5 Things You Didn’t Know About Bastrop, Texas
Here are 5 things you didn’t know about Bastrop, Texas — surprising facts that even longtime Central Texas residents miss. From a Lost Pines forest that shouldn’t exist on this latitude to a Hollywood-grade film economy quietly operating 30 miles east of Austin, this small county seat has built one of the most unexpected economic and cultural footprints in the state. Looking for the full Bastrop community guide — relocation info, real estate, schools, and neighborhoods? Read it HERE. This article covers something narrower: the five specific surprises that make Bastrop different from anywhere else in Texas.
Bastrop, Texas is a city of approximately 13,000 residents located 30 miles east of Austin in Bastrop County, Central Texas. In 2026, Bastrop is undergoing one of the fastest economic transformations of any small city in the United States, driven by five forces most outsiders have not registered yet: (1) the concentrated headquarters of several Elon Musk companies, including The Boring Company, SpaceX/Starlink, and X; (2) the groundbreaking of the $1.3 billion 204 Texas film studio; (3) a 50-year legacy as Hollywood’s go-to Texas location; (4) the Lost Pines — the westernmost stand of the southern pine forest in North America; and (5) a downtown community calendar anchored by signature events (the Heroes & Hot Rods Veterans Day Car Show and Bastrop TX Mardi Gras), a deep farm-to-table food scene led by James Beard alum Chef Sonya Cote at Store House Market & Eatery, multiple farmers markets, and notable resident creators including Entourage actor Adrian Grenier at his 46-acre Kintsugi Ranch and #1 New York Times bestselling author Ryan Holiday, who runs The Painted Porch Bookshop on Main Street.
Bastrop, Texas: Key Facts
- Location: 30 miles east of Austin, Texas, on Highway 71 along the Colorado River
- County: County seat of Bastrop County, Central Texas
- Population: Approximately 13,000 (city) · ~100,000+ (Bastrop County)
- Founded: 1832 — one of the oldest towns in Texas
- Named for: Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop
- Nearest airport: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) · ~25 miles
- Major employers: The Boring Company, SpaceX, X Corp, Bastrop ISD, St. David’s HealthCare
- State designation: “Film Hospitality Capital of Texas” (Texas Legislature, 2019)
- Notable ecosystem: The Lost Pines — westernmost loblolly pine forest in the U.S.
- Film studios under development: 204 Texas (600 acres) · Wyldwood Studios (75 acres)
- Signature events: Heroes & Hot Rods Veterans Day Car Show (November) · Bastrop TX Mardi Gras (January/February)
- Notable dining: Store House Market & Eatery (Chef Sonya Cote · James Beard alum), Maxine’s Cafe & Bakery, Piney Creek Chop House, Neighbor’s Kitchen & Yard
- Working farms: Eden East Farm (Sonya Cote) · Kintsugi Ranch (Adrian Grenier, 46 acres)
- Notable residents: Adrian Grenier (actor, Entourage) · Ryan Holiday (#1 NYT bestselling author, The Painted Porch Bookshop)
Here are 5 things you didn’t know about Bastrop, Texas — surprising facts that even longtime Central Texas residents miss. From a Lost Pines forest that shouldn’t exist on this latitude to a Hollywood-grade film economy quietly operating 30 miles east of Austin, this small county seat has built one of the most unexpected economic and cultural footprints in the state. The five surprises below are what make Bastrop genuinely different from anywhere else in the Hill Country.
If your mental image of Bastrop, Texas is still “that pretty little Colorado River town you pass on the way to Houston,” it’s time for an update. The Bastrop of 2026 is one of the most strategically important — and genuinely exciting — zip codes in the country.
In a 10-mile radius, you’ll find the largest concentrated footprint of Elon Musk’s business empire anywhere in the world, a nearly 600-acre Hollywood-grade film studio under construction, a forest that geographically shouldn’t exist, a historic downtown older than the Republic of Texas, and a population that’s about to change dramatically. Underneath all of it is a community calendar, a working farm scene, and a downtown food culture that’s already giving Bastrop a real sense of place. Here are the five things most people — even plenty of Texans — don’t yet realize about what’s happening in Bastrop.
