Beeville
In 1835, Irish settlers founded what is now known as Beeville
in Bee County. Located in the heart of the Coastal Bend, Beeville is the
gateway to the South Texas Brasada, Spanish for Brush County. Bee County
appeals to a variety of visitors with cultural, natural, historical and
recreational attractions.
Tops for Art
Culturally speaking, Texas Monthly, in its September 2004 issue, named
Beeville one of the four best small towns in Texas for art. The Beeville Art
Museum is one of the reasons. The museum, housed in the historic Ester
Barnhart House and funded by the Joe Barnhart Foundation, has exhibited some
of Texas' finest contemporary artists as well as collections housed at
Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and the San Antonio Museum of Art. Coastal
Bend College's Simon Michael Art Gallery hosts rotating exhibits on a
regular basis, including the work of many local artists. Coastal Bend
College also houses one of the only two public, fully functioning
glass-blowing facilities in Texas. Tours are welcome and classes are offered
weekly in the early summer months.
Other cultural attractions include the state-of-the-art Joe Barnhart Bee
County Library, technologically, one of the first of its kind in the United
States. The Beeville Concert association's annual concert season is full of
visiting performer from Lluvia de Estrellas and The Gateway Brass (US Air
Force Band of the West) to the San Antonio Symphony.
Buzzing with Blooms
Springtime brings colorful displays of wildflowers to rural Bee County. In
1999 Southern Living magazine said "Bee County was buzzin' last year when,
thanks to generous winter rains, wildflowers were at their absolute best. It
was a time of incredible bounty and unending beauty. The variety and depth
of the colors is remarkable."
Wildlife is plentiful in the area, making Bee County a hunter's, birder's,
or photographer's paradise. With an abundance of deer, dove, quail, and wild
hogs, every sportsman will find his or her proper challenge. The area is
colorfully alive with many species of birds such as native Texans Green Jays
or Painted Buntings. Many of the local ranches offer photographers the
opportunity to "Catch their prey" in natural habitat.
For the history buff, Bee County offers plenty of historic sites to see and
study. The Berclair Mansion and the McClanahan House are two examples, along
with the Calaboose Museum in Skidmore and the Mercantile Store in Mineral.
In 2006, Beeville was honored to be named a Texas Main Street City and the
community has begun the process of revitalizing the historic downtown
district of the city. In that process, an abundance of shopping
opportunities are being developed. Come stroll down the wide, quiet avenue
into quaint gift shops and tea rooms.
For the more athletic visitor, the Beeville Country Club's golf course was
named by the Dallas Morning News as one of the best 9-hole golf courses in
Texas. The newly built livestock arena at the Bee County Exposition Center
is one of the few covered outdoor facilities of its kind in South Texas.
Bee County has a tradition of celebrations. The Junior Livestock show and
Sale takes place every January. Each September the community commemorates
its rich Hispanic heritage with the Diez Y Seiz Festival in downtown
Beeville and October brings the Western Week Celebration, a long time
community tradition, with the annual Bee county Chamber of commerce Parade
that dates from the 1940's.
Call the Beeville Chamber of Commerce at 361-358-3267 or visit us at
www.beecountychamber.org.
