The George W. Fulton Mansion is located in Fulton on the Texas Gulf Coast, in the county of Aransas, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is one of the earliest Second Empire style buildings constructed in Texas and is one of the most important of the style in the Southwest United States still in existence. Colonel George Ware Fulton and Harriet Gillette Smith built the 3.5 story structure overlooking Aransas Bay between 1874 and 1877. The residence, dubbed "Oakhurst" by its builders, featured the most up-to-date conveniences for the time, such as indoor plumbing, central gas lighting and heating.
Felix and Gladys Boldin owned the property since the early 1960s and ran it as a tourist attraction until Felix died in 1970. Gladys sold it to the state before her death.
The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The State of Texas purchased the mansion and 2.3 acres (0.93 ha) of land in 1976 and opened the site to the public in 1983. On January 1, 2008, Fulton Mansion was transferred from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Texas Historical Commission and is now operated as the Fulton Mansion State Historic Site.
Famous quotes containing the words fulton and/or mansion:
“New York has her wilderness within her own borders; and though the sailors of Europe are familiar with the soundings of her Hudson, and Fulton long since invented the steamboat on its waters, an Indian is still necessary to guide her scientific men to its headwaters in the Adirondack country.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Look,
I draw the sword myself; take it, and hit
The innocent mansion of my love, my heart.
Fear not, ‘tis empty of all things but grief.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)