Austin, TX
Was Austin’s Barton Springs sacred to Indigenous people before Europeans showed up?
This story was originally part of KUT’s ATXplained Live show at Bass Concert Hall on October 29, 2025. Get tickets to our next show on May 21 here.
Anyone who knows me, knows I love Barton Springs. It feels like the water has magical properties. Even sacred properties.
So when Brendan Cavanagh asked about the it, I knew I needed to look into it.
“Why were the springs sacred before Uncle Billy showed up?” he asked. “And what was the Indigenous population’s relationship with them?”
By Uncle Billy, he means William Barton, the man who laid claim to the springs in 1837 when he settled there with his family and the people he enslaved.
I assumed Brendan’s question came from a place of love for the springs and general curiosity. But when I talked to him about his question, he mentioned the White Shaman mural, a piece of rock art that sits in the desert about 220 miles west of Austin. Archaeologists say the White Shaman was painted around 400 B.C. It’s really big — 26 feet long and 13 feet high.
Chester Leeds
/
Witte Museum, San Antonio Texas
“I learned that the springs are actually part of that mural,” Cavanagh said. “Which was astonishing to me.”
Archeologists think the mural shows a creation story. But some people think it’s even more than that.
Gary Perez is the chief of the Coahuiltecan/Pakahua Nation. He has come to believe that it not only tells a creation story, but that it’s also an ancient map of Central Texas.
A pictograph on the mural shows a curved line with four matching symbols that look like knives with gray handles and white blades coming off of it at regular intervals.
Chester Leeds
/
Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Perez says that this pictograph represents four sacred springs: San Antonio Springs, San Marcos Springs, Comal Springs and Barton Springs. All of these springs are connected to the Edwards Aquifer, an underground network of caves and porous limestone.
Perez overlaid this part of the White Shaman mural out on a modern map with the help of a mapping expert.
“Then they did. And that was it,” Perez said. “Then we knew we were looking at a map for sure.”
Perez doesn’t think the White Shaman mural just a map, but also a calendar. He said it’s like the Mayan calendar, but for hunter-gatherers.
“These calendars exist everywhere, but this particular one is specific to Central Texas,” he said.
Perez sees the mural as a scientific tool.
There are people who agree with that interpretation of the White Shaman mural. But there are people who disagree, including Harry Shafer, a former curator of archeology at the Witte Museum, which manages the White Shaman site.
“We have a really good handle on the archeology of the Lower Pecos region and Central Texas,” Shafer said. “There’s no tie in Lower Pecos to Central Texas.”
So does the White Shaman mural depict four springs in Central Texas — including Barton Springs? Depends on whose science you believe.
Ancient history
What we do know for sure is that people have lived around Barton Springs for millennia. The archaeological record at Barton Springs goes back 13,000 years.
People were drawn to the area for its abundant water and the plant and animal life. But the people who lived around the springs back then weren’t the same people who lived at the springs when William Barton arrived.
We don’t even know the names of these ancient peoples. Did they have a sacred relationship with the springs? Maybe. We may never know the exact details.
But we do know something about the Indigenous people who came later.
In 1837, we know there were the Comanche, Tonkawa, Caddo, Lipan Apache and Coahuiltecan people in the area, among others. We know some of those people had a sacred relationship with the springs, but the accounts we have are from colonists.
These were all very different cultures who spoke different languages and believed different things.
By the time William Barton showed up, Europeans had already been in the area for 100 years. The Spanish had missions near Barton Springs in the 1700s. Their arrival brought sickness and death to the Indigenous population.
Barton lived in Austin during the Texas Republic, when many of the tribes that lived here were killed or forcibly removed.
Then, there were other ways that Native Americans were erased. At one point, a law was passed legally redesignating Native people as Mexican.
This campaign to erase Indigenous people in Texas worked, at least in our collective imagination as a state.
“In Texas there’s this sort of as assumption there’s no more Indians here,” said Craig Campbell, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “When, in fact, we have this absolutely huge population of Indigenous people that rarely gets recognized.”
Texas has the fifth-largest population of Indigenous people in the country. According to the U.S. Census, there are over 700,000 people in Texas who identity, at least in part, as Indigenous.
Barton Springs are still sacred
Some modern-day Indigenous Texans have their own sacred relationship with Barton Springs. Every August, a group of mostly women makes a pilgrimage to the four sacred springs, led by Gary Perez’s wife, Matilde Torres.
At each site, they commune with the water and offer prayers. They start at San Antonio Springs at dawn and end up at Barton Springs in the afternoon.
Diana Dos Santos has gone on the pilgrimage for the last three years.
She said it’s a long day, but it doesn’t really feel long.
“The whole day feels like it just merges into a short moment,” she said. “It’s like the whole world — the past, the present, everything — just merges into one moment. And when you’re present there — with your prayer, with your medicine, with the other sisters — it’s incredible. It’s magical.”
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Juneteenth celebrations are happening across the city this weekend. The events will mark the 161st anniversary of the day Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay to announce that more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were free. The announcement on June 19, 1865, came more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. June 19 — known as Juneteenth — became a federal holiday in 2021.
