Bee cave or Bee caves, Which is correct? and why?
My Nebraska cousin Herbert and I were returning into the greater Austin area from a tour of the Highland Lakes. We were headed south on Loop 360 when Herb read the sign. Bee Caves Road to the right. He exclaimed. If we are going to Bee cave, then this is our turn. We headed West several miles when he exclaimed if the road is Bee Caves Road, then why is the village called Bee Cave? This is the same question that has been in the minds of many during most of the 1990s.
To me, this was a logical question that I had settled in my mind in the 1920s.
Fortunately, I was properly coached by family members who were knowledgeable in the matter. I told her that there is a relatively large area extending from just West of Campbell ‘s Hole, Just upstream from Barton Springs, spreading all the way out to Perdernales River. In this vast area are many major and lesser creeks, with banks inhabited for centuries by wild African banded bees. They live in holes, caves, and overhangs of the banks. This is why, since the early 1800s This entire area was known as the BEE Caves area. Since the 1800s, cattle, sheep and goats were herded from Llano into Austin in order to get them to a railroad for shipping. As they got into the area from the river and through the Barton Creek and Little Barton Creek areas, the herders often referred to this as. BEE caves, area, or that they were passing through the BEE caves. In the 1840s, man began to inhabit a smaller central portion of the BEE Caves area, known today as. BEE cave. They built their homes there, farmed and ranched and established businesses. Carl Beck followed the same activities in 1870, establishing a store, gristmill, cotton mill, and manufactured cigars. The citizens of this settlement apply to the US government for a post office, with Carl Beck as the proprietor. In 1873, AUSTIN Post Office was established in Carl Beck’s store under the community name of BEE Cave, the name suggested by Beck. He officially served as the very first postmaster of BEE Cave. So the village officially became known as BEE Cave, corresponding to the name of the post Office, and has remained the same ever since. When Carl Beck was asked why, he named the community. BEE cave, he replied. He named it after a large hive of wild bees which had made their home under the gabled eaves of one of his buildings. Since almost all the settlers were of German extraction, German was widely spoken in the early community, and they referred to the BEE hive as BIENENHOHLE, meaning. BEE cave or BEE hive. Apparently Beck’s hive of bees was not the only one enjoying the protection of the eaves of houses, so. BEE Cave seemed to be the appropriate name for the growing settlement.
In the early 1900s, the post office was closed due to improved mail delivery from Austin and the surrounding towns, but BEE Cave continued as the community’s name.
This became legal on August 8th, 1987 when the community voted favorably to incorporate under the name Village of BEE Cave, So regardless of what the name of the community had been, it became official as BEE Cave in 1987. The Texas State Highway signs refer to the BEE Cave Road in. Recognition that the road passes through the large. BEE inhabited area from just West of Austin to the Perdernales River. State highway signs properly state BEE cave, city limits, population 241 correctly referring to the village limits of BEE cave. In 1911, the first manually operated telephone was established in BEE cave, It properly was named the BEE caves Telephone Company, since it provided service not only to those living in BEE cave, but also to those in Cedar Valley, Fitzhugh, Hamilton, Pool, Hudson Bend, Mud, Shingle Hill, and Tech. Communities, as well as a large number of people living near the Colorado River in as yet unnamed areas. Thus, since it served a much larger community than just BEE cave, it properly was called the BEE caves telephone exchange. Thus the village of BEE cave was and continues properly to be referred to as BEE cave, whereas the much larger area inhabited by wild bees properly has been and continues to be referred to as BEE caves.
