Round Mountain Stage-Coach Inn and Stable

The Round Mountain Stage Coach Inn, livery stable and general store, built and operated by widowed Elitha Martin and her son David, was the hub of the small Round Mountain community until well into the 20th century, as well as being the overnight stop on the stagecoach line from Austin to Llano. Located at a crossroads, the inn served cowboys moving their cattle north, drivers hauling cotton from Johnson City to Marble Falls, as well as miscellaneous travelers from all directions, including an overnight stop by Gov. James Hogg. The Local post office was in the store with David and Elitha Martin serving as postmasters from 1876 to 1896. Besides the commercial aspects of the inn, livery stable, post office, and store, the Martins maintained the large room above the livery stable as a community gathering place. Local citizens voted there, and held dances, Lodge meetings, and church meetings. While the store and several smaller outbuildings are no longer there, the inn and stable are exceptionally fine examples of architecture of the period with a strong Georgian influence and refinements unusual to rural Texas buildings at the time, such as Lath and plaster walls inside the inn, with exterior walls plastered and scored, and the bracketed eaves of the well-proportioned livery stable.

John and Elitha Smith Martin came to Texas in 1856 from Virginia and settled in Llano with their four children, where they built a home and fort for protection from Indians. Five more children were born to them in Texas. After John Martin died in 1869, Elitha moved with her children to Round Mountain in Blanco County. Round Mountain was initially called Birdtown for the Rev. Joseph Bird, one of the first settlers. The house he built in 1854 still stands but is in poor condition. The town's name was changed to Round Mountain with the establishment of its first post office (the second post office in Blanco territory), on June 29, 1857.

Elitha Martin built and operated the inn, livery stable, general mercantile store, and post office with the help of her son David. David Martin was postmaster from October 2, 1876, to December 1877, with Elitha as postmistress from December 4, 1879, to May 16, 1896. David Martin founded the Martin Telephone Co. which was the first to serve Blanco, Llano, Burnet, Mason, and San Saba Counties for about 20 years. An instrument dated August 21, 1882, in Vol. 5, page 176 of the Blanco County Deed Records indicated that the Frontier Lodge No. 195, 1.0.0.F. erected the second story of the livery stable at their own expense and would continue to maintain the space jointly with the Martins forever as long as the lease remained in force. The Lodge no longer exists.

The property remained in the family, operated by sons-in-law Eli Shelley and N. C. Galloway, until May 3, 1909, when it was sold to a bachelor named Herman Glass. He used the inn as a residence and ran the store until his death on June 12, 1930. Soon after his death, the store was demolished and a rancher moved the stone to his ranch to construct a barn. Mr. Glass willed the property to Robert Desmond. Mr. Desmond sold the property to Dr. Lewis Helfer of San Antonio. Dr. Holfer sold it to A. J. Sharp of Round Mountain. After his death, it was sold to W. W. Johnson of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. It was during this ownership, apparently, that alterations were made to the inn. Me. Johnson sold the property in 1955 to Mrs. Edgar Tobin, Tobin Map Co., San Antonio. Dr. James Baurle of San Antonio purchased the property in 1969 and sold it on August 17, 1971, to William E. Anderson of the Marble Falls Highlander. When Anderson started teaching at The University of Texas at Austin, he sold the property to Col. Richard T. Hernlund and his wife Mae, the present owners, on June 16, 1975.