Hoover House Reading Book Reduced

809 Main St.
The 1832 Tavern
Their “1832 Tavern” at the foot of Bastrop’s Victorian Main Street was booming. And when the
hired help didn’t show up it was the establishment’s owners, “Chef” Judi and Tommy, the “barkeep,”
who flipped burgers, cleaned tables and filled the drink orders.
Meanwhile, they were finishing up the last of several antique houses moved onto their property
in the Lost Pine Forest on Highway 21, just east of town. And while all this was going on, the
Hoovers were edging toward development of their biggest project yet. They had recently purchased
a three-acre town tract overlooking the Colorado River where they planned to install a compound
of old buildings to be restored as places to dine, shop and spend the night.
And that wasn’t all. The two were putting in any leftover time to revamp a metal-sided, two-story
former Woodsmen of the World Lodge on Pine Street as their third Bastrop residence. Already,
they had clustered in the shade of a huge pecan tree behind the old lodge some rescued buildings
that would make up another snug off-Main Street compound setting for B&B guests, diners and
shoppers.
“I guess sawdust runs in our veins,” says Judi, her spattered hands held up in mock surrender as
she pauses with a paintbrush.
Open for Businees - December 1982