Goliad State Park Custodian’s Cottage

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 3822(V) was assigned to Goliad, Texas from 1935 to 1941 to work on project SP 43-T, Goliad State Park. The CCC built a custodian’s complex for Goliad State Park between 1936 and 1937. The complex consisted of a five-room, one-bath, 1-1/2 story residence for the park caretaker, plus maintenance and storage buildings, all located about one mile north of the park. A stone wall surrounded the complex. The CCC built most everything in the house by hand as the house was also an experimental studio, testing the methods they would use to reconstruct Mission Espíritu Santo in Goliad State Park. The tile was fired in a kiln on site in the park. Hinges on the doors were made in the metal shop at the CCC camp.

The house is a contributing structure to the Goliad State Park Historic District. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 12, 2001. The house was renovated and now serves as the new visitor's center for the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.

The scope of FPC’s work included the preservation of the 2,000 square foot cottage that was being used a ranger office, and restoring it into the park visitor and interpretive center. The custodian cottage restoration includes a new cypress shingle roof, new lime plaster on the exterior, and a full restoration on the interior plaster. Original interior paint colors were sampled, and the original wall patterns were recreated. Historic doors, windows, large entry gate, and hardware were restored and reused where permitted by code including all of the stained wood trim and ceilings were reconditioned. The exterior courtyard was reconditioned by removing every paver and resetting it in its original location at new elevations to meet accessible codes. The cypress pergola and entry gates were recreated based off of historic images and drawings.