The Cedars

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about The Cedars, down in Aransas County. Now, some places earn their reputation quietly, generation by generation, and The Cedars is that kind of place. It starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with a doctor and a dream.

Dr. Joe and Mabel Bryant built The Cedars in 1928, and what they put together wasn't just a house. It was seven resort houses on a single property, right there near Rockport.

Seven. That's not a vacation spot, that's a small civilization. And the timing was no accident.

The 1920s and 1930s brought the rise of the automobile, and more visitors were making their way to the Rockport area than ever before. The Bryants had built something the moment was ready for. Now, the property sold to H.M.

Daggett in 1929, just one year after it went up. Then in 1930, Stanley Daggett, his son, along with Stanley's wife Flossie, took hold of the place and added two more cottages. So already the thing is growin'.

Annual gatherings of fishing and birding organizations, groups of families, they were rolling in, and The Cedars became the kind of destination people put on their calendars. Now, let's be honest about what guests were working with in those early days. Outhouses.

Iceboxes. Hot plates. A windmill.

That's the full amenity list. But bit by bit, small bathrooms got attached to each cottage, and by the late 1940s, guests were enjoying hot and cold running water, gas stoves, refrigerators, and clotheslines strung out in the coast breeze. Progress, Texas style.

Then comes 1946, and a woman named Miss Ethel Jones, who lived in San Antonio, purchased the property and hired an on-site manager to keep things running. She did that for nearly two decades, and then in 1964 she retired right there to the property herself. In 1971 she sold The Cedars to her nephew, Charles Stevens, and guests from Texas and out of state kept right on coming.

Stevens held it until 1973, when he sold the property to a group of eight families, organized by the Robertsons, who formed what they called the Rockport Cedars Association, the RCA. Each family kept a cottage, and the center space became common ground, shared by all. And the traditions?

They didn't skip a beat. These families and others continued to enjoy the coast together, and they took up what they call the annual pier review, when the pier and t-head get repaired, everybody pitching in. That's not just maintenance.

That's a community choosing, year after year, to hold something together. Tourism built The Cedars. Automobiles brought the first wave of visitors.

But what kept it standing across nearly a century wasn't any one owner or any one era. It was the next family pulling up, the next group of kids running the pier, the next generation deciding this place was worth the work.

What the marker says

Tourism has been a major part of the Rockport economy for generations, but in the 1920s and 1930s with the rise of the automobile, more visitors began to travel to the area. The Cedars, built in 1928 by Dr. Joe and Mabel Bryant, became a popular tourist destination with seven "resort houses" on the property. The property was sold to H.M. Daggett in 1929. Stanley Daggett, his son, and his wife, Flossie, gained the property in 1930 and added two cottages. Annual gatherings of fishing and birding organizations and groups of families were a common practice and brought in many visitors to the cedars. Originally there were outhouses, iceboxes, hot plates and a windmill but soon small bathrooms were attached to each cottage. By the late 1940s, the cottages offered hot and cold running water, gas stoves, refrigerators and clothes lines. In 1946 Miss Ethel Jones who lived in San Antonio purchased the property and hired an on-site manager. After retiring to the property in 1964, she sold The Cedars to her nephew, Charles Stevens, in 1971. Guests from Texas and out of state continued to visit The Cedars. In 1973, Stevens sold the property to a group of eight families, organized by the Robertsons, known as the Rockport Cedars Association (RCA). Each family retained a cottage and the center space became common ground. Traditions at The Cedars continued as these families and others enjoyed the coast and worked together for the annual "pier review," an event when the pier and t-head are repaired. This cultural landmark represents economic growth and tourism in Rockport, and continues to attract families to the beautiful texas coast.