306 Dryer Avenue
This two-story home is one of the oldest buildings in Baldwin County. Originally located across the street behind the Howard Hotel, now Bayside Academy 32 , the Texas was among 3 other attendant cottages (the California, the Long Branch, and the Homestead) that were built to hold the overflow of guests during the busy tourist season (late winter and early spring). During Yellow Fever epidemics, the air on the Eastern Shore was believed to be healthier, so on weekends and holidays, the resorts were filled to capacity. The Texas was moved to its present location in 1907; the other cottages were destroyed. The Texas has a rare mixture of Creole and Gulf Coast cottage features. Creole cottage features include multiple doors opening onto the second-floor balcony. Gulf Coast cottage features include gables to the sides, a large first-floor central hall, and a recessed two-tiered balustrade porch with boxed columns and capitals and the earliest known forerunner of a rain porch.