Duck House to Manor House: A Road Trip Adventure

Last Friday I traveled with a friend (lady in the red shirt) 120 miles (almost to Dallas!) to pick up a floating duck house.  It seems the ducks on her pond are falling victim to a mother fox and her two kits.  Roast duck, what with our Texas temps these days, must be pretty tasty.  She has been contemplating one of these duck houses for a couple years and finally took the plunge (no pun intended).  We trailered it home safely and I promise to try to get a picture of the Quack Hilton once it hits the water.  And what makes it float you say?  That platform under the house holds about six inches of heavy-duty Styrofoam and the whole structure will support approximately 100 pounds.

On the way home we did a little sightseeing, avoiding the interstate highway and opting instead for some small towns.  This is Wills Point, Texas, which has been proclaimed the bluebird capital of our grand state.  We didn't see any bluebirds.

I liked the contrast of the Rose Dry Goods Co. next to Edward Jones.  Wills Point is one of those small towns that still has red brick streets.

On down the road a piece, we came to Edgewood, a town of about 1500 nice people and the home of Graham's Market, one of the best produce stands I've ever been to.  Not only did they have fresh veggies and fruits, but a whole wall of jams and jellies, chow-chows, salad dressings, pickles and relishes, plus roasted peanuts, ice cream, pork rinds and all those other goodies we Texans are so fond of.

And of course a produce stand in Texas is incomplete without a watermelon truck!

In Gladewater, which is the Antique Capital of Texas, so some say, we stopped by Walker Manor, a stately neoclassical bed and breakfast just across the tracks on the main drag of this town of 6,228 people.  Gladewater is actually one of the few small towns in Texas whose population has grown in the last two censuses.  Built by Dr. E.L. Walker in approximately 1909, the three-story house (the third floor space served as an attic with access to a rooftop widow's walk) originally included ten fireplaces, a two-floor elevator, fifteen rooms, five bay windows, and two concrete basements initially intended for use as an infirmary.  The elevator was eventually removed and donated to a World War II scrap metal drive.  I just love all these little tidbits, don't you?  The house remained in the Walker family until 1969, and the new owners have ensured this treasure remains a landmark as a link to early Gladewater.