The Old Beach Road

In early Rockport, many prominent families lived on what was called the Old Beach Road, now Water Street. Paved with white crushed shell, the road was lined with huisache, anacua, wild persimmon, prickly ash trees, dewberry vines, and stately homes. Before the 1919 hurricane, its residents included the Evans, Thrall, Peelers, Bartell, Myers, Westies, James, Kurtell, Clearman, Sedan, Sorenson, Norvell, Hanks, Perrenot, Stevens, Mason, Gruey, Herring, and Soule families. Edgar A. Stevens served as county and district judge, John C. Herring as county clerk, and Edward Soule was Rockport’s postmaster.<br><br> The Bay Side Inn, located midway down the road, had a long pier with a bathing pavilion at its end. The residents of the neighborhood were allowed to use the pavilion, along with the hotel guests. Rockport’s cemetery was also on the road in the 700 block but was later moved to its present location.<br><br> The 1919 hurricane sent a 10-foot surge over the road and destroyed many of the homes, but some survived, including the Baylor-Norvell, Hanks, and Sorenson houses. One Sorenson house was spared the storm’s fury because the broken structure of the Bailey Pavilion washed up in front of it.<br><br> Winifred Evans Lowther remembered her Rockport childhood years in her 1973 autobiography, <i>The Old Beach Road</i>.