No Bluffing, Landslide Takes a Big Chunk out of La Grange’s Most Iconic Natural Feature

A massive section of the limestone Bluff across the Colorado River from La Grange broke away and crashed into the valley below last Friday morning.

The rockfall happened around 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 24. No one was injured, and no buildings were damaged.

“We had some family over for Thanksgiving and were sitting on the back deck when all of a sudden we heard this sound,” said Lisa Corker, whose house sits perched atop the Bluff. “I was like, ‘What was that?’ I thought there was a boat crash on the river or maybe a huge oak tree came down. We’ve lived here 18 years and I’ve never heard a sound like that. We were standing on the deck and the deck shook.”

The cliff where the rocks collapsed was located about 70 feet from the historic Kreische Home at Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historical Sites, and just inches from the scenic overview deck northwest of the Kreische Home.

Gavin Miculka, Assistant Site Manager at Monument Hill, said the Texas Historical Commission will send a landscape engineer to inspect the State property.

The rocks fell onto land belonging to Dr. James and Nita Tiemann. Dr. Tiemann, who grew up next door to the property and purchased it in the 1990s, said he’s witnessed many smaller rockfalls during his 80 years.

“This was by far the largest,” Dr. Tiemann said.

Boulders the size of a Peterbilt truck laid scattered on the valley floor. Ancient burr oak trees snapped like twigs as the rocks fell down. Limestone dust covered everything in the vicinity. The Tiemanns’ wooded property, which sits below State Historic Sites, normally teems with wildlife, especially whitetailed deer. Mrs. Tiemann said the crash apparently scattered the deer. They finally returned on Monday.

Dr. Tiemann said he has noticed fissures in the Bluff since climbing the rocks as a child in the 1940s and 50s. He speculated that water seeping through layers of caliche in the Bluff eventually weakened the rock face.

“It’s something that’s been going on for thousands of years,” he said.

This time, though, plenty of folks were around to witness it.