In this episode, we are picking where we left off in the story of the Irish empresario James Power and his odyssey here on the Texas Coast. We’ll cover the founding of the town of Refugio and Power’s role in the Texas Revolution.

Correction- Joe mispoke on the year the Refugio mission was founded by the Spanish. It was founded in 1795 and not 1895.

In today’s episode, we’re airing part three of the oral history that Joe conducted with Ruth Davis who was a park ranger at the Fulton Mansion back in it’s early days under the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Joe and Ruth’s conversation will give you a picture of not just the Fulton Mansion but Rockport in the 1980s.

James Power, an Irish empresario who brought Mexican, American, and Irish colonists to his Texas coast colony between the Guadalupe and Nueces rivers, is an oft-overlooked figure who played a huge role in the history of the Coastal Bend. In this episode, we explore why Power came to Texas from Wexford, Ireland and the dream he had of starting a colony in Coahuila y Tejas back in the 1820s...

In this episode, we continue with part two of the oral history that educator Joe Fox conducted with a longtime contributor to the Fulton Mansion, Ruth Davis. Ruth and Joe talked about when the Mansion opened to the public back in 1983 under the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Although today the Fulton Mansion is a historic site under the Texas Historical Commission, we are still in debt to the early curators, docents, and volunteers who helped grow the institution in its early days.

We’ve been building up to this milestone in our community for a while with our Live Oak Legacy exhibit but also in assisting with the celebrations     happening all across our community this month. In today’s episode, we wanted to offer a brief retrospective on the history of Aransas County and     how it’s changed with the different groups of people who’ve called this slice of Texas Coast home. By looking back at the story leading up to when Aransas County was formed in 1871, we can gain an appreciation for how much our community has grown in these past 150 years...

Back in January of this year, Ruth Davis was kind enough to sit down with educator Joseph Fox for an oral history at the Fulton Mansion's visitor center. Ruth was a park ranger back in the early 1980s when the Fulton Mansion just opened to the public as a state historic site under the jurisdiction of Texas Parks and Wildlife. Divided into several parts, todays episode covers Ruth's upbringing, how she came to the Texas Coastal Bend, Rockport, and then the Fulton Mansion. 

On visiting Aransas County you may have asked yourself, what is an Aransas? On today's episode, On today's episode of Parlor Talks, the Fulton Mansion newest educator, Ashley Thornton, joins in to discuss where the term originated from and how it came here to the Texas coast. The story takes us from the earliest Spanish explorers of Texas to the Fulton's time building an early town on the Live Oak Peninsula, Aransas City.

Cinco de Mayo is typically seen as a holiday for parties, food, and beer. However, it's roots lie in Mexico's War for Independence against the French and the hero of the story, Ignacio Zaragoza, has surprising roots here on the Texas Coast. Tune in to hear heroic Zaragoza's story which began in the town of Goliad...

In this episode, we shift our focus to Harriet's childhood and teenage years growing up in Missouri and Texas and living through the Texas Revolution. How did the Smiths end up in Brazoria? What did Harriet and her family experience during the Texas Revolution? How did George and Harriet meet? Tune in to learn more!

Picking up where we left off last time, this episode recounts George's journey through the early Republic of Texas. After his army service in 1837, George became a surveyor for the General Land Office. In his diary, he recounts his travels between San Antonio and Houston amongst legendary Texas figures like Crockett, Smith, and Seguin.