Bastrop, Texas is the center of Elon Musk’s Texas business empire
When most people think of Musk’s Texas operations, they picture Starbase on the Gulf Coast or the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin. Almost no one guesses Bastrop. That’s the surprise — Bastrop County, about 45 minutes from downtown Austin, now holds the most concentrated footprint of Musk ventures anywhere in the world.
Inside one rural corporate compound clustered along FM 1209, you’ll find:
- The Boring Company — Musk’s tunneling venture moved its headquarters here in 2021. Located at the Bastrop compound along FM 1209.
- SpaceX / Starlink — a semiconductor and satellite manufacturing facility currently in the middle of a multi-phase expansion reportedly aiming at roughly 1 million square feet over the next three years. An $8 million, 80,000-square-foot addition was approved by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in 2025.
- X Corp (formerly Twitter) — the social media company’s new headquarters is housed at the Hyperloop Plaza at 865 FM 1209, after Musk relocated it out of California.
- Snailbrook — Musk’s in-progress company town for local employees, with planned housing, a school (Ad Astra), and community amenities.
- Boring Bodega — a publicly accessible food mart, bar, and gathering space built into the compound.
According to reporting by Community Impact and Teslarati, the State of Texas backed SpaceX’s Bastrop expansion with a grant of approximately $17.3 million, tied to the creation of 400+ new jobs and more than $280 million in capital investment. Former Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape has publicly credited the county’s willingness to partner with these companies as the reason the concentration landed here.
A $1.3 billion film studio, 204 Texas, is under construction in Bastrop — and it isn’t the only one
In early 2026, Los Angeles-based production veteran Alton Butler — the founder and CEO of Line 204 — broke ground on 204 Texas, a nearly 600-acre film studio complex at 1240 Lovers Lane in Bastrop. The project is planned to include eight sound stages, trucking, wardrobe, decor, lighting (via a contract with MBS Studio Equipment), and full Hollywood-grade production infrastructure, dropped into the Hill Country gateway.
A Bastrop County economic analysis projects the studio will drive roughly $1.3 billion in economic impact over a decade, and Butler has publicly said he believes the real number is significantly larger. Adena Lewis, Bastrop County’s Director of Tourism and Economic Development, has cited the figure at multiple public events.
204 Texas isn’t alone. Just down FM 1209, a second film development — Wyldwood Studios, a 75-acre project associated with actor Zachary Levi — has been reported at a roughly $100 million budget. Two major studios, one county.
What makes this moment different from previous “Texas film” waves is the Texas Movie Industry Incentive Program (TMIIP). Senate Bill 22, which took effect in September 2025, raised state film incentive funding to $300 million per biennium, up from $200 million — and the program requires a meaningful percentage of crew hires, spend, and services to stay in Texas. That’s the fuel. Bastrop is building the engine. For more on the 204 Texas groundbreaking, see the Community Impact report.
Bastrop, Texas has been a major Hollywood filming location for over 50 years
Here’s the thing most people outside of Central Texas don’t know: the film industry didn’t just discover Bastrop. Bastrop has been one of its favorite secret locations for half a century.
In 2019, the Texas Legislature officially designated Bastrop County the “Film Hospitality Capital of Texas.” It wasn’t a ceremonial nod. In a recent 7-year stretch, more than 120 productions shot on location across Bastrop, Smithville, and Elgin — from commercials to major features. Neighboring Smithville became the very first Film Friendly Town in Texas (Texas Film Commission, 2006); Bastrop and Elgin followed shortly after.
Major films shot in and around Bastrop County include:
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) — the original; a Bastrop-area gas station played Leatherface’s lair
- A Perfect World (1993) — Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern; partially filmed at Buck Steiner Ranch near Bastrop
- Michael (1996) — John Travolta, Andie MacDowell, William Hurt
- Hope Floats (1998) — Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr.
- The Life of David Gale (2003) — Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet
- True Grit (2010) — the Coen Brothers shot scenes at Bastrop State Park’s Old Iron Bridge
- Bernie (2011) — Richard Linklater, Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey; courthouse scenes at the historic Bastrop County Courthouse
- Boyhood (2014) — Linklater’s Oscar-nominated project used the Lost Pines
- Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) — highest-grossing film of its year
- The Leftovers (2014–2017) — HBO series used multiple Bastrop-area locations
The infrastructure, permits, location scouts, and hospitality have been here for decades. What 204 Texas and Wyldwood Studios add is the missing piece: sound stages, post-production, and full in-state production capacity. You can explore the full cinematic tour in the official Bastrop County Film Trail.
