Vacation's All I Ever Wanted

8 funky places to stay in Central Texas, from jail cells to tree houses

Crafting new hotels from old spaces is a growing trend, thanks in part to environmental factors and travelers increasingly looking for unique experiences. In Central Texas, visitors (and locals) have no shortage of unique accommodation options, ranging from an old dance hall to beer factory.

Outside the city limits, the lodging options get even funkier and include a jail, a firehouse, and treehouses high in the sky. This year, when you make summer travel plans, bypass the Holiday Inn and make new memories in historic spaces.

Allens Boots Loft — Austin
This unique Airbnb at 1522 South Congress Ave. is housed above the iconic Allens Boots store. Although the store opened in 1977, the building was originally built in the 19th century. Loft guests are treated to a hip, rustic Texan stay steps away from popular boutiques, restaurants, and shops on SoCo. For details, contact Airbnb hosts (and natives) Sean and Lauren Greenberg.

Antler's Inn — Kingsland
Located at 1001 King Ct. in Kingsland, Texas (part of the Highland Lakes area, more than 200 miles from downtown Houston), it was built in 1901 as a resort for passengers on the Austin and Northwestern Railroad. The resort includes a fishing pier, picnic tables, and an area to launch boats and jet-skis (rentals are available in town). Overnight accommodations include the main house with a wraparound porch, cabins, and even train cars remodeled from the original rail line that served the area. After a day at the lake or just relaxing, guests can visit the Grand Central Cafe or catch live music at the Club Car Bar.

Carpenter Hotel — Austin
Opened in late 2018, this boutique hotel at 400 Josephine St. is retrofitted from the Carpenters Union Hall, originally built in 1948. The 93 guest rooms are individually designed, staying true to the union motif, and each room features an outdoor terrace. The hotel also features a coffee shop and restaurant serving Central Texas cuisine and other specialty dishes.

The Cell Block — Clifton
This inn at 120 Clifton Art Alley, about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Houston, is repurposed from a two-cell jailhouse built in the 1930s. Local legend is that drunks used to sleep it off in the jail (make sure to ask around town for details). The repurposed property features one room, minimalist in design, a retrofitted restroom, and upstairs, a patio — the former prison yard — to view the stars at night. Make a note: there is no television. Instead, there is a phonograph with a selection of jail tunes to play. The inn is part of Clifton Art Alley, and restaurants, shopping, and a movie theater are downtown in this small community.

Cypress Valley Tree Houses — Spicewood
Get a bird's-eye view of the Texas Hill Country at this unique spot. Stay in a tree house and take a canopy tour at 1223 S. Paleface RR in Spicewood, Texas, about three hours from Houston. Fill your bucket list by sleeping in the ancient and majestic cypress trees (the trees are at least 400 years old) in one of four tree houses. Each tree house has electricity, making the experience closer to glamping than camping. Larger groups can stick closer to the ground in the Ranch House — ideal for groups.

Firehouse Hostel — Austin
Located at 605 Brazos St., the Firehouse Hostel makes its home in the Washington Fire Hall No. 1, the fire station for volunteer firefighters and downtown Austin's oldest standing fire station. Built in 1885, the building once served as an office but then remained vacant for years before becoming the Firehouse Hostel in 2012. The hostel has rooms with private baths, and the unique lounge is open to the public.

Hotel Emma — San Antonio
This repurposed brewery at 136 E. Grayson has become one of Texas' finest hotels. Located in the former Pearl Brewery, built in 1894, the Emma is named after Emma Koehler, who ran the brewery after her husband's death. She faced challenging times during Prohibition but managed to creatively keep the business profitable. Although she handed over the management to her nephew, Emma remained a towering presence until her death in 1943. There is even a special suite named for her, in addition to 145 other tastefully furnished rooms. The hotel includes a two-story library, a spa, a celebrated bar and restaurant, and even a sundries store.

Old Coupland Inn & Dancehall — Coupland
The Old Coupland Inn & Dancehall, located at 101 Hoxie St. in Coupland, is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Houston. Pull on your Luccheses and prepare for boot-scootin' fun. The inn has seven rooms above the dance hall, with a shared bathroom and kitchen. Each room is decorated in brothel style and guests are treated to a continental breakfast. The historic building was built in 1904 and has served as a pharmacy company and store, a doctor's office, and more. Once upon a time in Texas, there were about a 1,000 active dance halls — a number that has dwindled to around 400. The dance hall is only open on weekends, so check the calendar for music listings.

Stay in a treehouse at Cypress Valley.

Cypress Valley Canopy Tours/Facebook

Stay in a treehouse at Cypress Valley.

hotels vacation downtown

Preservation efforts

South Texas mission makes list of America’s most endangered historic places

Facebook/Friends of the Ruidosa Church

El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus in Ruidosa, Texas is considered an endangered place.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A historic South Texas mission joins the Stonewall National Monument, the President's House Site, and the Women's Rights National Historic Park among 11 sites on this year's annual list of the most endangered historic places in the United States compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The 2026 list, announced Wednesday, May 20, marks America's 250th anniversary with the foundational principle that everyone is created equal as the theme, said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization. The 11 sites offer examples of how, over time, Americans have fought against injustice and for equality, she said.

