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Bee County, Texas
In 1835, Irish settlers founded what is now known as Beeville in Bee County.
Located in the heart of the Coastal Bend, Beeville is the gateway to the South
Texas Brasada, Spanish for Brush County. Bee County has numerous appeals with
cultural, natural, historical and recreational attractions.
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For the person with cultural interests, Texas Monthly, in its September 2004
issue, named Beeville one of the four best small towns in Texas for art. The
Beeville Art Museum is one of the reasons. The museum, housed in the historic
Esther Barnhart House and funded by the Joe Barnhart Foundation, has exhibited
some of Texas’ finest contemporary artists as well as collections housed at
Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the San Antonio Museum of Art. Coastal Bend
College’s Simon Michael Art Gallery hosts rotating exhibits on a regular basis,
including the work of many local artists. Coastal Bend College, a community
institution with two year degree programs, also houses one the only two public,
fully functioning glass blowing facilities in Texas. Tours are welcome and
classes are offered weekly in the early summer months.
Other cultural attractions include the state-of-the-art Joe Barnhart Bee County
Library, technologically, one of the first of its kind in the United States.
The Beeville Concert Association’s annual concert season is chock full of
visiting performers from Lluvia de Estrellas and The Gateway Brass (US Air
Force Band of the West) to The San Antonio Symphony.
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Springtime brings colorful displays of wildflowers to rural Bee County. In 1999
Southern Living magazine said “Bee County was buzzin’ last year when – thanks
to generous winter rains- wildflowers were at their absolute best. It was a
time of incredible bounty and unending beauty. The variety and depth of the
colors is remarkable.”
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Wildlife is plentiful in the area, making Bee County a hunter’s, birder’s
deer, dove, quail and wild hogs, every sportsman will find his or her
many species of birds such as, native Texan, Green Jays or Painted
photographers the opportunity to “catch their prey” in natural habitat.
historic sites to see and study. The Berclair Mansion and the
the Calaboose Museum in Skidmore and the Mercantile Store in
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or photographer’s paradise. With an abundance of
proper challenge. The area is colorfully alive with
Buntings. Many of the local ranches offer
For the history buff, Bee County offers plenty of
McClanahan House are two examples, along with
Mineral.
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In 2005, Beeville is honored to be named a Texas Main Street City and the
community has begun the process of revitalizing the historic downtown district
of the city so successfully that in 2006 Beeville was named a National Main
Street City. In that process, an abundance of shopping opportunities are being
developed. Come stroll down the wide, quiet avenue into quaint gift shops and
tea rooms.
For the more athletic, the Beeville Country Club’s golf course was named by the
Dallas Morning News as one of the best 9-hole golf courses in Texas. And the
newly built livestock arena at the Bee County Exposition Center is one of the
few covered outdoor facilities of its kind in South Texas.
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Bee County has a tradition of celebrations. The Junior Livestock Show and Sale
takes place every January. Each September the community commemorates its rich
Hispanic heritage with the Diez Y Seiz Festival in Downtown Beeville and
October brings the Western Week Celebration, a long time community tradition,
with the annual Bee County Chamber of Commerce Parade that dates from the
1940s.
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