Travis County's Other Pilot Knob

The name “Pilot Knob” is a common name given to a peak, hill or mountain that was used as a navigational landmark. If European settlers used them for navigation you can bet the Native Americans did as well.

Per the USGS, there are hundreds of Pilot Knobs across the United States. Some over time take on another, less generic name. Mount Gabriel near the ghost town of Gabriel Mills is also known as Pilot Knob, the highest spot in Williamson County. It is atop Pilot Knob Comanches watched the progress of the Webster party

Travis County’s best-known Pilot Knob is no doubt the old volcano near McKinney Falls State Park. But there’s another one in Travis County to the north. It is probably best-known today for the very large water tank that sits atop: Martin Hill Reservoir Water Tank. Lit up at night it looks like a huge UFO landing! But old maps show it as Pilot Knob. It was an important enough landmark that it was the only geographical peak called out on the map of “City of Austin and Vicinity” in 1839 with a road leading to it from Austin. [1]

Near Pilot Knob is the Merrilltown Cemetery, one of the few reminders of the community that grew up near Pilot Knob. Merrilltown was named for Texas Ranger Capt. Nelson Merrell[2], who settled there in 1837 and later operated a store and post office. From the City of Round Rock’s FLICKR page[3]:

Captain Nelson Merrell (1810-1879) was a central figure in the settlement of Travis and Williamson Counties. He came to Texas a year after independence and served in a company of Rangers that helped capture the Flores- Córdova gang ... He began visiting Kenney Fort for hunting trips, and later purchased land from Kenney and built a hunting cabin on Chandler’s Branch ... Although he controlled the fort, his home was on Walnut Creek near a stagecoach line, where he established a settlement still referred to as Merrelltown (near Wells Branch). While there he was also active in Austin, where he served as a Travis County commissioner, assisted the construction of Congress Avenue, and was director of the state lunatic asylum (sic).”

“Flores- Córdova gang” is a reference to the Córdova Rebellion, a plot discovered in 1838, and rooted in unrest in Nacogdoches, to rebel against the new Republic of Texas. One of the incidents in this was the "Flores Fight". Quoting the Handbook of Texas: "On May 18, 1839, a group of Texas Rangers defeated a party of Mexicans and Indians, including some Cherokees from [Chief] Bowl's village. On the body of Manuel Flores [killed in the fight], the group's leader, were found documents encouraging Indians to follow a campaign of harassment against Texans. Included were letters from Mexican officials addressed to Córdova and Bowl.”

Worth noting, this Manuel Flores is not Manuel Flores, participant in the Texas Revolution.

Following the “Flores Fight”, on the San Gabriel west of today’s Georgetown, it was atop Pilot Knob that Ranger forces rendezvoused enroute back to Austin.[4],[5],[6] A landmark on the road to Austin, just as shown on the 1839 map of Austin and vicinity.

The Brushy Creek crossing of the Chisholm Trail in Round Rock, at the actual round rock, is just a few miles north of Pilot Knob. Driving south on I-35, the general route of the Chisholm Trail, Pilot Knob is visible for miles away. Pilot Knob was surely known to the cattle drives of the Chisholm Trail and its predecessors like the Shawnee Trail.[7]

If you are out for a quick daytrip into history start at the Katherine Fleischer Park just off Merrilltown Road and visit the Gault Homestead with its historic home and outbuildings, part of the community that was Merrilltown; from there it’s about a mile to the Merrilltown Cemetery via Merrilltown Road where both Captain Nelson Merrell and John Gault are buried, and a great place to get a get look at Travis County’s other Pilot Knob.

City of Austin and Vicinity, 1839, showing trail north to Pilot Knob.

USGS 1896 topo showing Pilot Knob (north) and Merrilltown

Not to read too much into the precise route described by the 1839 map, here's a snippet from the 1898-1902 county road maps. Upper Georgetown Rd runs pretty much like the map: leaves Austin, past UT (College Grove on 1829 map) all the way to Pilot Knob and Merrilltown. Upper Georgetown Road is, from 45th street north, today's Burnet Rd. And perhaps not coincidentally, Merrilltown Cemetery, across the road from Pilot Knob, is listed as being on Burnet Road. This route hugs Shoal Creek to it's headwaters and beyond to Pilot Knob.

Martin Hill Reservoir Water Tank today sits atop the old Pilot Knob near Merrilltown Cemetery. Google Street photo 2020

References, Notes

[1] City of Austin and Vicinity, W.H. Sandusky, Draughtsman, [for] City of Austin, 1839

[2] There are two spellings used for both the person and settlement, “Merrell” and “Merrill”, “Merrelltown” and “Merrilltown”.

[3] Citing Thompson & DiGesualdo “Historical Round Rock, Texas” pg. 132-138, 202-208 https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofroundrock/8678034349

[4] Wilbarger, Indian Depredations of Texas, p. 165

[5] Frank Brown. Annals of Travis County and of the City of Austin, Volume 3: The Portal to Texas History https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth841236/m1/75/zoom/?q=Pilot%20Knob&resolution=2&lat=2902.5&lon=750

[6] Handbook of Texas. San Gabriels (sic), Battle of the. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/san-gabriels-battle-of-the

[7] Handbook of Texas. Shawnee Trail. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/shawnee-trail

For a read on the community of Merrilltown there is True Tales of Central Texas As Told by Willie Kemp, by Willie Kemp, 1979. The book, loaded with information, sadly does not have an index or table or contents.