“We wanted to think about those ideas, especially this notion that all human beings are created equal and find places, sometimes unsung places ... that not all Americans routinely think about," Quillen told The Associated Press.

The sites are spread across the United States — from New York and California on the East and West Coasts, to Alabama and Texas in the South, to Michigan in the Midwest and the Four Corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah in the Rocky Mountain West.

At least three of the sites — Stonewall, the El Corazon church in Texas, and President's House in Philadelphia — have been endangered by Trump administration actions.

“We want to save these places," Quillen said, “not just because the bricks and mortar is important but because the stories these places hold are important."

For the first time since the list debuted in 1988, each site on the 2026 list will receive a one-time $25,000 grant to help highlight their connections to the principle that all people are created equal and address the threats they face.

The 11 sites are:

Ruidosa, Texas: El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus
The more than century-old adobe church served as a refuge and place of worship for Mexican and Mexican American farming communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande River. Vacant since the 1950s, the structure has benefited from continued restoration provided by the nonprofit Friends of the Ruidosa Church but remains threatened by proposed construction of a U.S. border wall that could come within a few hundred yards of the property. (The nonprofit has posted an official statement and more information about the border wall here.) Ruidosa is in far west Texas, roughly 35 miles northwest of Presidio and 46 miles southwest of Marfa, near the rugged Chinati Mountains.

A historic photograph of El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus.Facebook/Friends of the Ruidosa Church

Montgomery, Alabama: Ben Moore Hotel
The hotel was a refuge for Black people living under laws that enforced racial separation in the South. Prolonged vacancy has caused structural deterioration and the historic Centennial Hill neighborhood surrounding it faces pressure from development. The hotel housed key players from the Civil Rights Movement, including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy. The Conservation Fund announced in November that it would help preserve the hotel.

Modoc County, California: Tule Lake Segregation Center
Initially known as the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, it was set up as a camp but later became a segregation center where Japanese Americans who were thought to be disloyal to the United States were imprisoned. The site is now a national monument managed by the National Park Service. Only 37 acres of the 1,100-acre site is protected. Most of it is at risk of permanent alteration from a proposed nearby construction project.

California: Angel Island Immigration Station
It was the largest immigration port on the West Coast between 1910 and 1940, particularly for immigrants from Asia and the Pacific. Hundreds of thousands were processed, detained and/or interrogated there because of their race. The station currently is threatened by physical, environmental, political and economic factors. Additional funding is needed for structural repairs and programming to increase awareness.

Somerset, Massachusetts: Swansea Friends Meeting House
Recognized as the oldest surviving Quaker meeting house in the state, it was built in 1701 to serve as a refuge by a congregation fleeing religious persecution and looking for a safe place to worship. The building has been closed for years and needs significant rehabilitation.

Michigan: Detroit Association of Women's Clubs
Founded in 1921, the association was one of the first Black organizations in Detroit to own their headquarters building, which was purchased in 1941. But the building has been closed since 2024, when water pipes burst and damaged the interior. Money is needed to help the association reopen the building.

New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah: Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape
The landscape is an ancestral homeland sustained for over a millennium by the Pueblo and Hopi people, but is threatened by changes to federal land policy that could open up significant portions to oil and gas development. Permanent protections and tribal consultation are needed to protect its cultural integrity.

Seneca Falls, New York: Women's Rights National Historical Park
The park tells the story of the first Women's Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, in July 1848. It faces a deferred maintenance backlog of over $10 million. Additional funding and support are needed to help preserve the park as a place to teach visitors about the history of women's rights.

New York: Stonewall National Monument
The first and only U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history was the subject of administration actions that saw the rainbow Pride flag removed from its flagpole earlier this year before it was restored. The National Park Service had removed the flag in February, citing federal guidance that limited the agency to displaying only the American, Interior Department and POW/MIA flags. But the administration reversed course in April as it agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by advocacy and historic preservation groups that sought to block the flag's removal at the Manhattan site.

After Trump returned to office, he ended diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and many references to transgender people were excised from the Stonewall monument’s website and materials. The Republican administration similarly has put national parks, museums and landmarks under a messaging microscope, aiming to remove or alter materials that it says are “divisive or partisan” or “inappropriately disparage Americans.”

Philadelphia: The President's House Site
The administration abruptly removed exhibits on the lives of nine people enslaved at the site in the 1790s under George Washington, the first U.S. president, who lived there when Philadelphia served as the nation's capital. The exhibits were taken down as part of a broad effort by the administration to remove from federal properties information it deems “disparaging” to Americans. The issue is currently the subject of litigation between the city and federal government.

Heath Springs, South Carolina: Hanging Rock Revolutionary War Battlefield
The Battle of Hanging Rock was a key battle in the Southern Campaigns of the Revolutionary War and is considered a Patriot victory that helped boost morale and ultimately weaken British control in South Carolina. Only portions of the core battlefield are protected and open to the public, with the area anticipating population growth and increasing development pressures.