Old Waresville was the first nonmilitary colony in Uvalde County, founded in 1852 by Capt. William Ware, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. Ware built the first log cabin home, which still stands. Other early settlers included Gideon Thompson, whose wife was the first Anglo-American woman in Sabinal Canyon. The colony lost settlers in Indian raids from 1856 to 1866. Although the post office moved to Utopia in 1883, the site still includes the cemetery where Capt. Ware was buried in 1853, the first store and post office built by Charles Durbon in 1856, and the native-stone homes of Joel Fenley and John Ware from the 1870s.