The Lost Pines in Bastrop is the westernmost stand of southern pine forest in North America
Of all the things you didn’t know about Bastrop, Texas, the Lost Pines may be the most surprising — and the most visually striking. Drive into Bastrop from any direction and the landscape does something strange: tall loblolly pines, dense and aromatic, rising out of the rolling Central Texas savanna. Those trees don’t belong here. At least, that’s what the biogeography map says.
The Lost Pines are the westernmost stand of the southern pine forest in North America, separated from their nearest pine relatives in East Texas by roughly 100 miles of prairie and post oak country. Botanists believe the Lost Pines are a genetic holdover from the last Ice Age — a relic population that adapted to hotter, drier conditions and stayed put while the climate kept changing. It’s a living, breathing island of East Texas biology in the middle of Central Texas.
That forest anchors Bastrop State Park, a 6,600-acre state park established in 1938 and built out by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The park is still home to stone cabins, hiking trails, and the recovery story of the endangered Houston toad, found almost exclusively in the Lost Pines ecosystem. It’s also why filmmakers love the area — drive five minutes out of downtown Bastrop and you have pine woods, river bluffs, 19th-century farmhouses, and wide Colorado River bottomland, all in one county.
Bastrop County is among the fastest-growing counties in Texas — and the housing is being built right now
Put it all together — Musk’s compound growing in footprint, two major film studios under construction, the permanent crew jobs that come with those studios, the restaurants and suppliers and service companies that follow — and you get a population inflection that’s already underway.
The city of Bastrop itself is still small (around 13,000 residents), but Bastrop County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Texas. Builders know it. PulteGroup’s Del Webb Lost Pines is developing a new 500+ home, 55-and-better active-adult community with prices starting in the low $300,000s — 12 floor plans across three home series, with amenities more typical of a coastal resort than a rural county seat: an Olympic-sized pool, tennis and pickleball courts, and miles of hiking trails. According to Pablo Rivas, Central Texas Division President of PulteGroup, the company was drawn to Bastrop for its small-town atmosphere combined with quick access to shopping, healthcare, and a growing downtown district. Luxury acreage properties, amenity-rich master plans, and new builder communities are all going vertical at once.
For buyers, what Bastrop offers in 2026 is a specific kind of opportunity: a community that hasn’t fully repriced yet. It’s still less expensive than Austin, Round Rock, or the Hill Country gateway towns — but it’s sitting on the biggest private-sector investment story in Central Texas. The commuter-shed to Austin is workable, the Colorado River lifestyle is genuine, and the character of the town — historic downtown, German farming roots, Film Friendly designation, pine forest — is still intact.
Bastrop’s Community Calendar: Two Events That Define Downtown
A town is more than its tech footprint and its film studios — it’s what happens on Main Street when the sun goes down. Two events anchor the Bastrop community calendar each year, and both are reasons alone to visit or move here. Here’s what locals mark on their calendars.
Heroes & Hot Rods Veterans Day Car Show
Hosted by the Bastrop Area Cruisers, a local car club founded in 1999 by 26 Bastrop-area residents, the show is the biggest weekend of the year for downtown Bastrop. Friday kicks off with a Cruise-In on Main Street as classic cars roll into town and park under the courthouse lights — spectators wander the block, take photos, and chat with owners. Saturday is the main event: judging, awards, music, food, and a full veterans tribute.
Awards are presented in categories ranging from Best in Show, Best Paint, Best Interior, and Best Engine to class-specific winners for Chevrolet, Mopar, and Ford, plus Presidential Sponsor’s Choice, Veterans’ Choice, and crowd favorites. Beyond the show itself, attendees can expect a kids’ activity area, vendor booths, silent auction, raffles, live music, and food trucks all day.
The Saturday morning Veterans Day tribute and ceremony is held at the Bastrop County Courthouse Gazebo (804 Pecan Street), preceded by a Veterans march down Main Street from the Bastrop Post Office (1106 Main Street) to the courthouse. All current and former military members are welcomed to participate in the march.
