Corpus Christi area museums

The King Ranch Museum's exhibits include a collection of photos by Life Magazine's Toni Frissell. - Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

King Ranch Museum
Head west and back in time at the King Ranch Museum, where ranching heritage is on display.
The museum features not only famed King Ranch saddlery but saddles from around the world. There also are antique carriages and vintage cars, including a 1950 custom-designed hunting car.
Perhaps the most riveting exhibit, though, is a collection of photos. Famed Life Magazine photographer Toni Frissell spent five summers at the King Ranch during the 1940s, creating black and white photos depicting ranchers, cowboys and their families at work and at play.
Location: 405 N. Sixth St., Kingsville
Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday
Admission: $4 adults, $2.50 children
Website: King Ranch Museum

Grace Armantrout Museum
The museum is a tribute to Grace Armantrout, who was known in George West for her friendliness and graciousness.
Miss Grace, as she was known about town, died in 1990 at the age of 87. The museum, which opened in 1995, houses the belongings of Armantrout, a collector who enjoyed entertaining at her home.
Exhibits include a 36-star U.S. flag from the 1860s and a 15-star flag from the late 1700s.
There also is a collection of antique furniture dating from the 1860s to the 1940s, including a wash stand once owned by George West. There also is china, glassware, artwork and seashells from the Gulf of Mexico and the Philippines. Split and polished rocks collected by Armantrout's coworkers from her job at the Texas Department of Highways also are displayed.
Location: U.S. Highway 281 one-half mile south of U.S. Highway 59 in George West
Hours: 1-5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; noon-4 p.m. Saturday; and 1-5 p.m. Sunday
Admission: Donations accepted
Website: Grace Armantrout Museum

The Alpha Museum
If any famous person lived in or trekked through Robstown, then Alpha Museum curator Craig Edge knows about him - and probably has collected some memorabilia. The museum, which opened in 1996 in the former municipal library, is dedicated to the history and lore of Robstown.
Lyndon B. Johnson, before he was president, washed dishes and was a student teacher in Robstown. Infamous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde had a hideout near town. Edge has information about both.
He also has extensive oral histories, as well as posters and pictures detailing the career of T.J. ``Stout'' Jackson, once billed as the strongest man in the world for a backlift of 6,472 pounds.
Other famous Robstown natives are profiled at the museum, including Katherine Crosby, wife of singer and movie star Bing Crosby.
Location: 110 N. Fourth St., Robstown
Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free

Pat Magee Surf Museum
This is an ode to the surfing culture. There are more than 100 vintage boards in a wing off Pat Magee's surf shop.
The collection includes surf-oriented comic books, old Hawaiian print shirts, surf music album covers and 60-year-old surfing postcards.
The vintage boards, though, are the reason to visit. The boards tell the history of surfing, including those Moondoggie days with long, heavy boards.
Check out the 14 1/2-foot paddle board - a wooden surfboard ancestor nailed together in the 1930s by California surfing pioneer Tom Blake. In the California vein, look for a 50-pound solid redwood surfboard carved in the 1940s.
For the unusual, and maybe impractical, browse a Hobie surfboard that can be separated into halves for easier transport.
Location: 101 Avenue G, Port Aransas
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Admission: Free

Collections at the South Texas Museum in Alice represent South Texas culture. The McGill Bros. Building in which the museum is housed was built to resemble the Alamo. - George Tuley/Caller-Times

South Texas Museum
Make the trip to Alice just to see the McGill Brothers Building that houses the South Texas Museum. Family legend holds that Frank McGill was enchanted by the Alamo Museum after a trip to San Antonio in 1940. When he, along with brother Claude, constructed an office building from which to run their cattle empire in 1941, it was built to resemble the Alamo.
Inside is a loosely organized collection representing the South Texas culture, including saddles and several head mounts of some impressively horned longhorns.
Check out the picture portrait gallery of Alice's founding fathers and important citizens. There also is antique office machinery, including a typewriter with two sets of keys - one for lowercase letters and one for uppercase.
Don't forget to take a peek at the museum office - it's housed in the McGill Brothers' old safe, and the heavy, metal door still is in place. Climb a charming, curved staircase at the rear of the building to reach genealogy research, Civil War research, Hispanic history and general Texas history collections upstairs. Admire the original marbled tile along the way.
Location: 66 S. Wright, Alice
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m
Admission: Donations accepted

The Texas Maritime Museum in Rockport has an extensive library, and permanent and traveling exhibits, including the Allure of Fishing, which details lures. - Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Texas Maritime Museum
Water, water everywhere and not enough information about it. Remedy that with a trip to Rockport and lessons in the maritime history of Texas. Besides an extensive library pertaining to all things nautical, the library boasts permanent and traveling exhibits.
Fishermen can feast on the ongoing exhibit the Allure of Fishing, which details, well, lures. On the museum grounds is a scow sloop, a type of fishing vessel used in the 1930s and '40s, which volunteers built without the use of power tools.
Check out a model replica of the famous Bullwinkle offshore drilling rig. The real Bullwinkle was a rig built in Ingleside, and because of its size was considered an amazing feat of engineering.
There also is a permanent collection of watercolors of Texas lighthouses by artist Harold Phenix.
Location: 1202 Navigation Circle, Rockport (on the Rockport Harbor)
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on Mondays
Admission: Adults $5.00, Seniors $4.00, Children 6 to 12 $2.00, Children 5 and under Free
Website: Texas Maritime Museum
- Ruth Cochran-Escamilla

This article was updated on 02-01-07