Historic Sights in Aransas County

After our morning coffee together, we were off to the History Center of Aransas County which focuses on the men and women who founded, settled, and developed the area starting with James Power who received a land grant from the Mexican government in 1825.

We thought we were off to a bad start for the day when the sign at the center said they were open Saturday and Sunday rather than Friday / Saturday and today was Friday. The website has been updated to the new hours now. One of the group knocked on the door since there was a car there and the woman working on a program for the next day graciously invited us in anyway so we had the place to ourselves.

The History Center is housed in the Bruhl-Paul-Johnson home....a Queen Anne Victorian cottage. .

A.H. Bruel, an early 1900s pharmacist and mayor of Rockport and Chester Johnson were among the most notable owners. Johnson offered a penny for the house to save it from demolition and it became known as the Penny House. It is interesting in it's own right

There are many displays inside the house.

Some early clothing items on display.

Information about the house has appeared in many different venues.

There are displays about other interesting homes in
/ the area and there was actually going to be a presentation on the historic buildings the next day/.

There are other interesting garden displays outside.

Many plants were on display for both us and the butterflies......

.........because this is a butterfly garden.

We finished a little early so decided to play with our schedule and head over to see the Big Blue Crab. This colorful crab is a symbol of tourism for Rockport. It started it's life as an advertisement on top of the Del Mar Grill in 1957. It finally deteriorated in 1976 after two hurricanes. But everyone missed the crab and a campaign was started to raise money to resurrect the crustacean. Originally built as a male crab, the first crab was repainted with female colors. When the new crab was designed, it was built with a combination of male and female colors. It was built with aluminum rods, tubing, resin, screens, and fiberglass. David Allgood, a native Rockport artist, was selected to build the new crab.

Also located on the peninsula are the Spirit Columns. Dedicated in 1998, the Spirit Columns was the first piece of public art in Rockport. National Medal of Arts recipient and Rockford native, Jesus Moroles donated his labor to create the piece.

Both of these unique symbols of Rockport are located before the entrance to the Rockport Beach.

Next, we were off to enjoy lunch at Charlotte Plummer's.

I drove today and it isn't always easy to park the big boy. My first spot left me hanging way out into the road but I managed to find parallel parking close by that fit.

Ratings are kind of mixed on this restaurant but a couple members of our group mentioned having to eat there as we were planning the GTG. The advice was get there early so you don't have to wait so long.

Happy to report that the service was good because we beat the crowd.

Birdie was already here once earlier this week with her brother and sister-in-law but she was eager to come back and enjoyed this meal as much as the earlier one.

I think everyone really enjoyed Charlotte Plummer's!   This was a great morning and we still have half the day left!