The Great American Town Tour!!
Welcome to my slice of America… Kingsville, Texas!
“A Living Legend”
All of my pictures are “clickable” to be enlarged. I took a million and a half pictures and figured the best way to organize each “area or theme” of Kingsville would be mosaics collages. 
Hope y’all don’t mind. 
Kingsville, Texas is located South of Corpus Christi, with a population of 25,575.
The town is just 13.9 square miles, founded in 1904 and named after Richard King-the owner of King Ranch. In case you are unfamiliar, King Ranch is still the largest ranch in the United States. You may have heard of the King Ranch Saddle Shop Catalog or have seen the “King Ranch” Edition on Ford Trucks. This ranch boasts of over 825,000 acres (think 85% as large as Rhode Island) and at one point was the largest ranch in the world with 1.2 million acres. The story of how this ranch came to be is absolutely fascinating and can be found here. It involves a young mistreated indentured boy from New York City in the 1800s… escaping as a stow away on a steam ship and heading to the South. He eventually owned his own Steam boat line… and I’ll let you read the rest to discover his journey into the ranching business. I won’t spoil it for you.
The King Ranch is still owned and operated by the same family line today! Everything in Kingsville is associated, dedicated or named after the King Ranch. It is the blood of our town.
Here are the gates that lead into the ranch. It is like the gates going into the great Oz. haha
King Ranch has it’s own world famous breed of Cattle: Santa Gertrudis Cattle. Naturally, the headquarters are here in Kingsville. Here are some pictures of cattle on the King Ranch.
Now if you haven’t seen or ever heard of the King Ranch Saddle Shop… you are missing out. I used to receive the catalog when I lived in California. I had never even heard of the King Ranch and I certainly didn’t know how I was even receiving their catalog. I’m sure I saw it somewhere and signed up for something to receive it. Anyway, every time it arrived in the mail… I was like a kid in a candy store. I would mentally circle the items I just HAD to have (if I won the lotto, of course. haha… it’s not a cheap catalog)… Seriously, do yourself a favor and check out their stuff online. It might not be your style… but one has to appreciate the craftsmanship of everything they make, especially the furniture. Hubby and I have already decided that if we ever win the lotto… we will be building a log cabin lodge in the mountains of Wyoming and filling the house with King Ranch furniture.
There are taxidermy animals all over… including a big ol’ longhorn. I just HAD to get a picture of their tablescape… haha. Am I the only one or do you have such a great appreciation for tablescapes after seeing all of the great ideas on Susan’s Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday??
The King Ranch Saddle Shop is in our “historic downtown” area. The building itself was built in 1904 and is considered a historic building.
Now that I have brought you ALL THE WAY to Kingsville… I better find something for you to do… here are your (very limited) options:
After the park… we could go hit the links…and play a round of golf. Or go check out the old railroad depot and museum… or perhaps have a spot of tea at the Cherry Tree Tea Room.
Or… we could go to my favorite… SONIC. Who doesn’t love happy hour??
We could go through the DRIVE THRU donut shop aka my dream come true. I had never seen such a thing growing up in California!! A Palace of Donuts?? My kind of place.
And, when all else fails, we will head to Wally World… the center of our thriving town.
What is that, you say? You would like to see our town’s water towers? Well ok! Who am I to deprive you of these beauties?
Our pretty Courthouse.
Now tell me that those eagle heads don’t look like Sam the Muppet?
A reminder of where Dr. Pepper comes from… just in case any out-of-state visitors needed a reminder.
I’m a Dr. Pepper fanatic… and, yes, I’ve even been to the birthplace in Waco…seen the Museum and all. Next on the list… Dublin! Have to visit the factory! ha!And, of course, it isn’t Texas if you don’t have at least one barn painted with the Texas flag in your town.
Now that we’ve gone through town… let me show you my favorite part of Kingsville! The beautiful South Texas countryside!! (Yes, I CAN say that with a straight face! I found VERY pretty landscapes on my expedition to get town tour photos.)
Scenic Kingsville:
CORN!!
Clouds!!
BUT!!! Lets get to the REAL reason that we are in Kingsville!!
Yes, everyone is friendly. But more than that, they welcome and support the military here… even with their loud jets. This gracious attitude is a HUGE change for a girl that was raised in Southern California. I can recall hearing complaints time and time again from people wanting Miramar to be closed because of jet noise. Seriously, you buy a house at the end of an airport runway and then complain about noise? Here’s your sign. How about a little support for the people who keep you safe? Thank you Kingsville for your support and kindness.
However, the most memorable experience that I will always take with me… is our church… Bay Area Fellowship.
I have found it rather difficult to find a church that feels like “home” in the past. Upon moving to Texas…I was excited to find a good ol’ fashioned, little white church to attend. The kind any good Southerner attends. I wanted to find a small church with a family-feel; something simple. However, God had different plans. He lead us to THE BIGGEST church that I’ve ever been to… both square footage-wise and congregation-wise. On our first visit… we were a little skeptical… it seemed like a “production”…contemporary music played by an incredible band with the best singers I’ve ever heard sing for a church. Coordinated lights to the music… big screens… tv cameras…in a ginormous auditorium. The pastor delivered a fantastic “relevant” message. It was the complete opposite of where I thought I belonged, setting-wise. And on our first visit, with these doubts… the pastor explained that there are places like Vegas that have all of the production in the world… the best talent, the best of everything… but delivers no message (or worse, a sinful message). We (as Christians) have been given the greatest message in all time, in all of humanity, but often times, don’t honor it with any production or talent at all. My outlook has completely changed. It is so awesome to see people with unconventional “church” talents (such as media and production) being allowed to worship and glorify God through the gifts that God has given them. Having gone to this church for almost a year now… I have never seen anything so exciting as the work that God is doing through this church. It is life changing and amazing. And I will be sad when we have to leave Kingsville because of it… but feel very fortunate that I will always be able to watch the sermons online. If you are “in between” churches or haven’t found a good “fit” yet…I invite you to watch some of Pastor Bil’s messages. They are certainly food for the soul! And don’t forget to check out the band either… they are awesome!
I took this picture right outside of church… as the sun was setting. The sky was just a breathtaking backdrop to the cross.
I will leave you with some Texas Sunset shots… taken here in Kingsville.
