Fulton Mansion

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere along the Texas Gulf Coast, in Aransas County, there stands a house that has no business being as grand as it is. And yet, there it stands.

This is the story of the Fulton Mansion. George Ware Fulton, born in 1810, and his wife Harriet Smith Fulton, born in 1823, built this place between 1874 and 1877. Three stories tall.

French Second Empire style, which is a way of saying it looks like it belongs in another world entirely, one with a characteristic mansard roof sweeping down over the whole structure like a hat pulled low against a coastal wind. They named it Oakhurst. Now, the construction itself is worth a moment of your attention.

Plank wall construction, with a shell aggregate concrete basement underneath it all. That detail alone, out here on the Texas coast, tells you something about the intention behind this house. But it's what they put inside that really sets it apart.

Modern heating. Ventilation. Plumbing systems.

Gas lighting. In a time and place when most folks were still working things out considerably more simply, Oakhurst was running on a different level altogether. The Fulton family lived in that house until 1895.

George Ware Fulton himself had passed in 1893, and Harriet Smith Fulton, who lived until 1910, outlasted the family's time at Oakhurst by many years. The mansion kept standing long after the family moved on, which is, when you think about it, exactly what a house built with that kind of care and intention tends to do.

What the marker says

Built between 1874 and 1877 by George Ware Fulton (1810-1893) and his wife, Harriet Smith Fulton (1823-1910), this imposing residence was named "Oakhurst." The three-story French Second Empire style home is of plank wall construction, with a shell aggregate concrete basement and characteristic mansard roof. The house featured modern heating, ventilation, and plumbing systems and gas lighting. The Fulton family lived here until 1895. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964