Port Bay Hunting and Fishing Club

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, not everybody who comes to the Texas coast arrives looking to build a legacy. But Andrew Sorenson wasn't everybody.

Born in Denmark in 1864, he made his way to this stretch of Aransas County and did what men with sharp eyes and steady hands tend to do out here. He built a reputation. As a hunting and fishing guide, he got to know these waters and this sky the way most folks never will.

And the word got around. By 1909, Sorenson had put down roots in a real and legal sense, buying 240 acres of land about a half mile west of where you're standing right now. Then in 1912, he did something that went beyond guiding strangers through the marsh.

He incorporated the Port Bay Hunting and Fishing Club, a private club, and the charter members who signed on were no ordinary crowd. Prominent citizens from across Texas and the United States. Now, you might wonder what drew that kind of company all the way out here.

Well, the marker will tell you plain. The adjacent waters teem with ducks and geese in season. Teem.

That's the word. And this coast has a way of making believers out of skeptics. The years kept coming, though, and the Gulf Coast doesn't make promises.

Hurricanes rolled through and did what hurricanes do to structures built by human hands. The land shrank too, from those original 240 acres all the way down to 46. Andrew Sorenson himself passed in 1941.

But here is where the story takes a turn that not every old Texas institution can claim. The club continues. Right now.

Still drawing members who come for the same reasons those charter members did, holding to the traditions of conservation and sportsmanship that Sorenson set in motion. Some legacies outlast the man. Some outlast the storm.

This one has managed both.

What the marker says

Danish native Andrew Sorenson (1864-1941), established a reputation as a hunting and fishing guide in this area in the early 20th century. He bought 240 acres of land (.5 mi. W) in 1909 and in 1912 incorporated the private Port Bay Hunting and Fishing Club. Charter members included prominent citizens from Texas and the U.S. Adjacent waters teem with ducks and geese in season. Despite hurricane damage to club structures over the years and a reduction in size to 46 acres of land, the club continues to attract members who embrace the traditions of conservation and sportsmanship. (1991)