Flower Hill Center

09/01/2026

Help us welcome our newest board member, Sophi Marass!

Sophi Marass is an Austin native whose lifelong love of the arts began at McCallum High School, where she studied art and dance, and continued through her training with Ballet Austin. She earned a B.A. in Dance Performance with a minor in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University before dancing professionally in Chicago.

After returning to Texas, Sophi became a founding member of 6 o'Clock Dance Theatre, helping build the company during its early years as it grew into one of Dallas's leading contemporary dance organizations.

Sophi later spent more than a decade as a UX designer and product design leader, partnering with teams to research complex problems, design thoughtful digital experiences, and build products centered on people's needs.

She is honored to join Flower Hill's Board of Directors and is excited for the opportunity to support an organization that nurtures creativity, connection, and the arts for future generations.

We're so happy to have you, Sophi!

08/25/2026

We are less than a month away from our favorite day of the year, Austin Museum Day! A city wide day of FREE entry to area museums. Come by Flower Hill from 10am-3pm on September 20th.

A big thank you to Austin Museum Partnership for putting this event together every year. Poster art by Breanna Carzoo

08/25/2026

When Julia married Lawrence, she arrived with a problem: too much furniture.

She'd inherited plenty. But Flower Hill was already full, with every room accounted for. So she made a trade with her sisters. They took the furniture; she brought the china and the crystal.

Most of what's set on this table came here because of that deal. And the silver goblet? Not a w**e glass. A communion cup. It's a minister's house after all, right down to the dining room.

08/21/2026

08/18/2026

A school started in this room! The Austin School of Theology began here, taught by Reverend Smoot. No campus, no lecture hall, just a library and whoever showed up.

Look around, and you can trace the family through the furniture. Every piece came from Kentucky and Tennessee. The walnut bookcase was made for Sallie when she was a girl. It traveled to Texas with her. The small oak one belonged to the children. The plain walnut bookcase against the east wall holds Lawrence's law books.

One room. Three generations. A whole institution.

08/12/2026

Save the dates! Stay tuned for details and ticket links. The fall at Flower Hill is gonna be FUN!!!

08/11/2026

History doesn't live in the big moments. It lives in the doorknob, the stitch, the spine of a book nobody's opened since 1904.

Flower Hill holds more than 60,000 items. Centuries-old furniture, textiles, rare books, art, and treasures from Austin's early days. Preserving it happens exactly like this: one small thing at a time.

Do you have a favorite FHC detail?

08/04/2026

This is the wedding parlor. It's most famous ceremony joined William Sydney Porter and Athol Estes in 1887. You might know the groom by his pen name: O. Henry. Austin's own literary legend, right here in this very room.

The parlor is furnished with pieces that travelled all the way from the Smoot and Graham family homes in Kentucky and Tennessee. Every chair and table carries a little of that history with it.

In the corner, a phonograph with its grand flaring horn still waits to fill the room with music. Our favorite hidden gem: a handmade Mississippi River boat, built by Lawrence when he was just a teenager (the very saw he used is still in the kitchen).

Some rooms you walk through. This one, you fall a little in love with. Would you get married in the wedding parlor?

07/28/2026

Did you know there's a trap door that leads to a cellar?

Can you imagine how it was used all those years ago? Storing the harvest, keeping food cool through brutal Texas summers, tucking away who-knows-what in the dark and the damp...

We've got big dreams for this space. One day, we'd love to transform it into our own magical little speakeasy. Low light, good company, and a little mystery beneath our feet.

But first, the real question... Would you walk down here alone? Tell us in the comments.

07/21/2026

Before air conditioning, a hot Texas night meant heading to the sleeping porch!

Eight feather beds fill this room, where the Smoot family (and the University students who boarded with them) slept whenever the weather was right. Here are a few details about the sleeping porch that make it so special:

✦ Paintings left behind by a travelling artist who once stayed in the house
✦ Photographs of the lake that used to sit right where Pressler Street runs today
✦ Game mounted on the east wall, hunted by Richmond himself
✦ Sketches and signatures carved straight into the brick left by hands long ago
✦ A sand table that Lawrence built for his daughter, Jane.

Do you have memories of sleeping on porches on a hot summer's night? We'd love to hear about it!