Antique stores in Calvert
carry a wide variety of mer
chandise, including home
furnishings (left), clothing
(above) and items such as
spurs (above right) for people
with more rustic tastes.
continued from p.8
tic Victorian towns left in Tex
as.”
Anderson, whose husband is
seventh-generation Calvert,
opened the town’s first antique
store, The Boll Weevil, 20 years
ago.
“I started it for something to
do, really,” she says. “I just
grew up with antiques and
studied them in school.”
The Boll Weevil is now one of
the more upscale shops in
town, specializing in 18th and
19th century porcelains, and
antique and estate jewelry.
Housed in a cavernous, faux Art
Deco theatre, the collection is,
as Anderson understates, “ex
tremely large.”
The Anderson’s also own and
operate nearby Posh Country, a
tea room/antique store and Cal
vert’s answer to a fern-bar.
.Lockhart says restaurants like
Posh Country show how much
the town has changed in the
last few years.
“A few years ago, Gov. Clem
ents came here to buy antiques
for his home,” she says. “I think
they were kind of embarassed
because they had to take him to
Dairy Queen for lunch.”
Lockhart says the town has
grown in prosperity, if not pop
ulation. There’s now one bank,
four convenience stores and six
restaurants if you include the
Dairy Queen. But in order for
the city to really grow, Lockhart
says the town has to figure out
a way to keep its young people
around.
“There’s nothing for young
people here,” she says. “The
ones with any gumption leave.”
She says that, like in the
olden days, most businesses are
family owned and operated
which, unfortunately, makes
getting a job nearly impossible
in Calvert. It may also have pre
served the town’s ambiance
which, in turn, is attracting
tourists.
“It probably became an an
tique town because it didn’t
change,” Lockhart says. “That’s
just what it became.”
Anderson agrees that the
passed-by quality of the town
has contributed to its success as
an antique center. Coupled
with the fact that the town has
never encouraged strangers to
move in, Calvert has kept its
Victorian feel, she adds.
“This whole town was in sort
of a time capsule,” Anderson
says. “They (the residents)
didn’t want or encourage any
one to move in. The same
buildings that were here in the
c 80s and £ 90s were still here in
the c 30s and c 40s.”