Field Research 4 - Historic Homes, Harbor, and Hot Tea

This was a two-day field trip and part of it was a mother/daughter trip, which was super lovely.  :-)

I went on a tour of historic homes yesterday.  These were houses that withstood the 1900 storm (which, if you don't know your Texas or hurricane history, absolutely wrecked a certain island that may or may not be the (fantastical) setting of this book AND was one of, if not the, deadliest natural disasters in history), so I thought I'd get to learn a little bit more about the local, down-to-earth history of the area that I could apply to Oleander Isle.  What I got was a lot of waiting in line for 20 minutes to get pushed through the house in 10.  Not what I expected, but still neat.  One house still had markings on the floor where the owner sawed holes into it to let floodwaters seep in, which kept the house anchored through the storm.  Another house had been modernized but was almost exactly what I want my house to look like when I finally buy one, which does not help the book at all but still.

We also went on a harbor tour (and saw dolphins!  including a baby!  yay!), saw some neat ships - both modern and historical - and learned about the islands port history.  A lot of bananas were traded through.  Like, a lot.  So many bananas.  I wish I could remember more of the history that the guide talked about but the dolphins were really distracting.  

Finally, today I went to one of the former big houses (we're talking huge, like almost 30k square feet and cost 250k (which is closer to $25mil in today's money, if I remember the host correctly)) for some tea and a historical lecture.  I got there a little too early and explored the house.  Yall, this house was so freakin cool.  It was so beautiful and detailed.  And, I must repeat, big - it was so big and sturdy that when the aforementioned storm hit, the family slept through it and had no idea what happened until they went outside the next day.  This place stirred my little gothic heart.  I climbed the most fantastic staircase in my regencyish dress and felt so fancy.  When I write the different scenes in the main house, this is what is going to be in my mind (so, not at all the house on the cover anymore, oh well).  Also, the tea was delicious and I learned that I like pimento cheese sandwiches.

So this field trip was somewhat a success (more than the last field trip, tbh).  I got some visualizations for settings in the book and learned some more local history that I may or may not incorporate.   I really don't think I should touch the 1900 storm in my whimsical and melodramatic novel about handsome robot men but my brain keeps travelling that way.  But the banana harbor thing might get in.