'Character of Comanche'

The book project began in early 2010, and interviews with past and present residents took up the majority of the two years Ackman and Graves worked on it. The process consisted of meeting with the interviewee, recording, transcribing and editing the interviews, and then sending them back to the interviewee for approval.

"It took us a long time just to do one," Ackman said. "And we'd have an appointment with somebody and then they'd cancel. Sometimes a month would go by before all three of us could meet."

Beau Theriot, owner of The Oasis, Texas, development near Comanche Trail, was the first to be interviewed.

"Mr. Theriot, of course, has had a major impact on our whole community, and we all really appreciate him. He has been a really good neighbor. We weren't sure if he'd even do it, so we asked him first. He was just so sweet. He said, 'I'd love to do it. I love history,'" Ackman said.

At each interview, someone new would be recommended for the book.

"Of the 10 people we interviewed, lots of them didn't know each other," Ackman said. "What was most interesting to Jeanne Graves and myself was when we tallied and read through all 10 of the interviews, they each had common threads that wove through all the interviews—the challenges and the struggles and hardships."

She said it was the association that helped get a traffic light at Comanche Trail and RR 620, near Boat House Grill.

"We have excerpts from the Austin-American Statesman in the book that say there would be traffic stopped at [RR] 620 backed all the way up to Hippie Hollow. And that's a couple of miles," Ackman said. "It was a hazard because emergency vehicles couldn't get in and out."

Ackman found a newsletter that said the neighborhood had brought in a fire truck and that everyone should learn to use it.

"It's one way in and one way out—Comanche Trail—and it's the whole peninsula just past The Oasis bluff," Ackman described the area.

The community has three parks—Hippie Hollow, Windy Point and Bob Wentz at Windy Point.

Comanche Trail's neighborhood association formed over what the community is perhaps best known for—Hippie Hollow, Austin's well-known nude beach.

In the early days, the park had no public restrooms or pay phones, so at the end of the evening, it was common for those left at the beach to knock on the doors of the homeowners nearby.

"The association worked with the City of Austin and Travis County to try to make some facilities so those people could at least stay within the confines of the park," Ackman said.