Island history on display

Visitors of all ages enjoy the museum exhibits. The Port Aransas Museum displays many historic photos, charts, maps and artifacts that tell the story of how our island community came to be.

The museum is housed in a building that is plenty historic, itself.

The story goes that the old house has been moved at least three times around Mustang Island, originating as a kit house that was purchased and shipped to Port Aransas around 1910.

The house was shipped in parts by train, then was loaded onto a barge and delivered to the Mercers, a family of boat pilots.

The house has endured storms, social upheavals, boom times and depression, and has borne witness to the history of Port Aransas from its beginning in 1910.

Among the most recent owners of the house were Duncan and Georgia Neblett. The Nebletts raised their three children in the house. Duncan continues to serve as municipal judge and justice of the peace. Georgia has served as a mayor and school board member, and she currently serves as program coordinator (executive director) for the Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve System, a component of The University of Texas at Austin’s Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.

The Nebletts sold the house to the Robert Morrison family of San Antonio.

The Morrisons then donated the house to the Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Association, and the structure was moved in 2008 from Oleander Street a few blocks to its current location – next to the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St.

The house been enhanced by $833,000 worth of renovations (including the price of the building).

Among items on display in the museum is the historic Lydia Ann Lighthouse lens.

Visitors may ring the bell that once rode atop a train engine that chugged through Port Aransas from 1908 to 1919, hauling the hundreds of granite stones that were used to build the jetty that lines the south side of the waterway long known as the Aransas Pass.

The museum also houses a gift shop that showcases items that are unique to the city.

The Port Aransas Garden Club has donated and installed $32,000 worth of landscaping surrounding the museum.

The museum is part of the preservation association’s larger aim to restore the city’s “Old Town” to its former glory, possibly with the foundation of a historical district.

The museum’s hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.