High Hill · Fayette County
St. Mary’s at High Hill
A Gothic Revival landmark at High Hill whose richly decorated interior helped make the Schulenburg-area painted churches one of Texas’s best-known heritage drives.
researcher
Buie Harwood
Buie Harwood was a decorative-painting scholar whose field research, survey cards, photographs, slides and designation work form one of the most important archival sources for understanding Texas Painted Churches.
Why this person matters
- The UT archive preserves Harwood's Painted Churches survey cards, designation drafts and research correspondence.
- Her collection contains extensive church-specific slide documentation.
- Her research supported historic-designation work and later interpretation of Texas decorative painting.
How Texas Defined handles attribution
A name on a Painted Church page can represent very different work: architect, decorative painter, parish artist, later restorer, historian or researcher. Those roles are not interchangeable. Texas Defined keeps the role labels explicit and connects a person to a church only when the cited record supports that relationship.
Attribution also needs a time layer. A surviving interior may combine original work with later repainting, conservation or reconstruction, so identifying a person does not mean that every visible surface can be assigned to that person. The linked church profile carries the narrower chronology and preservation evidence for the building itself.
When the historical record is incomplete, this page stays within what the source can support rather than filling gaps from style alone. Follow the connected churches and related techniques to compare documented work, then use the source trail for research, citation or any claim that needs to distinguish original authorship from later intervention.
Connected churches
Ammannsville · Fayette County
St. John the Baptist at Ammannsville
A celebrated Fayette County painted church known for an unexpectedly ornate interior behind a restrained rural exterior.
Praha · Fayette County
St. Mary’s at Praha
Praha’s historic church pairs a Gothic Revival building with decorative painting that turns the nave and ceiling into one of the signature interiors on the painted-church route.
Moravia · Lavaca County
Ascension of Our Lord at Moravia
Moravia’s painted church extends the Schulenburg-area drive into Lavaca County with a richly decorated Late Gothic Revival sanctuary.
Wallis · Austin County
Guardian Angel at Wallis
A Gothic Revival church in Wallis whose decorative interior earned it a place in Texas’s formal National Register painted-interior group.
Wesley · Austin County
Wesley Brethren Church
A Czech Protestant church near Wesley that shows the painted-church tradition was not limited to Catholic congregations.
Sweet Home · Lavaca County
Queen of Peace at Sweet Home
A Lavaca County church included in the National Register’s decorative-interior group and part of the broader Czech and German church-building landscape of South Central Texas.
Shiner · Lavaca County
Saints Cyril and Methodius at Shiner
Shiner’s Romanesque church combines stained glass and a richly painted interior in one of Lavaca County’s most substantial historic sanctuaries.
Serbin · Lee County
St. Paul at Serbin
A Wendish Lutheran landmark with a distinctive painted interior, balcony-level pulpit and deep ties to the 1854 Serbin settlement.
Palestine · Anderson County
Sacred Heart at Palestine
A historic Palestine church with a documented religious mural, stained glass and decorative sanctuary, supported by primary-source photographs in the Portal to Texas History and decorative-painting research archives.
San Antonio · Bexar County
St. Joseph Downtown San Antonio
A German Catholic Gothic church in downtown San Antonio with historic frescoes and painted religious scenes documented by archival photographs, parish history and the Buie Harwood decorative-painting archive.
Source trail
UT Architectural Archives — Buie Harwood and Anna Brightman collectionTexas Defined distinguishes original authorship, architecture, later restoration and research roles. A name is connected to a church only when a source supports the relationship.