rachely's Blog

For any kid that grew up in Austin, visiting the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion was like a yearly pilgrimage. The teachers would load us up in yellow buses for the trip into downtown and even after years and years of visiting it, the Capitol and Mansion still held an air of polished marble Texas pride and importance. Tour guides would give the most interesting tall tale stories possible showing paintings in the house and senate chambers of bloody battles with Santa Anna and spooking us with the story of the ghost living in the Mansion's back bedroom. Texans are an incredibly prideful lot, to the point that we want our emblem in the hinges of our Capitol doors and are willing to put up the money necessary, $10 million in the case of the Mansion, to keep our landmarks in shape. The destruction of the Mansion was like losing a little piece of my childhood, and for former Texas Governor Mark White it was losing a piece of his personal history (you can watch him speak about his memories here.)

Please share your memories of the Governor's Mansion here with fellow readers and bloggers.