October 16, San Antonio, TX

This morning we woke up to rain so we dug out our Dominion game and hung out at the camper. After lunch the rain had let up some so we ventured out.  San Antonio is an interesting town but has been very challenging to us and our GPS because there is so much road work going on.  Almost everywhere we have tried to go, on and off base, we have run into closed roads and detours.  We went for a drive through the King William Historic District which has large houses designed in the Greek Revival, Victorian, and Italianate styles, some of which date back to the late 1800’s. 

 

 We were able to tour Edward Steve’s House which was built in 1876 by a German immigrant who made his fortune by starting a lumber mill.  It was donated to the conservation society in 1952 and contains many articles and furniture that had belonged to the family supplemented by items from the period the family lived there. 

 This inlaid parquetry table was a gift to Edward Steve from his sons on his retirement, made from scraps of wood they had collected from his mill. 

 This grand stairway winds up 3 floors; the statue built into the rail was purchased at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and the designs painted on the walls and ceilings were had painted by an artist without stencils. 

Later in the afternoon we went to the SAS Shoe Factory and General Store (we found out that SAS stands for San Antonio Shoemakers).  It was a very interesting place: at the General Store they sell factory seconds (usually just slight imperfections in the leather) of shoes and handbags made in a nearby factory. 

They also sell high-quality children’s shoes that make right in the store. There is a gift shop and ice-cream parlor and candy shop.  They also sell concessions like popcorn, peanuts, soda) at early 20^th century prices.

They have a bunch of antique cars and toys displayed indoors and out. They offer free factory tours at their other location, but we got there too late for that. We had a good time there nevertheless.