Contributed by Jami Carroll
With warm weather and bright blooms all around, Central Texans enjoy spending time with family and friends outdoors. The annual Spring Festival at Barton Hill Farms in Bastrop invites families to celebrate the season on its picturesque family-owned farm.
    
Owned by Andrew Taft & Craig Swanson, Verde Park includes 15 acres of Native Texas pecan, Eastern cottonwood, & Bald cypress gently leading to the banks of the Colorado River. Part of Stephen F. Austin’s colony, the land was originally settled in 1833 by Josiah Pugh Wilbarger. Barton Hill Farms includes replicas of the old Wilbarger Fort and The Lively--Stephen F. Austin’s “pirate ship” that was lost at sea en route to his Bastrop Colony. The educational aspect of the farm also includes five historic signs around the courtyard that reveal the history of the land and its structures; “each sign has a QR code & webpage where visitors can find more. ...