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Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Commerce
The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing (Volume 24)
At the low-water bridge below Tom Miller Dam, west of downtown Austin, during the summer of his tenth or eleventh year, Ken Roberts had his first encounter with cedar choppers. On his way to the bridge for a leisurely afternoon of fishing, he suddenly found himself facing a group of boys who clearly came from a different place and culture than the middle-class, suburban community he was accustomed to. Rather, “. . . they looked hard—tanned, skinny, dirty. These were not kids you would see in Austin.” When Roberts’s fishing companion curtly refused the strangers’ offer to sell them a stringer of bluegills, the three boys went away, only to reappear moments later, one of them carrying a club. Roberts and his friend made a hasty retreat.
This encounter provoked in the author the question, “Who are these people?” The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing is his thoughtful, entertaining, and informative answer. Based on oral history interviews with several generations of cedar choppers and those who knew them, this book weaves together the lively, gritty story of these largely Scots-Irish migrants with roots in Appalachia who settled on the west side of the Balcones Fault during the mid-nineteenth century, subsisting mainly on hunting, trapping, moonshining, and, by the early twentieth century, cutting, transporting, and selling cedar fence posts and charcoal.
The emergence of Austin as a major metropolitan area, especially after the 1950s, soon brought the cedar choppers and their hillbilly lifestyle into direct confrontation with the gentrified urban population east of the Balcones Fault. This clash of cultures, which provided the setting for Roberts’s encounter as a young boy, propels this first book-length treatment of the cedar choppers, their clans, their culture and mores, and their longing for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
This encounter provoked in the author the question, “Who are these people?” The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing is his thoughtful, entertaining, and informative answer. Based on oral history interviews with several generations of cedar choppers and those who knew them, this book weaves together the lively, gritty story of these largely Scots-Irish migrants with roots in Appalachia who settled on the west side of the Balcones Fault during the mid-nineteenth century, subsisting mainly on hunting, trapping, moonshining, and, by the early twentieth century, cutting, transporting, and selling cedar fence posts and charcoal.
The emergence of Austin as a major metropolitan area, especially after the 1950s, soon brought the cedar choppers and their hillbilly lifestyle into direct confrontation with the gentrified urban population east of the Balcones Fault. This clash of cultures, which provided the setting for Roberts’s encounter as a young boy, propels this first book-length treatment of the cedar choppers, their clans, their culture and mores, and their longing for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
276 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 6, 2019
I read Texas Book Festival's review copy in advance of moderating a discussion with the author, who was selected to appear at the 2018 Festival.
This book is about a group of folks who lived in west Austin and environs in the years before I moved here. I had no idea this element ever existed and was astonished to learn that they are descended from the same stock that I am, Scots-Irish.
Research for this nonfiction was done almost entirely by oral interview, which makes it like a Greatest Generation effort, where you catch a demographic's story in the nick of time, right before they all die out. I heartily applaud Ken Roberts for making this effort.
Roberts not only preserved The Cedar Choppers story, he wrote a very entertaining book to read! Narrative nonfiction, when done right, is actually my favorite thing to consume because I learn so much, and to learn about people who lived a stone's throw from you feels more like you're on the back porch listening to stories than reading a history book.
Although life on the edge of nothing may still be just west of my house, I'm still glad I'm here and glad the cedar choppers were able to do their thing as long as they could. We cleared over 40 cedars off our three acres over the last 25 years, and it's a lot harder than it looks. Go read this book!
This book is about a group of folks who lived in west Austin and environs in the years before I moved here. I had no idea this element ever existed and was astonished to learn that they are descended from the same stock that I am, Scots-Irish.
Research for this nonfiction was done almost entirely by oral interview, which makes it like a Greatest Generation effort, where you catch a demographic's story in the nick of time, right before they all die out. I heartily applaud Ken Roberts for making this effort.
Roberts not only preserved The Cedar Choppers story, he wrote a very entertaining book to read! Narrative nonfiction, when done right, is actually my favorite thing to consume because I learn so much, and to learn about people who lived a stone's throw from you feels more like you're on the back porch listening to stories than reading a history book.
Although life on the edge of nothing may still be just west of my house, I'm still glad I'm here and glad the cedar choppers were able to do their thing as long as they could. We cleared over 40 cedars off our three acres over the last 25 years, and it's a lot harder than it looks. Go read this book!
March 3, 2020
Reading this book is like diving into a reference guide to the families and activities of the Texas Cedar Choppers in areas west of Austin known as the Hill Country. There really is not much of a story line to the book as it is filled with personal anecdotes and multiple references to other books or interviews. That's not to say the book isn't interesting, it is, but I found myself skimming over lots of name references and connections because the names and families had no meaning to me. For someone who grew up in Austin or the areas to the north and west of Austin in the 1930-1960's, this book might bring back some familiar memories of names and places.
The most interesting thing about the book to me is the culture of the Cedar Chopper people. This was a fascinating group of people that I did not know much about but after reading Mr. Robert's book I definitely have better understanding of who they really were.
The most interesting thing about the book to me is the culture of the Cedar Chopper people. This was a fascinating group of people that I did not know much about but after reading Mr. Robert's book I definitely have better understanding of who they really were.