From historical bike rides to Austin’s annual parade, here are seven events taking place in Austin.
Annual Juneteenth FunRun, June 19
The city of Austin’s African American Cultural and Heritage Facility will host a fun run starting at 8:30 a.m. on Friday at East Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Leona Street, and concluding at Hargrave Street near the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex. Participants will have one hour to complete the course. The route is the same as the parade through the African American Historical Cultural District that will start later that morning. Runners and walkers of all ages and levels can participate.
Central Texas Juneteenth Parade & Festival, June 19
The annual Juneteenth parade will take place Friday and begin at 10 a.m. at East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Leona Street and will travel down to Chicon Street before turning on Rosewood Avenue. The parade will feature floats, live music and performers.
A Very Juneteenth Comedy Jam, June 19
The Velveeta Room, Austin’s longest-running comedy club, will have shows highlighting Black voices Friday night at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The 18+ event will feature comedians like Freddy Do Less and Roderick McDaniel. Tickets for both shows are around $23.
Sistas Walk And Talk: Juneteenth Edition, June 20
Texas Sistas Society will host a 3-mile walk and talk Saturday at 515 S. Pleasant Valley Road starting at 7:45 a.m. Texas Sistas Society is an Austin-based community created for Black women and women of color. Attendees are encouraged to wear Juneteenth colors: red, yellow, green or black, and to RSVP ahead of time.
The Carver Kickback: Juneteenth Edition, June 20
The George Washington Carver Museum in Austin is dedicated to creating a “space where the global contributions of all Black people are celebrated.” The museum is hosting a free celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with barbecue plates, live music, vendors and activities for all ages.
Black Auteur Film Festival, June 20
The Black Auteur Film Festival, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting Black filmmakers in Texas, is hosting its third annual film festival to showcase short films directed by Black Texans at AFS Cinema on Saturday. One filmmaker will win the $1,000 “Best of Fest” award, and attendees can enter a raffle for a chance to win Austin Film Society memberships and movie tickets. The festival runs from 2 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $14.
Juneteenth Social Ride, June 21
Black History Bike Ride, an Austin nonprofit teaching people about the city’s Black history through cycling, is hosting its seventh annual Juneteenth ride starting at the Haskell House on Saturday at 10 a.m. Austin-based historian Harrison Eppright will serve as the ride’s guide. Registration is required for all attendees. The event is free, but donations are encouraged.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Data analyst Corey Yeung created the ATX Running Guide to help runners find community across Central Texas. What started as a personal project has become one of Austin’s most comprehensive running resources.
Looking for a Run Club? There’s a Map for That
When Corey Yeung moved to Austin three years ago, he had a simple question:
“How many run clubs are actually out there?” The answer wasn’t easy to find. While several websites listed local groups, Yeung felt none offered a complete picture. So, he decided to build one himself. What started as a spreadsheet evolved into ATX Running Guide, a website and social media platform that helps runners discover clubs throughout the Austin area.
“The list would be more useful if it were a map and search tool,” Yeung said. “The Instagram page was simply a way to communicate those free resources to the community.”
Today, the guide covers running groups from San Marcos to Hutto and serves as a one-stop resource for runners looking to connect. In this episode of KXAN’S Plus Simple Health, Corey Yeung walks us through everything you need to know about the 200-plus running clubs in Austin.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Volts are off to a rough start in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, but maybe a little home cooking can help them get right.
After playing their first five games on the road, the Volts open play at Dell Diamond in Round Rock at 6 p.m. Thursday against the Utah Talons, kicking off an 8-game homestand.
It’s the first season the Volts will call Dell Diamond home. In the league’s inaugural season last year, the original four teams competed with a touring schedule that included a stop at Dell Diamond. This is the first year that the AUSL, now a 6-team league, will play in home markets.
They have a roster peppered with local stars, including 2-time NCAA national champion middle infielder Leighann Goode from the Texas Longhorns. Aliyah Binford, a New Braunfels native, played collegiately for Ole Miss and former Texas State pitcher Jessica Mullins made an appearance in the Volts’ previous series against the Carolina Blaze.
Goode said there’s been a bit of a learning curve, but she credits her teammates for helping her adjust to the league.
“This group has brought me in and taught me stuff, taken me under their wings,” she said. “They’ve done an awesome job.”
Legendary Texas pitcher Cat Osterman is the team’s general manager, and the head coach is Texas State’s Ricci Woodard.
“We’re ready to rock and roll at home,” Woodard said. “I’m anxious to see what happens now that we get to play in our own place.”
Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 draft, joined the team last weekend after a brief contract holdout.
The Volts are 1-4 this season, picking up their lone win over the Oklahoma City Spark on June 10. They’ll face the Talons in a 3-game series, the Chicago Bandits for a pair June 23-24, and finish the homestand with a 3-game set against the expansion Portland Cascade on June 26-28.
Ryan Sanders Baseball, the organization that owns and operates the Round Rock Express, is an operating partner with the Volts and an investor with the AUSL.
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