Heritage Tour of Homes
The 2021 Tour and Symposium: Dates Contingent on Pandemic
Possibility to Opportunity
Rebuild the Heart of Downtown
From enhancing real estate values to fostering local businesses, preservation keeps historic main streets and downtowns economically viable. In places that have preserved their historic character, heritage tourism is a real and tangible economic force.
Developers are discovering that money spent rehabilitating historic buildings is an investment in the future—these structures become showpieces of a rejuvenated city and spaces for new and existing businesses to prosper.
Learn about the lesser-known advantages of revitalizing and repurposing historic structures during the 45th Annual Heritage Tour, which will include a one-day networking symposium and a two-day walking tour of properties-at-risk. Throughout it all, you will hear the legends of families who built downtown San Marcos (continuing education credits offered).
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 45th Annual Heritage Tour was to be a kick off to Preservation Month in the historic downtown district, combining two features for which San Marcos is known: delicious food and rich history. An all-day Symposium with speakers on issues such as tax credits and downtown revitalization was planned and then cancelled in conjunction with a touring of commercial properties-at-risk and learning the stories of the families who laid the foundations of our town. We hope to be able to reschedule this tour and symposium towards the end of the year when we can safely re-open our doors to the public.
Coming in from out of town for our event? Stay the weekend and soak in the history and culture of San Marcos.
Developers are discovering that money spent rehabilitating historic buildings is an investment in the future—these structures become showpieces of a rejuvenated city and spaces for new and existing businesses to prosper.
Learn about the lesser-known advantages of revitalizing and repurposing historic structures during the 45th Annual Heritage Tour, which will include a one-day networking symposium and a two-day walking tour of properties-at-risk. Throughout it all, you will hear the legends of families who built downtown San Marcos (continuing education credits offered).
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 45th Annual Heritage Tour was to be a kick off to Preservation Month in the historic downtown district, combining two features for which San Marcos is known: delicious food and rich history. An all-day Symposium with speakers on issues such as tax credits and downtown revitalization was planned and then cancelled in conjunction with a touring of commercial properties-at-risk and learning the stories of the families who laid the foundations of our town. We hope to be able to reschedule this tour and symposium towards the end of the year when we can safely re-open our doors to the public.
Coming in from out of town for our event? Stay the weekend and soak in the history and culture of San Marcos.
Heritage Tours . . . making history fun since 1975!
The women who founded the Heritage Association didn't set out to save a town, they just wanted to save one significant structure. They knew that preserving the little rock house by the river (today's Charles S. Cock House Museum) was the right thing to do, so they created a home tour to raise money, and save it they did. Then their spirit spread, so that 42 years and hundreds of structures later, that same collective fervor underlies much of what our town still values.
Without it, today's San Marcos wouldn't have nearly its current charm. And with it, the fastest-growing city in America isn't just an exploding mass of chain stores and box apartments. It is a living monument to the beauty handed down to us by our ancestors. With one of the largest intact residential historic districts in the state, a thriving downtown, and a fiercely protected sparkling river, we can be proud that this town has a heart like none other.
Without it, today's San Marcos wouldn't have nearly its current charm. And with it, the fastest-growing city in America isn't just an exploding mass of chain stores and box apartments. It is a living monument to the beauty handed down to us by our ancestors. With one of the largest intact residential historic districts in the state, a thriving downtown, and a fiercely protected sparkling river, we can be proud that this town has a heart like none other.
