Baylor-Norvell House

The Society of Architectural Historians' Buildings of Texas lists this house simply as the Baylor House, dated about 1868, the town's first years. Its entry finds a white wood cottage that has kept its character through later changes. Look for the side-gabled roof and the pedimented front porch, which shelters a doorway framed by a transom and sidelights. The plain cottage still faces Aransas Bay, and the contrast is the point of a visit now: tall condominiums stand right beside it.

What the plaque says

Baylor-Norvell House Located on the waterfront in a community that has survived many hurricanes, this house was built about 1868 by Dr. John W. Baylor. In addition to his medical practice Dr. Baylor owned a local meat packing business, ranched, and worked to bring a railroad to the county. Schoolteachers Elisha (1857-1933) and Irene (1865-1944) Norvell moved to Rockport from Goliad in 1888 and rented the house before buying it in 1890. Elisha also worked as an agent for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad and was a realtor. Irene, a musician, sold the house in 1935. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fulton Mansion State Historic Site — 2.9 mi
  A French Second Empire house of 1874-77 on Aransas Bay, paid for with hides and tallow, with gas lights, central heat and hot running water no other house nearby had.
• Goose Island State Park — 8.9 mi
  A bayside park between St. Charles and Aransas bays, home of the Big Tree, the state champion coastal live oak, thought to be more than a thousand years old.
• Port Aransas — 12 mi
  The fishing town at the north end of Mustang Island, reached by a free state ferry that crosses the ship channel day and night, with a university marine lab begun in a one-room shack.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 25 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.

More markers nearby

• Site of Aransas Hotel — 0.2 mi
• First Methodist Church of Rockport — 0.2 mi
• Rockport Pilot, The — 0.3 mi
• San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad in Rockport, The — 0.3 mi