Hudson Bend
Lakeway, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1854 Wiley Hudson (b.1825) and his family settled on the bend of Colorado River that was named for him. The 1860 census showed four families living in this vicinity, including Wiley Hudson with his wife Catherine and eight children, as well as a household headed by his father James. During the Civil War (1861-1865), Wiley Hudson, his two chaplain brothers and others relatives took up arms for the Confederacy. Three rivers fords enabled the pioneers to cross the Colorado to grind their corn at Anderson mill and to socialize with families living in nearby settlements such as round mountain and nameless. Maps of the 1890s show a church and school at Hudson Bend. Of the 24 original surveys made on the 4,000-acre tract called Hudson Bend, four were acquired by the Hudson family. Many descendants still live in the area. After completion of Mansfield Dam in the 1940s, the waters of Lake Travis flooded about half of the acreage. The cemetery was relocated at Teck. Ranches amid the cedar and live oaks and farms along the river bottom were replaced by subdivisions and recreational areas. A new Hudson Bend community grew up along the lake shores with a number of active civic organizations. (1978)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Wiley Hudson gave his name to this bend of the Colorado River when he settled his family here in 1854, one of a handful of households scratching out a life among the cedar and live oaks. Neighbors forded the river to grind corn at Anderson mill and to visit hamlets with names like Round Mountain and Nameless, and during the Civil War the Hudson men took up arms for the Confederacy. The old rural world vanished when Mansfield Dam was completed in the 1940s and Lake Travis flooded half the tract, forcing even the cemetery to be moved and turning ranchland into lakeside subdivisions.
Why it matters
Hudson Bend captures a full cycle of Texas settlement — pioneer farming, Civil War service, and the mid-20th-century dam-building that drowned old communities to create the recreation lakes of modern Texas.
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Related people
- · Wiley Hudson
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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