sit near spring-fed pools in Cypress Creek, and there is something about water that keeps calling people back, generation after generation, century after century, millennium after millennium. The artifacts pulled from those three locations tell a layered story.
Arrowheads, knives, beads, stone tools, all of it left behind by nomadic tribes that once wandered this area. The tools reach across several archaeological periods, from Paleo-Indian all the way through Archaic times. Different peoples, different eras, same good water, same good ground.
Three sites on one family's farm, and underneath every acre, ten thousand years of somebody else calling it home first.
What the marker says
Named "Sturdy Oak Farm" for an ancient live oak, this property has belonged to the Lich family since 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Perry Lich became the owners in 1945. Three significant prehistoric sites on this property indicate its importance for human habitation for at least 10,000 years. Tools from the sites represent several archaeological periods from Paleo-Indian through Archaic times. The sites are near spring-fed pools in Cypress Creek. Artifacts discovered at the three locations include arrowheads, knives, beads, and stone tools left by nomadic tribes that once wandered this area. (1978)