From cotton days in 1898, Barr Mansion was the heart of Sprinkle Texas. The home, which features ornate Eastlake styling, remained in the Barr family until 1980, when Mark and Melanie McAfee fell in love with the mansion, and purchased it. After much love and hard work was put into the rehabilitation of the house, it became obvious the place was a perfect setting for a wedding. Mark’s sister, Nancy, was the first bride to celebrate her wedding there, and a new business was begun. Since then there have been over two thousand events at the seven-acre setting. While renovating Barr Mansion, the McAfee family learned to appreciate the traditional methods used to build houses that last 100 years. While landscaping the gardens they had a chance to watch nature unfold. And while seeking quality food ingredients and designing and building the Artisan Ballroom, they discovered an organic lifestyle which they found to be sustaining, harmonious, and healing.

Our vision is to provide a community center that is ecologically advanced, energy efficient, consciously designed, and sustainable. We hope to provide a setting for people to come together and interact in a surrounding that will foster awareness and cultivate community among people interested in working to improve our world.

A recent project was replacing the wallpaper in the 1898 mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We began by envisaging an inspiring environment, one that would be glamorous and organic, Victorian and Modern, and above all, Green and local.

There was no wall paper made that met our standards so we brought in Peter and Cindy Hausmann to hang eco-friendly paper in the old style using cheesecloth and paste. Next were layers of no VOC paint made in San Antonio and sold at Austin’s Green Home Supply Store – Eco-Wise. Rachel Hurst with Bella Terranova recreated the original wallpaper with our design criteria and created a trompe l’oeil complete with flying owl. The result was new and old – Victorian with a twist!