Windswept Shores: Stories of Aransas County Presented by Janie White
May 17th, 2025 | 3 PM - 4:15 PM
204 S Austin Street in Rockport, Texas.
FREE for Members, $50 for Nonmembers.
Lecture Description:
In 2014, the Aransas County Historical Society voted to produce a book of histories of the citizens of Aransas County and invited submissions from the community. The committee we formed in 2014 did an excellent job of proofreading. Then came the task of editing the stories to be around 500 words. We were well into that process by August 2017.
When Hurricane Harvey arrived in Aransas County on the evening of August 25, 2017, progress on the book stopped. Aransas County had Harvey’s mess to deal with. People’s lives changed. Some had to rebuild their homes, and some left because their homes were destroyed. It was hard to cope with the disaster that befell our little county. The Covid-19 pandemic followed soon after. The Aransas County community had bravely confronted hard times before and did so again. The book was put on the back shelf as those calamities were resolved. Now, the project has come back to life. The book includes 122 stories of Aransas County residents, many of which are accompanied by a photograph. The stories span a period from the Texas Revolution to 2014. It was released earlier this year.
This talk will highlight some of those stories. Photographs from the book and others from the Aransas County Historical Society’s Photo Collection will show what life was like in Aransas County. Photos from the hard times and happy times will give the listener a background of Aransas County history to enhance the stories in Windswept Shores.
*Note: In 1997, the book Aransas: The Life of a Texas Coastal County (authored by Sue Hastings Taylor and William Allen) was sponsored by the Aransas county Historical Society and others, including the Rockport Art Association. The Aransas County Historical Society received some of the proceeds from that book. Those funds were put into a savings account for publication of a future book. “Windswept Shores” was published with some of those funds.
In my talk I will be using photos from the book plus some not in the book to help attendees enjoy stories of individuals and leave with an understanding of Aransas County as a community.
Kanes Cafe 1942
The cafe was located on Austin Street in Downtown Rockport
Memorial Story on page 37: Art and Alma Kane
file: 37-Kane-art.png
About the Lecturer:
Janie Collier White has been an active Aransas County Historical Society Board of Trustees member since 2005. She was President of the Society from 2006 until 2010. When the Society produced the calendar of historic photographs in 2007, she designed the calendar, restored, and prepared the photographs. She created each calendar until 2022. In 2022, she passed the job of creating the calendars to Tom Watkins.
Before Hurricane Harvey, the Aransas County Historical Society began creating a book to relate the stories of the citizens of Aransas County and invited submissions from the community. Hurricane Harvey’s arrival and other life events delayed the completion of that book. When the Historical Society decided to complete that book, many who had initially worked on the project were no longer available to help complete it. The stories were far too interesting and important to leave on the shelf. Janie White took on the task of completing the book that had been started in 2014. That book, Windswept Shores, was released earlier this year.
Janie is a descendant of the Sorenson and the Herring families. Both families arrived in what was then Refugio County in the mid-1860s. Her Grandfather, John C. Sorenson, was the proprietor of John C. Sorenson and Sons grocery store until he died in 1952. It was in the Historic Sorenson Building on Austin Street. John’s father, Simon B. Sorenson, started the business in 1889. The building was sold to Estelle Stair after Hurricane Celia. It was later known as the Estelle Stair Gallery and was owned by Lisa Baer Frederick and John Paul Frederick. It is now known as Coastal Mercantile. Janie lives in the home her grandparents, John Curry Sorenson and Lola Lee Herring Sorenson, built on South Water Street in 1910.
McHugh Filling Station Circa 1935
The It was located at N. Business 35 and Broadway
Memorial Story on page 155: Preston “Skeet" McHugh
file: 154-McHugh-Skeet.png
Auto Repairs in Rockport, Texas Circa 1935
Auto repair shop in downtown Rockport
Memorial Story on page 236: Townsend-Webb Family
file: 237-Townsend-Webb-1.png
Saturday, May 17th, 2025 I 3PM-4:15PM
FREE for Members | $50 for Non-Members