The American Southwest meets German heritage in the Texas Hill Country, and Kendall County is exemplary of that merging of cultures. To the north, cattle, sheep and goat ranches sprawl for thousands of acres. In the southern part of the county, closest to San Antonio, new communities with million-dollar-plus farmettes stand beside huge family ranches. Some of those ranches have been broken up and sold, but many of the tracts are still hundreds of acres in size.

Residents are keen to preserve their heritage, be it German or agricultural. Kristy Watson lives with her husband, Todd, on 10 acres near Bergheim. Her business is a urethane plastic horseshoe she invented, but her passion is clearly the Agricultural Heritage Museum, located in the county seat of Boerne. "Some of our newer residents didn't grow up on farms or ranches," she says. "It's important that they and their kids learn about what's important in Kendall County." Schoolkids come to the museum to visit exhibits donated by local farm families.

Many of those families have been in the county for generations. Roy Kneupper raises sheep and goats near Sisterdale and lives in a house his grandparents built. His son attends Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, studies ag and plans to return to the family ranch one day. "It's just what he wants to do," says Kneupper.

German influence isn't hard to spot either, especially if you're in Boerne during the summer. Every other Sunday a traditional German band gathers and plays under the gazebo in the center of town while residents dance and picnic. Dozens of respected artists call the county home, and galleries line Main Street in Boerne.

People are moving to Kendall County for land that is still affordable and schools that residents say are the best in Hill Country. One rancher we talked to says he knows growth is inevitable. But he believes new residents can learn to respect the land that has been so good to generations of ranchers, if they will listen to those in the know and learn to be good stewards.