The Charles S. Cock House Museum. The traditional departure point for the annual Tours of Distinction is this little rock house which on Fridays becomes
the Cottage Kitchen where delicious home-cooked meals have been served each week since its restoration in 1976.
Photograph by George Berry.
Serving is from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. in the
Charles S. Cock House, corner of C.M.
Allen Parkway and East Hopkins Street.
These luncheons have been held in the
Texas historic landmark since 1976 when
the house was first restored as an American
Revolution Bicentennial project and opened
to the public in its present capacity.
Luncheon teams orginally were
composed of groups of friends, housewives
primarily, who loved to cook and present
a luncheon for those who would enjoy the
ambiance of the little house with its
primitive antiques. The past few years the
Guild has received increasing help from
other civic, social, corporate, and service
organizations. When the luncheons first
started in 1976 money earned was used to
buy the antiques that now fill the house.
The most recent Heritage Association
project was erecting a permanent stone
wall surrounding the approach to the
Gazebo. Another effect of Heritage assembled
funds is the grounds around the
house. Two seasons past the shrubbery at
the fountain was replaced and years ago
The Memorial Grove, originally a noman's-land
alongside the railroad tracks,
was established carrying on from the
Bicentennial celebration.
The Heritage Association worked hand
in hand during 1990 with the Hays County
Historical Commission pledging several
thousand dollars in the failed effort to save
Carroll Hall from demolition, and in 1990
contributed $2,500 to the Commission for
equipping the Calaboose interior.
Previously $10,000 was contributed to
the Hays County Historical Commission
for the restoration of the facade of the old
First National Bank, the courthouse
annex.
The annual tour the first weekend each
May continues to tie all the action together
and the one just concluded was a banner
one. A note received from a visitor said it
all: "To the Heritage Association:
Thank you so much for a wonderful
afternoon as we took in Tours of Distinction
May 5, 1991. It was such a privilege
to tour the lovely homes of San Marcos and
in most instances step back in time to a
period of Victorian elegance and style. We
also appreciated the refreshments along
the way and expecially the convenient
mode of transportation. We look forward
to next year."
Frances Stovall is the author of Clear Springs and
Limestone Ledges: A History of San Marcos and
Hays County. She is also a founder of the Heritage
Association of San Marcos, Inc. which has sponsored
the Tours of Distinction for the past seventeen
years. Mrs. Stovall was awarded thel 990 John Ben
Shepperd Award for Historic Preservation by the
Texas Historical Commission.
HERITAGE * SUMMER 1991 21
