The Travelling Toe: August 2016

Monday, August 8, 2016

Waggoner Mansion Decatur, TX

WAGGONER MANSION
picture from pinterest

While visiting the town of Decatur, several of the local folks told us about the Waggoner Mansion. It sits on a small hill at the end of Main Street. The house is privately owned and is not open to the public. Which is sort of a shame as this would be a big tourist draw, especially if it was part of the candlelight tour at the holidays.

Dan Waggoner, a cattle baron, build the house in 1883. It sits on over 13 acres of land. It is make of fossiliferous limestone and has an ornate cupola on the roof line. In it's time it was known as "El Castile".

Wise County Historical Society

According to the Wise County Historical Society website, the house has a large basement, 16 rooms, 6 1/2 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms downstairs. Apparently about 90% of it's original craftsman details and materials has been retained. The article indicates that the interior is in good condition. However, we saw that the exterior sports many windows boarded over with plywood. There are numerous "No Trespassing" signs all around the property so The Travelling Toe could only capture a few images of this mysterious mansion. It is sheltered by large bushes and trees.

Two photos below by The Travelling Toe.

In the photo to the right, the wood covered windows can be seen. However, above the plywood, it appeared that the original leaded glass windows were intact.

El Castile is a fine example of a Texas Victorian home.

One interesting factoid about this house is that it served as the template for Reata in the movie "Giant" staring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Compare the picture at the top of the page, to this one of Reata. It seems to reflect an interesting resemblement between the two houses.

REATA
from "Giant"

Stick with The Travelling Toe and you will learn all sorts of trivia tidbits!

Wise County Courthouse Decatur, TX

WISE COUNTY COURTHOUSE
DECATUR, TX

The current Wise County Courthouse was built in 1896 in the Richardson Romanesque style . The architect was J. Riely Gordon who was also the architect for the Ellis County Courthouse. The Travelling Toe has a previous post on it.

The edifice is made of pink granite. It was cut on site at the quarry in Burnet County, Texas. Each block was numbered and shipped to the site. Vermont white marble was used on the interior. The tower clock was purchased in 1896 from the E.Howard & Company, clock company.

To learn more about the E.Howard & Company clock company click on the following link:

E.Howard & Company

The picture above shows one the several turrets on the courthouse.

metal fire escapes on the side of
the courthouse

There are various memorials and plaques on the grounds of the courthouse.

Decatur was part of the Chisholm Trail and several markers on the courthouse grounds are on display to celebrate this piece of Texas history.

Chisholm Trail
marker

In the photo to the right to honor the Chisholm Trail, is a closer look at the beautiful pink granite as well the detailed engraving of the stone. Very impressive

Inside the courthouse, we found this fabulous and detailed wood door frame for the District Clerk's office. The Texas Lone Star is carved on each side of the frame.

District Clerk's office

The Wise County Courthouse is on the National Registery of Historic Places and also designated a Texas Historic Landmark.

Photo above taken by The Travelling Toe from across the square. Actually in front of Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes!

Day Trip to Decatur, TX

Wise County Courthouse

Recently The Travelling Toe and the Day Trip Divas drove about an hour northwest of Fort Worth, to visit the neighboring town of Decatur, which is the county seat for Wise County.

Wise County was named after Virginian, Henry A Wise, around 1856. The city of Decatur was named in honor of a Revolutionary War naval hero, Stephen Decatur, Jr. (it doesn't appear he ever came to Texas and is buried in Philadelphia)

Stephen Decatur, Jr

The Wise County Courthouse sits on a lovely square in downtown Decatur. It will be featured in a separate post.

Surely you have heard the expression "Eighter From Decatur". In 1949, It was even a title of a popular C&W song by Bob Wills. It seems that the true meaning of that phase has to do with a local cowpoke named Will Cooper. When he rolled the dice for his sweetheart Ada, he would call out, "Ada From Decatur, County Seat of Wise". Others eventually took up the expression and it was somehow changed to "Eighter From Decatur" meaning a hard eight dice roll. Now we all know!

