Life on a Texas ranch is never boring, especially if your last name is Classen. First homesteaded in the 1850s, the Classen family owned 54,000 square acres of prime Hill Country land, perfect for raising goats and cattle. Not all was peace and tranquility in those days, however, as Native Americans also used the land and razed several of the ranchers' buildings in the 1880s.

Today, as you drive through the gates of the Canyon Springs Golf Course, the incredible history of the Classen family's ranch can still be found. The façade of the main Clubhouse was built with various materials from the original farmhouse. The fireplace mantle in the dining room is from the original ranch house, and the rest of the fireplace is constructed from the preceding foundation. The pine fixtures and the elegant wooden counters are also from the old ranch house.

Some of the buildings were constructed with rock salvaged from fifty miles of dry stack wall on the homestead. One of these buildings is the Cliffhaus, the course snack shop, which also has a series of stone steps made of hand carved limestone from the ranch house. The rock walls surrounding the Clubhouse are in the same location as the original walls that were built when soldiers returning from the Civil War came to the Classen ranch looking for work.

A treasure trove of delights presented itself to the golf course's developers when they opened one of the original cabins on the property, the Rockhaus. As the developers pried open the old doors, they were excited to discover a series of antique meat hooks.

Located between the Pavilion and the Clubhouse is a stagecoach, which pays tribute to the many years the Classen farm was the second stop for stagecoaches traveling out of San Antonio. A watering trough still stands in the dry creek bed to the east of the Pro Shop.

The Hill Country is known for its caves, and the Classen ranch made national news in the 1930s when the local authorities found a criminal holed up in one of their caves in the middle of a manhunt. More recently, the Concordia Survey Company excavated the caves and discovered the well-preserved body of a saber-toothed tiger.

The rich history of the Classen ranch lives on in the memory of its descendants and also in the buildings that continue to dominate this part of the Hill Country.