Castell was recently featured in an article by The Texas Observer.
By Josephine Lee, August 2023 · Photo: Christopher Lee for Texas Observer
The Hill Country’s lost utopia
The Texas Observer’s Josephine Lee traces Castell’s story back to its unlikely beginning: Bettina, a commune founded on the Llano River in 1847 by young German idealists who set out to build a society with no rulers and shared everything. The experiment lasted barely a year — but the German families who settled the valley after them built something that did last. Lee follows that thread from the 1800s to today’s Castell, a community of about a hundred people who keep its history, its church services at the General Store, and its unhurried pace alive — while still welcoming visitors who come for the river.
Castell Cabins
The quiet that drew those first settlers to this stretch of the Llano is still the draw today. Our four cabins at El Castell and the house at El Castellito sit right on the river in the heart of Castell, a short walk from the General Store — the perfect base for slowing down and living a little of that history yourself.