Why it matters: Well over 75% of the proceeds from the event go to local and Central Texas veteran support organizations. The remainder funds automotive technology scholarships for several Bastrop County high schools, along with local food pantries, homeless resources, and children’s organizations. It’s a weekend that also happens to be the easiest day of the year to fall in love with downtown Bastrop.
Full schedule, registration, and hotel blocks are available at bastropareacruisers.com and on the Visit Bastrop events page.
Bastrop TX Mardi Gras — Cajun & Cultural Exchange
Bastrop’s Mardi Gras is a genuine cultural exchange — not a “Bourbon Street knockoff.” The event is a formal partnership with the Evangeline Parish Tourist Commission in Louisiana, showcasing the traditional Courir de Mardi Gras customs of Cajun country. Local delegates from Louisiana travel up to Bastrop to bring authentic Cajun music, food, and folklife to Central Texas.
The 2026 weekend kicks off Friday evening, January 30, with the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball at the Bastrop Convention & Exhibit Center (1408 Chestnut Street). Doors open at 6:30 PM with live performances by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and Jean-Pierre and the Zydeco Angels, plus Cajun-flavored hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.
Saturday, January 31, is the heart of the celebration, running all day in historic downtown Bastrop along Main Street:
- Mardi Gras Gumbo Cook-Off (11 AM – 2 PM) — local restaurants, family teams, and home cooks compete; attendees buy taste tickets
- Umbrella Parade and Beads & Bling Crawl — family-friendly street traditions
- Two stages of live Cajun and Zydeco music, a vendor market, and street entertainment all day
- 3rd Annual Lighted Mardi Gras Grand Parade at 6 PM, beginning at Bastrop High School, traveling west on Cedar Street and south down Main Street, ending at Emile Street
- Street dance after the parade wraps the night
Why it matters: The event is presented by and benefits the Bastrop Juneteenth Celebration Committee, reinvesting ticket revenue back into local community programming. It’s the reason downtown Bastrop smells like gumbo, sounds like accordions, and glows with lights on the last weekend of January.
Full schedule and tickets at bastroptxmardigras.com.
Where Locals Eat & Drink in Downtown Bastrop
A few blocks off Main Street, the food scene is quietly outperforming a town this size. Here are the restaurants and coffee shops we’d send a friend to on their first visit — starting with the local dining gem most people drive right past.
Store House Market & Eatery
Farm-to-Table · Chef-Driven · Reservation RecommendedIf Bastrop has one restaurant that signals the town’s coming food-scene credibility to outsiders, this is it. Store House Market & Eatery sits inside the oldest building in town — a two-story structure dating to 1836 at the corner of Main and Pine Streets — and it’s hiding in plain sight on Main Street, which is exactly how the regulars like it.
The driving force is Chef Sonya Cote, a James Beard Foundation alum who transformed the historic space into a seasonally driven farm-to-table experience anchored by her own working farm, Eden East Farm, located just one mile down Main Street. Almost everything that hits a Store House plate is either grown by Sonya, raised by a Bastrop County rancher, or pulled from the Texas coast.
The menu rotates with the harvest. Expect Texas wagyu from Bastrop Cattle Co., Gulf seafood, smoked quail stuffed with pork sausage, oysters from Rockport, and a wine list curated with the same care as everything else. There’s a covered heated patio, an intimate front dining room, and a reservation system that fills up fast on weekends. Most people driving through Bastrop on Highway 71 don’t know it exists. That’s the whole point.
🍽️ More Restaurants to Know
Maxine’s Cafe & Bakery
Southern · Breakfast & LunchThe brick-walled downtown institution. Biscuits and gravy, catfish, collards, chicken and waffles, house-baked pastries, and sweet tea that regulars write home about. If you eat one breakfast in historic downtown Bastrop, this is where locals send you.
Piney Creek Chop House
Upscale Steakhouse · DinnerBastrop’s special-occasion steakhouse, tucked just off Main Street in a handsome brick building. Lamb chops, prime cuts, seafood, and a thoughtful wine list. Reservations recommended — it books up for anniversaries, birthdays, and closing dinners.
Neighbor’s Kitchen & Yard
Patio · Live Music · Wood-Fired PizzaThe best patio in town. Wood-fired pizzas, live music most weekends, a family-friendly lawn area, and the kind of relaxed Saturday-afternoon vibe that makes an out-of-towner go, “Oh — this place is cool.” Perfect for groups and easy nights.
Old Town Restaurant & Bar
American · Scratch KitchenRight on Main Street. Scratch cooking with locally sourced ingredients, a relaxed bar, and the easy neighborhood feel that makes it a regular stop for downtown workers and residents. Good place to watch the game, catch up with friends, or eat solo at the bar.
☕ Coffee Shops & Cafes
Texas Coffee Works
Independent Roastery · Breakfast BitesThe 4.9-star independent roastery that locals are fiercely loyal to. Small-batch roasted premium coffee supporting Texas lands and communities, plus bagels, scones, and sandwiches that go well beyond typical cafe fare. The horchata cold brew has a cult following.
Cedar’s Coppice
Coffee · Wine & Craft Beer · BooksA warm, family-friendly downtown haven on Chestnut Street, founded by local Shelby White. Part cafe, part bookshop, part boutique — morning coffee, afternoon read, evening wine or craft beer. Nature, comfort, and thoughtfully curated shelves. One of Bastrop’s newest favorite places.
CAFF Coffee + Kitchen
Coffee · Breakfast · Grab & Go“Break the fast. Eat well. Get CAFFeinated.” Coffee drinks, fresh juice, breakfast croissants, burritos, and salads from an entirely women-run team. Cute inside, plenty of outdoor seating, and a favorite remote-work and morning-commute stop.
Bastrop’s Local Soul: Farms, Markets, Bookshops & Notable Resident Creators
The reason Bastrop’s downtown feels the way it does is because the people who shape it actually live here. Working farms, weekly farmers markets, an indie bookshop owned by a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and a small community of locally famous resident creators are quietly turning Bastrop County into one of the most interesting places in Central Texas — well beyond what its 13,000-person population would suggest.
Eden East Farm
Working Farm · Farm-to-Table Source · Bastrop, TXEden East Farm is Chef Sonya Cote’s own working farm, located one mile down Main Street from her downtown restaurant Store House Market & Eatery. Eden East supplies the seasonal vegetables, herbs, and produce that drive the Store House menu — making it one of the most credible zero-mile farm-to-table operations in Central Texas, and rare for a town this size.
Beyond supplying the kitchen, Eden East operates as a true farm community space: the property hosts on-farm dinners, harvest events, weddings, and seasonal gatherings that connect diners directly to the people, soil, and animals behind the food. It’s the kind of operation that signals where Bastrop is heading — a town where a James Beard alum chef would not just open a restaurant, but plant a flag, build a farm one block away, and start feeding the community from her own land.
If you want to understand how Bastrop’s downtown food scene is being built from the ground up — literally — Eden East is the answer. It’s also the reason the Store House menu reads the way it does: short, seasonal, and uncompromising about source.
🌾 Farmers Markets, Bookshops & Notable Bastrop Residents
Bastrop & Hill Country Farmers Markets
Weekly Markets · Local ProducersBastrop sits inside one of the most active farmers market regions in the state, with weekly markets in town and an entire constellation of Hill Country and I-35 corridor markets within an easy drive — Hill Country peaches, Texas wagyu, Gulf seafood, raw honey, sourdough, microgreens, and more.
If you’re new to the area or curious about what’s in season, our full guide covers every market in the region by day of the week. Read our complete farmers markets in Central Texas guide →
Kintsugi Ranch — Adrian Grenier’s 46-Acre Farm
Notable Resident · Regenerative Farm · Earth Speed MediaIn 2020, actor Adrian Grenier — best known for his role as Vincent Chase on HBO’s Entourage and as Andy Sachs’s boyfriend in The Devil Wears Prada — left Hollywood and bought 46 acres in Bastrop, naming the property Kintsugi Ranch. He moved his life there permanently and turned his attention to regenerative farming, beekeeping, herbs and vegetables, a wildlife sanctuary, and a small menagerie that includes a white donkey named Disco and a pig named Tallulah.
Grenier now runs Earth Speed Media, a documentary and lifestyle brand built around land stewardship and self-reliance, much of it filmed at Kintsugi Ranch. He told People that the appeal of Bastrop was simple: “Everyone’s cowboy boots and a cowboy hat… there’s a lot of acceptance and a lot of my friends are farmers and homesteaders.” It’s a useful tell for anyone trying to read where this town is going.
