The Venue ...

Green Pastures

Green Pastures is a historic Victorian home housing a restaurant of the same name in south Austin, Texas. Completed in 1895 by local minister E.W. Herndon, the house sat on 23 acres bordering a wooded area to the south. It was home to a number of families over the years.

The Green Pastures restaurant was established by Mary Faulk Koock and husband Chester Koock in 1946. It served a range of comfort food, and was notable for serving to customers of all races, 18 years before other establishments in Austin were desegregated by law. Mary Koock later wrote ‘The Texas Cookbook,’ with the help of James Beard.

Points of interest:

• Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980
• Filming location for the 1988 comedy Heartbreak Hotel
• Childhood residence of the activist, author and radio show host John Henry Faulk

For more information about Green Pastures, check out their website.