September 25, 2018
Ken Roberts tackles a topic that was long overdue for coverage. The folks branded as “Cedar Choppers” earned their living from hard physical labor that also stigmatized them in the so-called polite society. Roberts does an outstanding job researching and detailing the character of the men and women that raised their families and forged an honest living out of the unforgiving Texas Hill Country.
September 29, 2019
Love this
As a 6th generation Texan daughter of a father born of Scots-Irish on paternal side and German, maternal side, and raised NW Austin, off Old Jollyville Rd, running around in cedar brakes from sunup to sundown, i loved this book. Even though dad never said we were Cedar Choppers, he told stories and I was aware of the lore and myth. Great read and history.
As a 6th generation Texan daughter of a father born of Scots-Irish on paternal side and German, maternal side, and raised NW Austin, off Old Jollyville Rd, running around in cedar brakes from sunup to sundown, i loved this book. Even though dad never said we were Cedar Choppers, he told stories and I was aware of the lore and myth. Great read and history.
May 28, 2018
The Way it Was
Anyone interested in the history of central Texas would find this book interesting. Cedar choppers are long gone, but their history is quite interesting.
Anyone interested in the history of central Texas would find this book interesting. Cedar choppers are long gone, but their history is quite interesting.
March 11, 2018
Anyone who lives in or near the Hill Country of Texas is aware of the "Cedar Choppers," a legendary subculture that seems to embody the last vestiges of an earlier, vanishing primitive culture. I guess you could say that the cedar choppers are Texas equivalent to Appalachian hillbillies.
I was really taken with this meticulously researched and engagingly written book that pulls back the curtain and reveals the hidden lives of the Cedar Choppers . Ken Roberts has accomplished something here that only a small percentage of academic writers have pulled off -- compelling original scholarship presented in a highly readable manner.
I was really taken with this meticulously researched and engagingly written book that pulls back the curtain and reveals the hidden lives of the Cedar Choppers . Ken Roberts has accomplished something here that only a small percentage of academic writers have pulled off -- compelling original scholarship presented in a highly readable manner.
January 19, 2020
Really debated rating this book 3 stars because of the difficulty I had keeping up with the names. I guess a huge cast of characters is part of true life accounts. The author is pretty good about reminding the reader who everyone is.
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September 20, 2021A totally engrossing work about a culture and lifestyle gone from the Hill Country of Texas. The only evidence the cedar choppers left behind are the cedar posts connected by barb fencing out in the country, on ranches and farms.
My father told me that cedar choppers lived around Junction, but I didn’t really understand who they were until I read this book. They were folks of Scots-Irish descent from the Appalachians who migrated to Central Texas and took up chopping and clearing the land of cedars. They were fiercely independent, loyal to their clan families and lived in rudimentary housing, tents and shacks. They had money from their work, but chose to live apart from the rest of society. All they needed to live off the land was a sharp double axe and a old truck. And the cedar brakes to provide the place for them to cut cedar trees, Junipers, actually.
My father told me that cedar choppers lived around Junction, but I didn’t really understand who they were until I read this book. They were folks of Scots-Irish descent from the Appalachians who migrated to Central Texas and took up chopping and clearing the land of cedars. They were fiercely independent, loyal to their clan families and lived in rudimentary housing, tents and shacks. They had money from their work, but chose to live apart from the rest of society. All they needed to live off the land was a sharp double axe and a old truck. And the cedar brakes to provide the place for them to cut cedar trees, Junipers, actually.
January 8, 2022
A great book for anyone in Austin or the Hill Country who is into local history. A well-written book spotlighting the hardscrabble “cedar choppers” who migrated from Appalachia after the Civil War into the Texas hill country. The family trees and names woven throughout the book are hard to keep straight, but not all that distracting to the overall read.
These folks lived hard hand-to-mouth lives, but the author does well to highlight, and to slightly romanticize, the life of a chopper that relied on family bonds rather than the law; lived off the land rather than modern city conveniences just a few miles away in Austin; lived in the present moment rather than saving; valued dancing and hunting and roughhousing rather than the pursuit of physical possessions. You can’t help but smile at that.
These folks lived hard hand-to-mouth lives, but the author does well to highlight, and to slightly romanticize, the life of a chopper that relied on family bonds rather than the law; lived off the land rather than modern city conveniences just a few miles away in Austin; lived in the present moment rather than saving; valued dancing and hunting and roughhousing rather than the pursuit of physical possessions. You can’t help but smile at that.
September 10, 2020
Great research and compilation of stories to show the history and family tree of a culture. The overall flow of the book was set up as short stories surrounding themes proposed by the author, without necessarily following individuals or events in chronological order making it tough to follow on occasion.
I would love to see a historical fiction author build on this work by devolving a few fictional characters to weave these stories together.
I would love to see a historical fiction author build on this work by devolving a few fictional characters to weave these stories together.
May 17, 2021
Turns out every cedar post holding up barbed wire in the whole western US was cut by the same Appalachian scotch-Irish hillbilly clans from Kentucky and Tennessee, but they moved to the hills right outside Austin and the rest of hill country in what is now prime real estate. Excellent book, well researched. Hardworking, moonshining, violent, illiterate, fiercely independent, secluded, basically the show Justified but within sight of UT and the state capitol.
November 7, 2018
Read more like a history book than a story but very interesting information and entertaining interviews.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews