Jonestown is a city in northwestern Travis County, Texas, on the north shore of Lake Travis, a large Highland Lakes reservoir on the Colorado River. It lies along Farm Road 1431 about 20 miles northwest of downtown Austin, at the northern end of the lake where the Hill Country rises above the water. The community was established in the late 1930s by brothers Emmet A. Jones and Warren Jones, and for years it functioned as a weekend getaway for fishermen, boaters, and nature lovers before incorporating in the 1980s. That lakeside origin still defines the city's character. With about 2,400 residents, Jonestown remains one of the smaller, quieter communities along Lake Travis. Jones Brothers Park, a 32-acre lakeshore park on the Sandy Creek Arm, provides the city's principal public water access with boat ramps, shoreline frontage, and picnic areas, and several other developed and undeveloped city parks dot the area. Boating, bass fishing, and swimming are central to local recreation. The city's terrain is distinctly Hill Country — sloping, wooded lots and ridgelines with scattered lake views — and its housing mixes older lakeside cottages with newer single-family homes. Portions of Jonestown, including the South Jonestown Hills area, are served by the Lago Vista Independent School District, which also covers Lago Vista and Point Venture. For everyday needs, residents use the nearby centers of Lago Vista, Cedar Park, and Leander, while Farm Road 1431 and the U.S. 183 corridor connect the community back into the Austin metro area. Jonestown offers a water-centered, unhurried setting within commuting distance of the city.