Rockport Cultural Arts District – Rockport Food and Spirits Culture Book Release

A book-signing by the authors, artists and chefs is being scheduled
for October 10 from 1-3 p.m. in the Education Room at the Texas Maritime
Museum. The full-color 161-page signed books will be sold for $60, with all
proceeds benefiting the District’s programs and projects. Tickets for the
Culinary Arts Show on October 24-25 are available at
https://texasculinaryarts.com/.

About this heritage publication:

Ever wonder which Rockport cafe had the original Big Blue Crab on
its roof? Or what 1915 food-related event prompted the iconic photograph
of hundreds of people in front of the Rockport Railroad Depot? How about:
what was Rockport’s role in the green sea turtle industry at the turn-of-the-
century? Or which Guy Clark songs center on food? A new art, history
and culinary book answer these questions and more. “Rockport Food and
Spirits Culture” by Kay Betz and Vickie Merchant, sponsored by the
Rockport Cultural Arts District (RCAD) as a heritage project, has just been
published.
Jennifer Day, Executive Director for RCAD, noted “The book is a
landmark publication that documents Rockport’s culinary and artistic
legacy. It is a scrapbook of evocative postcards and other never-seen
images of Rockport’s most treasured and iconic spaces, from the wine-
making vineyards of Frandolig Island to the Toast of the Coast fish logo
holding a cocktail. But it is also a delightful cookbook with recipes from
some of our most talented chefs and mixologists and favorite cafes and
restaurants. The timing is perfect as RCAD is also sponsoring an inaugural
Texas Culinary Arts Show October 24-25, which will add even more
prestige to Rockport’s reputation as an innovator in food and spirits.”
The book includes work by artists from every era of the local art
colony — from founder Simon Michael’s depiction of men repairing nets in
the harbor to fourteen of the Rockport Center for the Arts’ Master Artists,
beginning with the first Poster Artist, Harold Phenix, to Sporting Artist Herb
Booth, Steve Russell, Evelyn Atkinson, Hal McCaskill, Kay Barnebey, Carol
Koutnik, Thom Evans, and more recent ones, including Susie Bracht Black,

Joey Blazek, Lisa Baer Frederick, Robin Hazard, and Barb Robinson. Co-
author Merchant commented, “Who knew artwork of lettuce, beans, cakes,
pies, and doughnuts could be as spectacular as Rockport’s wildlife and
landscapes! The book is also a journey through the development of the
Texas Gulf Coast Aesthetic that helped Rockport be recognized as one of
the top ten coastal art colonies in the U.S.”
Other notable artists contributing to the book include Dinah Bowman,
Mary Downing, Jackson Ehrlich, Shirley Farley, Larry Felder, Audrianna
Gonzalez, Pam Heard, Dick Haseley, Robin Renee Hix, Frances Iles, Stan
Irwin, Elsa Mathews, Maria Nesbit, Patti Schermerhorn, Buck Schiwetz,
John and Jamie Speck, Ellie Specht and Greta Watkins.
Food and drink-related memorabilia are included from Rockport’s
early railroad days in the late 1880s, when the San Antonio & Aransas
Pass Railroad’s (SAAP) Immigration and Development Company was
promoting settlement, agriculture, fishing, hunting, tourism, and a deep-
water port at the Aransas Pass. The authors also solved a mystery that
has puzzled the local and state history community for years. A widely
viewed photo of a crowd of hundreds gathered at the SAAP Depot, some
holding placards, had been difficult to date or determine the occasion. The
Texas Transportation Museum surmised the photo was from 1915, based
on the models of cars and style of dress. The Smithsonian has an undated
copy, cataloged simply as “Texas,” and noted it was distributed by the Bain
News Service of New York, the first national organization of its type.
Another source attributed the photograph to W. D. Dye, from a Rockport
photography family. Bain often used local photographers for stories with
national interest. Another version of the photo had a handwritten note
written across it: “This is the crowd that came to meet me in Rockport,
Texas,’ but it was not known who had written it.
The authors found another photographic postcard by Dye labeled
“Governor Ferguson, Family and Friends Bathing at Rockport, Tex.”
Governor James “Pa” Ferguson was the 26th governor of Texas, just
beginning his first term in 1915. Further research led to newspaper articles

stating that the “Rockport Improvement Society” had invited neighboring
communities to ride the SAAP to Rockport on August 12 to join them for “a
large barbecue, given in honor of Jas. E. Ferguson, who is our guest and
will be for several days to come.” Other newspaper accounts reported that
the crowd later moved from the Depot in downtown Rockport to where, “on
a platform of raw lumber in a grove of live oaks in the outskirts of Rockport,
Governor Ferguson addressed about 2000 people.” Another article stated,
“Governor Ferguson, here with his family on a two weeks’ vacation, made a
speech at a picnic given in his honor today, which is considered by many
the opening gun in the coming campaign.” The picnic site was most likely
the Oak Shore Club in Fulton, where Ferguson was a member and most
likely staying.
While Ferguson was vacationing in Rockport, there was an escalation
in raids made by Mexican nationals on ranches, isolated settlements,
railroad and telegraph lines, and bridges in South Texas. The New York
Times reported on August 11 that Ferguson had wired an urgent telegram
from Rockport to President Woodrow Wilson asking for the deployment of
federal forces. The telegraph was most likely sent from the SAAP Depot,
where D. G. Lattimer was the Railroad Agent. Other Texas politician,
including Congressman John Nance Garner, met with Ferguson August 13
and decided to increase the number of Texas Rangers along the border.
Betz noted, “On the one hand, the Depot photo shows the hospitality and
community spirit of Rockport, but it is also interesting to note that for
several days in August 1915 Rockport was effectively the center of Texas
state decision-making in an international conflict. There was also a
devastating hurricane in Galveston in August 1915. So, Ferguson was
dealing with several important issues while in Rockport.”
The book contains 68 recipes from restaurants like Pik-Nik and
Copano’s, as well as cookbook authors Susie Black, Kayla Butts of Four-
String Farms, Monica Burdette, former Commissioner for 9 ½ years on the
Texas Historical Commission Board, Karey Swartwout of the former GLOW
restaurant, the late Terry Thompson-Anderson, and private chefs and
caterers Vicki Comisso, Lars Flores and Tony Legner. Treasured recipes

from Angel Rose Bed and Breakfast, Apple Dumpling Deli, the Duck Inn,
Greek Bros. and Greek’s 205, Gidget + Grace Bakery, Key Allegro’s
Islander Club, and the Vietnamese community are also included. Drink
concoctions from Big Tree Oyster Company, Anne Bergstrom Hunt and the
1868 R. H. Wood House, Reel’em Inn, Winery on the Bay and other
mixologists round out the selections.
A book-signing by the authors, artists and chefs is being scheduled
for October 10 from 1-3 p.m. in the Education Room at the Texas Maritime
Museum. The full-color 161-page signed books will be sold for $60, with all
proceeds benefiting the District’s programs and projects. Tickets for the
Culinary Arts Show on October 24-25 are available at
https://texasculinaryarts.com/.
Betz and Merchant have written several other books about Rockport
history, including “The Story of the Rockport-Fulton Art Colony – How A
Texas Coastal Town Became An Art Enclave,” published by Texas A&M
University Press; “Foodways: The Culinary History of Aransas County;”
and “The ABCs of the Rockport-Fulton Art Colony.”