Day Trips

The Hostyn Grotto appears suddenly beside the road on a bluff overlooking the checkerboard landscape of fields and pastures south of La Grange. Hostyn might be the most interesting place in Texas that you have never heard of.

With its expansive view of the Colorado River Valley, it is easy to appreciate why settlers picked this spot to build their first log church. In 1831, the Rev. Michael Muldoon celebrated Mass in the hut. Irish-born and Spanish-educated, Muldoon ministered to the mostly Protestant, non-Hispanic colonists. Friendly with officials in Mexico City and Anglo immigrants, Muldoon's influence in early Texas far exceeded his short residency.

Czech families began arriving in 1856. Besides the church, the community of Bluff included a post office, blacksmith shop, and general store. The name was changed to Hostyn, after the Czech national chapel, in 1925.

During the Civil War, two Bluff residents illustrated the irony of the conflict. John Lidiak joined the Union Army, and his father, Joseph, joined the Confederate cause. After the war, the two returned to work on the family farm and were buried next to each other in the parish cemetery. The U.S. government honored the ex-soldiers with a pair of Civil War cannons.

Texas veterans returning from World War I were welcomed with dry, hot weather. When the drought finally broke in 1925, parishioners began building the grotto modeled after the Grotto of Lourdes in France. Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old Lourdes resident, had 18 visions of the Virgin Mary beginning in 1858.

The Hostyn Grotto tells Soubirous' story. Area children donated rocks, shells, and marbles for the grotto, says Gina Koselski, the church's secretary. Unfortunately, many pieces have been removed by souvenir hunters.

Two small rock chapels on the church grounds were also built by parishioners. St. Anthony Chapel is a stop on the Stations of the Cross. Near the back of the church, St. Wenceslas Chapel is crowned with a statue of the patron saint of the Czech Republic. Special services are held there on Sept. 28, St. Wenceslas Day.

A replica of the first log church was constructed by one of Texas' most famous sculptors for the 100th anniversary of Muldoon's Mass. About the size of a one-car garage, the building exhibits Dionicio Rodriguez's special skill of giving concrete walls the color and texture of wood logs.

In 1966, the parish opened its fourth church to replace the log structure. The church before that was once among the Schulenburg area's famous painted churches. The new building is nice, but it lacks the character of Old World influences that makes the parish so unique.

Hostyn is not on most highway maps. The grotto is on the grounds of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Church on FM 2436 south of La Grange and east of U.S. 77.

895th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips" 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.