832 College Avenue

The Potter House once resided on 832 College Avenue in the heart of Tyler's historical Azalea District. In the late 80's, it was put up for sale for $10,000 and the CFO of the local hospital purchased it and so started the move to the 40 acre lot.

When my Mom was out visiting, we decided to venture out to a suggested local mexican food restaurant. After eating entirely too much tex-mex, we went downtown to the Azalea district for their annual Christmas lights stroll. Needless to say, we were blown away by the homes in the historical district! The architecture, the landscaping, the lights! We kept saying, wow, wow, wow!

While there were some very grand homes - there were also some adorable, quaint homes that closely resembled the Potter House. We drove down College Ave, looking for the original plot of land the house sat when it was first built in 1932. Turns out, our assumption that The First Presbyterian Church of Tyler expanded and built on the land where the Potter House originally sat, was true! Additionally, we made another discovery - there is a new, operational 'Potter House' located across the street from the church and one day, in the near future, I'd like to connect with them.

Here is a picture of what would have been the house right next door to the Potter House, isn't it adorable?!

You can see they have changed the entry, from an archway to the currently trendy wood-trellis entry and take a look at the fireplace, two front windows, and side porch, just like ours!

We were slowly driving around , enjoying each house, it's architecture ( and perhaps if there were any 'For Sale' signs ) so we could take a closer look, of course!

But the best part?! An impromptu carriage ride! We hopped out of the car and into the horse-drawn carriage and enjoyed Christmas lights by the slow carriage ride throughout the districts.

Our guide told us how he was born in Florida but moved to Texas as soon as he could to become a bull-rider. I chuckled and said my favorite movie as a kid was 8 Seconds. He quickly turned around and said he knew Lane personally and rode with his brother after Lane's passing. What a crazy small world.

Pictured above: Bee & my Mom. It was her first time every in a horse-drawn carriage! Did I mention the roads in the historical district are made out of bricks and not pavement? There was no chance of a clear picture but that's the fun of it.

It was a blurry but priceless evening out.