The Painted Porch Bookshop — Ryan Holiday’s Indie Bookstore
Notable Resident · Independent Bookstore · NYT #1 Bestselling AuthorBastrop’s other famous resident is Ryan Holiday — the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obstacle Is the Way, The Daily Stoic, Ego Is the Enemy, Stillness Is the Key, and Courage Is Calling. Texas Monthly called him “the Stoic King of Bastrop County.” Ryan and his wife Samantha moved to Bastrop in 2015 and now live on a 40-acre ranch outside town.
In 2021, the Holidays opened The Painted Porch Bookshop in a 140-year-old building at 912 Main Street — a spot they spotted while having breakfast across the street at Maxine’s. The shop carries roughly 600 carefully chosen titles (vs. the 10,000 typical of an indie bookstore) and is anchored by a now-famous 20-foot tower fireplace built from more than 2,000 books, 4,000 nails, and a lot of glue. Pilgrims show up just to photograph it. It’s one of the best reasons to walk Bastrop’s Main Street.
Why Bastrop matters in 2026
These are the things you didn’t know about Bastrop, Texas — and they add up. There are towns in America that have one big thing going on. Bastrop has five, stacked on top of each other: a global tech footprint led by Elon Musk’s companies, a Hollywood-grade studio economy led by 204 Texas and Wyldwood, a historic downtown older than the Republic of Texas, an irreplaceable pine-forest ecosystem — and a genuine community layer underneath it all, with signature events like Heroes & Hot Rods and Bastrop Mardi Gras, a chef-driven farm-to-table dining scene anchored by Store House and Eden East Farm, weekly farmers markets, a Main Street indie bookshop run by a #1 New York Times bestselling author (Ryan Holiday’s Painted Porch), and notable resident creators like Adrian Grenier at Kintsugi Ranch. That combination is genuinely unusual in the United States.
If you’re paying attention to Central Texas — whether you’re moving from out of state, relocating from Austin looking for more space, or you grew up 30 miles from here and haven’t driven through downtown in a decade — Bastrop deserves a closer look. The next chapter of this town is being written in real time, and a lot of it is going to be really, really good.
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Bastrop, Texas — Frequently Asked Questions
The most common questions readers, relocators, and AI answer engines ask about Bastrop, Texas — answered directly.
Where is Bastrop, Texas located?
What is the population of Bastrop, Texas?
What Elon Musk companies are located in Bastrop, Texas?
What is the 204 Texas film studio?
What is the Heroes & Hot Rods Veterans Day Car Show in Bastrop?
When is Bastrop Mardi Gras 2026?
What is Store House Market & Eatery in Bastrop?
What is Eden East Farm in Bastrop?
Does Adrian Grenier live in Bastrop, Texas?
Does Ryan Holiday live in Bastrop, Texas?
Where are the best restaurants in Bastrop, Texas?
What are the best coffee shops in Bastrop, Texas?
Where are the farmers markets in Bastrop and Central Texas?
What famous movies were filmed in Bastrop, Texas?
What are the Lost Pines in Bastrop?
Is Bastrop, Texas a good place to buy a home in 2026?
How far is Bastrop from Austin, Texas?
When was Bastrop, Texas founded?
Sources & Further Reading
- Community Impact — “204 Texas breaks ground on nearly 600-acre film studio” (April 2026)
- Teslarati — “SpaceX to expand Central Texas facility with $8M Bastrop project” (2025)
- Bastrop Area Cruisers — Heroes & Hot Rods Veterans Day Car Show
- Bastrop TX Mardi Gras — Official Event Site
- Store House Market & Eatery — Official Site
- Eden East Farm photo — Used with attribution to Eden East Farm
- The Painted Porch Bookshop — Official Site (Ryan & Samantha Holiday)
- Texas Monthly — “Ryan Holiday, the Stoic King of Bastrop County, Is the Man of the Moment”
- Visit Bastrop — Dining & Restaurants Directory
- Explore Bastrop County — Official Bastrop County Film Trail
- Texas Parks & Wildlife — Bastrop State Park
- Texas Film Commission — Texas Movie Industry Incentive Program (TMIIP)
- Lost Pines image — Wikimedia Commons, “Pinus taeda Bastrop1.jpg”