Jacob’s Well is a unique artesian spring that provides millions of gallons of fresh water to Cypress Creek that runs through the center of the historic square in Wimberley Texas, the City of Woodcreek, and the famous Blue Hole swimming area. The Well is the second-longest underwater cave in Texas and a one-of-a-kind geologic wonder.
When David Baker and his family moved to Jacob’s Well in the late 1980’s the spring and the land surrounding it was divided into over a hundred privately owned parcels. At that time, there were over 3600 platted lots above the Well in Woodcreek North. In the late 1990s, development proposals were brought forward to build a mobile home park and condos on top of the Well and revive a long-forgotten plan for a second golf course development using water from the aquifer to water the course.
David saw the threat to Jacob’s Well and regional water resources and joined together with local landowners in December 1996 to form the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, a 501c3 non-profit, to protect Jacob’s Well, Cypress Creek and address the critical water issues of the region. Over the years, the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association has expanded beyond Wimberley Valley, into many parts of Central Texas. For that reason, the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association changed its name to The Watershed Association.
The Watershed Association works to create a greater understanding of the many benefits that flow from a respectful relationship with the land: human health, ecological health, economic sustainability, enriched community life, and the renewal of the human spirit. By bringing awareness to the relationship between the natural environment and people, we seek to create partnerships and enlarge the impact of conservation, carrying it beyond the measure of acres and dollars to the measure of social and individual well-being.