People

Gloria Schwarz Hickey was born in September, 1945 in El Paso while her father, Hilmer Schwarz, was stationed at Biggs Field. The young serviceman took his wife and new baby to their home in Round Top as soon as the baby was old enough to…

A more poetic writer might say, “the mists of time shrouded the Seward Plantation as I made my approach in mid-February.” I’m not poetic. It was fog. Dense, landmark-obliterating fog. Despite repeated assurance from my hosts that I…

Gloria Schwarz Hickey was born in September, 1945 in El Paso while her father, Hilmer Schwarz, was stationed at Biggs Field. She remained in far West Texas until her mother Eunice and she were strong enough to travel to Round Top where both…

Mary Louise Young is a moving target. The entrepreneur splits her time between her historic log home in Chappell Hill and Houston. She avoids Highway 290 whenever possible and scoots down the backroads in her Nissan 350z convertible.…

When Wiley and Cynthia George of Houston started looking for a country property, a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, as held by the Seward Plantation, was not one of the criteria. “We wanted something with easy access…

As the owner of Mr. B Fireworks and a licensed pyrotechnician, Tom Bargas colors the black velvet of a Texas night sky. “I've never thought of myself as being an artist, but I suppose I am,” Bargas said.  “I paint the sky with…

Mary Lou Marks has created a menagerie of Southern Beasts. “I make them with personality, life and spark,” said Marks, who has lived and worked near Round Top full-time since 2011 and been a regular in the area since the early 1960s.…

As owner and bladesmith at Phenix Knives in Bellville, Cowboy Szymanski has forged his own life. “Life is how you live it—and as extreme as you want it to be,” said Cowboy, who is the sole proprietor in a blacksmith shop that has been…

Lorie and I caught up with Derrill Osborn, former globe-trotting fashion exec for Neiman Marcus, and Benny Hinkle III, owner of Dallas-based Benny Jack’s Antiques, on the first day of Big Red Barn's show in the spring. We pulled up red…

Glenwood Vernon: A Temporary Caretaker Glenwood Vernon and I met at Vernons’ Antique Shop, the antiques destination he owns and operates with Martha, his wife of 57 years. The couple lives and works on Antiques Lane located a few miles…