P I O N E E R T O W N
A Western Town of The 1880's Located
In Modern Day 7A
Howdy, partner! Welcome to Pioneer Town! 🤠🌵
Take a step back to the Old West and wander through our old-fashioned storefronts, wooden boardwalks, and vintage charm. It’s completely free to visit and open to the public — just swing by during our front office hours to explore a little piece of Wimberley history!
Be sure to ask us about our Pioneer Town Scavenger Hunt — it’s a fun, family-friendly way to explore and learn a little local history along the way!
The Heart Behind Pioneer Town ❤️
Pioneer Town was dreamed up in the late 1950s by Raymond L. Czichos, founder of 7A Ranch, as a place where guests could step back in time and experience the spirit of the Old West. What began as Raymond’s creative vision soon became a full western village — complete with a saloon, opera house, ice cream parlor, and even a chapel — all built with help from the Czichos family and local craftsmen. His goal was simple: to give families a place to laugh, explore, and make memories together. Over the decades, Pioneer Town has become a beloved part of Wimberley’s history — a spot where generations have strolled the wooden boardwalks, taken family photos, and discovered a little bit of magic in every corner.
Today, Pioneer Town continues to welcome visitors from near and far — keeping Raymond’s dream alive as a place where history, community, and good old-fashioned fun come together in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.
The Bottle House 🌟
“Not uncommon to some towns of the Old West was the bottle house. Usually built from beer or champagne bottles from the local saloon, these houses were a monument to the town’s drinking ability and some local character willing to spend his time putting the empties into a house.”
From Soda to Structure, Czichos Style!
When Raymond L. Czichos set out to build something extraordinary, he turned to an unlikely material—soft drink bottles. With help from Walter Feltner, manager of the San Marcos Coca-Cola bottling company, who shared his basement full of bottles, Raymond brought his creative vision to life. Together with local rock mason Bill Hamby, he built a one-of-a-kind bottle house that still stands proudly in Pioneer Town.
Made with over 9,500 bottles, the Pioneer Town Bottle House glows with dazzling colors when lit from within at night. Unlike other bottle houses made from wine or beer bottles, this one is crafted entirely from soft drink bottles—a fact confirmed by the Glass Institute of America, which recognizes it as the only structure of its kind in the United States.
The Schlameus House 🏡
Between 1958 and 1966, the construction of Canyon Dam near New Braunfels brought major changes to the region. As the new reservoir filled, several small, long-established communities disappeared beneath what is now Canyon Lake. During this time, R.L. carefully salvaged three log structures from the area—a cabin, an outbuilding, and a dogtrot house. Each was dismantled piece by piece, with the logs numbered so they could later be reassembled in what became known as Pioneer Town.
The dogtrot house, originally located on the Eden Ranch in Sattler, Texas, once served as the early home of the Schlameus family. It earned the distinction of being the first site in this part of Hays County to receive a Texas Historical Marker. Because the home was roughly 130 years old and already in ruins when R.L. acquired it, reconstructing it proved especially difficult. R.L. spent two years studying how the pieces might fit together, and once he identified the base logs, the rest came together “like a puzzle.”
Inside, R.L. furnished the restored structure with antiques gathered during his travels across Texas—among them a rope-string bed and an armoire from the historic Maverick home in San Antonio. Another, much smaller log building rescued from the Jonas farm, once belonging to the Krause family, would have been lost beneath Canyon Lake had R.L. not preserved it.
