Pound House welcomes new faces

At the end of the asphalt at Founders Park, there’s a gated house with a windmill and barns on the property. With Dripping Springs’ growth and influx of new families, perhaps newcomers haven’t heard about Dr. Pound and his family settling Dripping in 1854.

Short history, he was the town doctor, the first school, church and hospital was in his and his wife Sarah’s house and Native Americans loved and respected him for his great healing powers. Dripping Springs is very lucky to have his house in such great condition for locals to visit and see how it was in the early days.

But when visiting, it is always a better experience when a period dressed docent is on the grounds to guide visitors and answer questions. Three new paid interns/docents were recently named to help visitors to experience the farmstead.

Hailey Vogt will attend Baylor University this fall, majoring in business. “I am a new member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and I'm a part of the Sarah Pound Chapter, who is Dr. Pound’s wife... I graduated this past year in the class of 2021. I'll be going to Baylor University for business this fall.” The DAR members can

The DAR members can trace their lineage back to the American Revolution and being a part of that group interested Hailey in Dr. Pound and the history of his farm, which naturally led to volunteering to be a docent.

“We continue to work with projects, which is learning about the history of the Pound farmstead and help with changing some of the collections here. We also have some projects like summer camps for kids, which weren’t there last year, because of COVID.”

Interesting happenings for everyone make it fun to be a docent. Reliving the early pioneer days and the old West is not hard to do at the museum and farmstead.

“It's really wonderful to be a docent here, and I would highly encourage everyone to come out.”

Rebecca Johnson is also one of the new docents and will be a junior at Dripping Springs High School. What impressed Rebecca was the hometown history, which the job will help in the future. She plans on going to Texas State after high school.

“I'm really hoping to become a secondary education teacher, hoping to go down either the English or the history route. So when this job was offered, this is going to help my communication skills. It's something that I'm going to enjoy, because history is just one of my favorite subjects. I also knew that it would get me more integrated into the community. That way, I can work with people of all ages, specifically kids and teenagers who come in here.”

Being in a lockdown situation was hard on everyone, but Covid especially hampered learning.

“I do need those social interactions. I cannot sit in the same room for eight hours a day and at a screen, there's just no change, because I'm sitting at the same desk, it's at the same screen, in the same room. But when I go to school, there was always stuff happening every day,” Rebecca continued.

“It’s also much easier for me because, raising your hands on a computer and saying ‘Hello, teacher I need you right now’ and then everyone hears that. It's just much more comfortable for me to go just one on one with the teacher.”

Colton De Los Santos is going to be a sophomore at DSHS, and he’s got a love of history, especially local history. “I feel like we not only need to promote state history, along with the local history, and help people know where they come from and where they live.”

Participating with a fife and drum corps is something he looks forward to. “When you’re marching with the fife and drum, I really get that feeling that I'm doing something that my ancestors would be proud of… but as a person who does reenacting and also participates with the Sons of the American Revolution, and other historical science societies, once you start reenacting, relating to the time period, and actually doing stuff that was done (back then) you really get that feeling.”

As for the future, after high school he hopes to possibly attend Texas A&M and perhaps then a profession in public service but something that involves preserving history.

“I would like to say to people in Dripping Springs is to just get to know your area,” De Los Santos said. “Get to know where in Dripping Springs you live, who originally owned it, and talk about where you came from. Try to really reconnect with your family’s history, try to get in touch with people who can help you and learn more about yourself through your family's past.”

A short trip to Dr. Pound’s Museum and Farmstead is always worth it. It’s not hard to imagine pioneer times and what it was like to live in Dripping Springs in the past.

They are located at 419-B Founders Park Road

Dripping Springs, Texas 78620. For more information see their website at ​ drpoundfarmstead.org.