It isn't until you turn off the highway and cross the Old Iron Bridge on Loop 150 that you discover the real Bastrop. Dropping down onto Main street, the town becomes much more intimate. Impressive pines and oaks cluster together to give the town a southern, plantation feeling. The buildings, the old homes, force us to confront our history. We think of ourselves through these old buildings.
Main street is lined with boutiques, cafes, taverns, stationers and gift shops.
For several blocks around, huge, gracious Victorian homes with gingerbread trim blanket the historical area. Between them lie low-roofed houses with shuttered windows and big porches. Our identity is not in the entrance to the city, but in the center. Bastrop was first settled in 1804 as a Spanish fort and river crossing for the Old San Antonio Road. It was called Puesta del Colorado.