By Shelby Pearson
Lake Travis View Summer Intern
The Lakeway Heritage Center’s summer exhibit series is currently featuring “Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence,” which runs through July 17. Two more exhibits are on the calendar as well, according to Heritage Center Archivist Michael Boston.

Humanities Texas and the City of Lakeway Heritage Commission have teamed up to bring the community two exhibits that will amaze and inform the masses. With everything from early maps of the American Southwest to the revolutionaries that shaped our country, how can you afford not to go?

In “Crossroads of Empire: Early printed Maps of the American Southwest,” open to the public July 17-Aug. 14, visitors learn the differences between maps of the 1500-1900’s versus the maps used today. This exhibit will also show the difficulties of map making and how easy it was to incorrectly depict a region.
“What I find most interesting is that they show California as an island,” Boston said. “In fact, one British map maker claimed to have known seamen that circumnavigated the state.”
In addition to the map exhibit, the Heritage Center will host “The Blessings of Liberty: The U.S. Constitution” and “The Bill of Rights,” a dual-exhibit open to the public Aug. 14- Sept. 11, visitors be introduced to 24 separate panels that examine the documents on which our country was founded.
“The purpose of these exhibits is to try and generate an interest into the Heritage Center. By getting people to acknowledge that we’re here, we might have a better chance of sharing Lakeway’s history and preserving whatever part of the community we have left,” said Boston.
The Heritage Center and Lake Travis Independent School District are planning to team up for the final exhibit with small groups of students to tour Blessings of Liberty.
The Heritage Center is located 963 Lohman’s Crossing, at the intersection of Hurst Creek Road. Call the parks and recreation center at 314-7530 for more information.