This state historic marker is located at the intersection of Toutant-Beauregard road, the Old Boerne Stage Road, and Scenic Loop Drive (Old Spanish Trail), west of Leon Springs in Bexar county.
The marker reads as follows:
"Scenic Loop - Boerne Stage - Toutant-Beauregard Historic Corridor
The exceptional and historic rural atmosphere, vistas, waterways, wildlife, and natural features which are area treasures prompted the 82nd Texas legislature in 2011 to pass House Bill 1499, bestowing historic designation to the Scenic Loop, Boerne Stage, and Toutant-Beauregard roads which intersect at this corner. Artifacts, including burned rock middens and stone tools, indicate that Paleo-Indian tribes lived in the area more than ten thousand years ago. Early Spanish explorers found Jumano and Coahuiltecan tribes here, but by the late 18th century, Lipan Apache and Comanche tribes controlled the area, which deterred Spanish, Mexican and Anglo settlement into the mid-19th century.
In 1851, the von Plehwe family from Prussia settled at Leon Springs near the wagon trail to Fort Mason. This trail was also a leg of the Boerne Stage Road, which ran from San Antonio to San Diego, California. Historic sites abutting the route include stagecoach stops, ranch complexes dating from the mid-19th to early 20th century, homesteads of various cultural groups, and historic cemeteries. In the 1860s, drovers created the “Great Western Cattle Trail” next to the Boerne Stage Road. During the 1920s, the transcontinental “Old Spanish Trail” Automobile Highway followed the Boerne Stage Road west from San Antonio. In the late 1920s, a 46 mile scenic driving loop from downtown San Antonio was created. New recreational areas and communities such as Scenic Loop Playground and McNeel Park developed as commuting to San Antonio became easier. About 13 miles of that original scenic driving loop still exist through Helotes, Grey Forest, and Leon Springs. (2013)
Marker is property of the state of Texas"
The route of the OST west from san Antonio followed much of the Old Boerne Stage Road, as evidenced by this publication for the OST Centennial: (
visit link)
"INSTRUCTIONS FOR TOUR OF BOERNE STAGE ROAD corridor of the OLD SPANISH TRAIL auto highway
The Old Spanish Trail Centennial Celebration Association has designed a self-guided tour of the Boerne Stage Road corridor of the OST. You can drive, cycle or hike the 7-mile route at your own pace.
The adventure listed below begins at the Leon Springs IH-10 exit 551 and proceeds west and north.
Immediately upon exiting IH-10, bear right to enter Old Fredericksburg Road.
The tour may also be followed in the other direction by entering Boerne Stage Road from the IH-10 Scenic Loop exit nearer Boerne in Kendall County and proceeding south.
TOUR OF BOERNE STAGE ROAD corridor of the OLD SPANISH TRAIL auto highway beginning in Leon Springs on Old Fredericksburg Road . . .
. . .
Scenic Loop Road corner
Turn right at "STOP SIGN" to continue on Boerne Stage Road. 3.15 mi."
There is a map on page 3 of the PDF showing the waymark location at the intersection of the Boerne Stage Road and Scenic Loop Road. I have added it to the waymark gallery.
Also from the Texas Transportation Museum website (
visit link)
". . .
The Old Spanish Trail authorities had a decision to make at San Antonio. Should the route stay close to the Southern Pacific Railroad through Hondo and Del Rio to reach El Paso or should it follow what freighters and stage coach drivers referred to as the high road, via the Hill Country and then through Junction, Sonora and Ozona. Both routes had their merits. The critical factor that informed their decision was simple: money. Kerr County was the first in Texas to sign up as an OST participant. Many of its most prominent citizens including the Schreiner family, who had been instrumental in achieving a difficult rail connection thirty years before, provided significant donations. Among other donors was the Butt family, the founders of the giant HEB grocery chain. The OST followed the “high road” because Hill Country residents were willing to pay to be on the prestigious road. . . . "