Wise County Heritage
Museum

Decatur Baptist College sign

Wise County Heritage
Museum sign

Designation of the building as a
Texas Historical Landmark and
the National Registry of Historic Places

After visiting the Wise Courthouse, we drove a short distance to tour the Wise County Heritage Museum. It sits on a hill and it a beautiful old building. It was formerly the home of Decatur Baptist College. There were lots of interesting exhibits of early life on the Texas prairie. One of the fun things we saw was this old switchboard. OK, we could not help ourselves, we had to laugh thinking about the old "Laugh-In" show with Ernestine and her "one ringy dingy".

old switchboards

wagon wheel made from
different types of barbed wire

restored log cabin
on the grounds

After we finished at the museum, we decided it was time for a

little retail therapy at the cute antique shops on the square. By then we were ready to have some grub. We decided to eat at "Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes". Ok, we really did not not have any ribeyes, we all had chicken salad sandwiches with fries, which were mighty good. There were several tables filled with men ordering a humongous ribeye pot pie. The 3 of us could not have finished one of those even if we had shared it. Their popovers were yummy too. Since we had walked a spell, we decided that dessert was required and we each ordered an apricot fried pie. It was served pipping hot and was so delicious. The only thing that could have made it better was a big ole scoop of vanilla ice cream....oh well, one can dream!

After dessert, we decided we better mosey on home and took off. We did make one quick stop to get some photos of the Waggoner Mansion that sits at the end of Main Street. The mansion was built by Dan Waggoner, a well know cattle man. A separate post will describe this once beautiful but now rather derelict family mansion.

Waggoner Mansion

One more stop on our way to hitting highway 287 was the Petrified Wood Gas Sation. It was built in 1927 by EF Boydston and in 1935, he covered it's exterior with chucks of petrified wood. The cafe next door was also covered as well as the motor court that sits behind the gas station. A grandson of Mr. Boydston restored the buildings to it's former glory.The cafe is still a thriving business based on all the pick-up trucks parked there at lunch time. And it looked as if some folks were staying in the motor courts as well.

Petrified Wood Gas Station

Texas Historical Landmark

Petrified Wood Motor Courts

Well, that was the end of our exciting trip to Decatur, Texas. As Dale and Roy once said, "Happy Trails to you till we meet again".

largest cities of Wise County

Friday, August 5, 2016

Westmont Garden Club July Meeting

The Westmont Garden Club met on Saturday, July 30, 2016 at the home of the Program Director. Master Gardener, Sher Dunaway, presented the program on “Biblical Herbs and Spices”. She was aided by her trusty technical assistant, Bill Dunaway.

Sher began the program by mentioning that over 500 herbs and spices are referenced in the Bible. Herbs and Spices as we know them today are exotic and have pleasant aromas and flavors.

They were placed on Earth by God for man. Herbs and spices are used in holy observances and feasts.

Genesis 1:11

Spices and herbs were expensive and highly prized in antiquity. They were imported from India, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt and were transported by camel caravans. The caravans traveled the Incense Road and could take as long as 6 months to arrive at their destination.

camel caravan

Herbs are known as “herba” in Latin which means grass or green stalks. Some are annuals and some are perennials. They were used for medicines, food flavorings, cosmetics, dyes, disinfectants and perfumes.

Psalm 3:2 Matthew 6:30

Spices are aromatic, pungent and are used in food, for anointing, for incense, and as perfume and ointment for the dead

Song of Solomon 4:14

Herbs and spices are considered essential and volatile oils. Bitter herbs are mentioned 3 times in the Bible.

Exodus 12:8 Numbers 9:11 Lamentations 3:15

Cinnamon is mentioned in the Bible, Exodus 30:23, where it is combined with myrrh, cassia, and olive oil to prepare the holy anointing oil.

Coriander is a medicinal and aromatic herb used of over 3,000 years. Combined with cumin and vinegar, it is rubbed on meat as a preservative.

Cumin is native to North Africa and Southwest Asia and was found in King Tut’s tomb.

Isaiah 28:25 Isaiah 28:27 Matthew 23:23

Garlic, a member of the lily family, is mentioned one time in the bible, Numbers 11:5. Egypt has references to the use of garlic 5,000 years ago.

Mustard Seed is in one of Jesus’ most famous parables, Matthew 13:31-32

Rue is mentioned in Luke 11:42 and was used as a medicine, condiment and insect repellant. Mint is also mentioned in the same verse and it is considered an aid to digestion and is aromatic.

Rosemary means “dew of the sea” in Latin. It is a fragrant evergreen that became a symbol of remembrance.

Sweet Myrtle is mentioned in Nehemiah 8:15 as a source to use with other materials while building temporary shelters.

Hyssop is part of the mint family and extracts of it are used in colognes and liqueurs. It is also used for ritual cleaning and for caring of Lepers. Hyssop is noted in Psalm 51:7.

Saffron is the most expensive spice as it takes 4,000 stigmas to make 1 oz of saffron. It is found in Song of Solomon 4:14

Sher ended the presentation with this quote:

It is with the garden that the Bible begins

HERBS AND SPICES DISCUSSED IN THE PRESENTATION

CAN YOU NAME THEM?