We had a special tour yesterday with a full van of 14 volunteers. Our tour was to Sabal Palm Sanctuary and our Boca Chica tract that includes the last battle of the Civil War which was fought on what is now refuge land, the Palmito Battlefield.
We arrived at Sabal Palms right on time. I had arranged a special tour for us with a tour of the Rabb Plantation house at 9:30am.
The historian, Larry Lof, does these tours on Saturday, but he was kind enough to give us a special one.
The house is on the way in to the sanctuary and will be their visitor center next year, they say. I have passed it many times in the past, and always wondered about it...now we all know. I am so glad they are restoring it and making it useful again. It has quiet a story.
Mr. Rabb was in the sugarcane business among other things. His first wife was Mifflin Kennedy's granddaughter. He divorced her and she moved to Brownsville and became? an alcoholic. He then married a very young woman. He once owned the historical house called "Rancho de Santa Maria" in Santa Maria and later sold it to a Mr. Hynes. He never had children.
The entry has these two stained glass windows with the initials RS which stands for Rabb, and Starck. His first wife was Lillian Starck. Boy, I bet that other wife liked seeing that on the door!!!
Here we are intently listening to our guide, Larry, while standing on the porch.
Looks like you will need to come back later for the rest of the story. Having technical difficulties. Until later.......
Hope we get to see some photos of the inside - it's a beautiful house.
ReplyDeleteTeri
Looking forward to "the rest of the story".... Is this down towards Brownsville? How much longer will you be at Santa Ana?
ReplyDeleteTeri, they are still refurbishing the house, however, I showed you the best of it.
ReplyDeleteWe won't be leaving here until about the 8th of April. No set date for sure.
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