Smith-Brundrett House

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and here's how I'll tell it to you. There's a house sitting among giant oak trees in Old Rockport, Aransas County, and those trees have seen just about everything this part of Texas has to offer. The Smith-Brundrett House went up in 1903, built in the Cottage and Craftsman style, an early frame Bungalow of the kind that feels like it was planted in the ground just as deliberately as those oaks surrounding it.

It has outlasted a good deal of history, and it has watched more than a few remarkable people come and go through its front door. Well. Come and stay, mostly.

That's the real story here. People came and stayed. In 1920, a man named W.H.

Smith bought the place. Smith was the grandson of early Refugio pioneers, which is to say Texas roots ran deep in his bloodline. He moved in with his second wife, their four children, and his sister, which means that house, comfortable as it looks, was doing some serious work.

Then in 1934, John Frederick Brundrett and his wife Elizabeth purchased the home. Fred, as he was known, was a rancher, and not in any small-time way. The Brundretts ranched on eight thousand acres on Matagorda Island, and later on Port Bay.

Eight thousand acres. They were also devout members of the First Presbyterian Church, pillars of faith in the community alongside everything else they built and tended. Now here is where you want to slow down and really let this settle in.

The Brundretts stayed in that house for fifty-three years. Fifty-three years in one home. Fred Brundrett did not leave until his death in 1987, at the age of ninety-nine.

The oak trees were already old when that house was built. Fred Brundrett nearly matched them. The marker calls this home a symbol of the generations of influence on local history, and standing out there under those oaks, it is hard to argue with that.

Some houses are just houses. This one kept score.

What the marker says

Built in 1903 in Old Rockport, this Cottage and Craftsman Style House is an early frame Bungalow surrounded by giant oak trees. In 1920, W.H. smith, grandson of early Refugio pioneers, bought this house where he lived with his second wife, their four children and his sister. In 1934, John Frederick Brundrett and his wife, Elizabeth, purchased the house. Fred was a rancher and the family ranched on 8,000 acres on Matagorda Island and later on Port Bay. The Brundretts were devout members of the First Presbyterian Church. The Brundretts remained in this house for 53 years, until Fred's death in 1987 at age 99. This home is a symbol of the generations of influence on local history.