Our time in Abilene a couple of years ago was delightful! That’s why we are visiting again with our friends Sandee and Mack who we met in New Orleans last year at our RV park. We plan on going back to Vagabond Pizza and tasting more of their delicious food this time around too.
I promise that when we bid our friends adieu I will finish telling you all about our fabulous visit to Houston!!!
This post was originally published on March 21, 2022.
Steve and I were certainly enjoying our time in Abilene, Texas back in mid December. Adding to that pleasure was that we were in town for Abilene Art Walk and Pizza for dinner afterwards.
The Lucia Pizza at Vagabond in Abilene TX.
Abilene Artwalk
The second Thursday of each month there’s a mini art show in downtown Abilene. Galleries are open for the evening and admission is free. It was a balmy, beautiful evening the night in December when we attended. Just strolling the main street, under the stars and with Christmas music playing would have been enjoyable all by itself. But add to that an opportunity to gaze at some outstanding art, and you have a winner, winner, pizza for dinner!!! I know. I took some liberties there. But we did have pizza, and not chicken, for dinner.
Rank Patch #1 by Terry Hays (b. 1958) on display at The Grace Museum during our Abilene Art Walk and Pizza visit.
Texas Governor’s Mansion: Sam Houston’s Bedroom painted in oil on canvas in 1999 by Cindi Holt (born 1952)
The Grace Museum
We wandered in and out of several galleries before reaching The Grace Museum. The building that house The Grace Museum has a long history.
Typical 1920s Grace Hotel guest room that cost $1/night!
The historic building that currently houses The Grace Museum was built in 1909 as the Grace Hotel. The Grace was a large full service hotel and the finest located on the railroad line between Fort Worth and El Paso. In 1946, the hotel was renamed The Drake and flourished until the 1960s when downtown Abilene saw a decline, and at the same time passenger train travel greatly diminished. The hotel closed permanently in 1973. By the 1980s the building was in ruin and inhabited by rats, vagrants, and cats. In the 1980s a group of visionaries sought to restore downtown Abilene beginning with the historic Paramount Theater.
Cotillion by David Everett (born 1950). This polychromed mahogany sculpture was created in 2011 and exhibited at The Grace Museum, Abilene TX.
Led by members of the Abilene Preservation League, the old hotel was purchased in 1987 and not demolished. The Grace Cultural Center was conceived as the new tenant of the yet-to-be renovated old hotel. A group of ambitious and creative civic leaders envisioned the building as a downtown museum, raised the funds, gathered community support, and renovated the 55,000 square foot building. The Dodge Jones Foundation was the major financial backer of the renovation of the building and the revitalization of downtown Abilene. Other foundations contributed to the success of the creation of the new Grace Cultural Center, including the Abell-Hanger, Meadows, Moody and Mabee foundations. Historic restoration architect Rick Weatherl researched and brought back the look of the building in 1935 and planned a state-of-the- art museum facility out of the ruins of the old hotel. The new museum called the Grace Cultural Center opened to the public on February 15, 1992.
A recreation of a 1910 kitchen from a working class home in Abilene TX.
This view of the 1910 kitchen shows off the beautiful wood burning stove that not only cooked food but also warmed the house.
1910 Living Room in Abilene Texas.
Today, downtown Abilene is vital and bustling with twenty-two historic buildings restored and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Texas Commission for the Arts recognized Abilene in 2010 as one of five most important cities in Texas with historic downtown arts districts.
This 1928 kitchen was typical of a home kitchen in Abilene TX. But it evokes memories of my grandparents summer home in Ventnor NJ.
The fridge view of a 1928 home kitchen in Abilene TX.
There has been an art museum in Abilene since the 1920s. Beginning with an art gallery in the Carnegie Library, and later the Abilene Fine Arts Museum was founded in 1937 in a small building in Rose Park. Cultural and civic-minded citizens of Abilene had been collecting art for decades for the benefit of the citizens of Abilene, and today many of the stars of The Grace Museum’s permanent art collection were acquired in the 1930s and 1940s.As recently as 1998, the official name of the downtown museum became The Grace Museum.
Early 1900s Wedding Attire
1948 home kitchen with lots of counter space, electric fridge and gas stove.
1948 Kitchen
1948 living room typical for Abilene Texas.
The Grace Museum had a huge variety of amazing artwork on display. But I think my favorite exhibit was a look back to yesteryear. There were living rooms and kitchens on exhibit that gave us a glimpse of life at the the turn of the last century and on into the mid 1900s. The kitchens reminded me of my grandparents summer home at the Jersey shore!
From yesteryear, a 1870s wedding gown on display at The Grace Museum in Abilene TX.
In the same area were examples of wedding attire dating from the 1870s forward to the 1950s. The clothes of a bygone era were so beautiful and elegant. Perhaps a bit prim and proper compared to the styles of today.
Early 1900s Wedding Attire
!950s Wedding Attire for the bride and groom.
Vagabond Pizza
After a good couple of hours exploring downtown Abilene TX, we had work up quite an appetite. So we walked back to our car to try and figure out where we should have dinner. As soon as we got into the car and buckled our seat belts we realized that we were parked right in front of Vagabond Pizza. How fortuitous!
Double duty wine storage at Vagabond Pizza in Abilene TX, also acts as a room divider.
The owners of Vagabond Pizza are Jason and Jessica Adams. And their “About Us” is so cute that I want to quote it verbatim:
“Jason has been cooking his whole life. Jess is just a really good eater. Together, they offer Vagabond Pizza to the Downtown Abilene scene. Here you get wood-fired pizza, craft beers and an eclectic wine offering in a setting that makes you feel at home (don’t worry, we won’t make you do the dishes).”
Vagabond offers a variety of wood-fired pizzas as well as delicious starters, salads and desserts. We had the Vagabond Salad with oven roasted tomatoes, Parmesan, artichokes and balsamic vinaigrette as our starter. And followed that with the fabulous Lucia pizza. Our pizza had Calabrese salami, crispy garlic, mozzarella and jalapeño jelly. I’m still thinking about how good that salami was with its crispy edges. Yummy yum yum!
Just can’t stop thinking about those crispy edges on the Calabrian salami that topped our pizza at Vagabond in Abilene TX!
And that’s how we enjoyed our evening at the Abilene Art Walk and followed it with a very delicious Pizza.
