Old Town Spring is a delightful turn of the century village located near rail yards built in the early 1900s. It has become a favorite of weekenders as well as retirees thanks to its rural charm and vibrant shops.
A walking tour of its lovely streets is a study in old and new as you take in quaint and quirky specialty stores and luxe boutiques, explore well-stocked antique emporiums, and dine at new and longstanding restaurants. Here are five establishment you must stop at along the way.
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- Wunsche Bros. Spring’s oldest existing commercial building on its original site, Wunsche Bros. was constructed in 1902 by one of the area’s earliest families, the Wunsches, who came to Texas from Germany in 1846. Built to accommodate rail workers, the Wunsche Bros. Saloon and Hotel, later known as Spring Café, has served as a gathering place for generations of residents. Entering its cozy dining room is like taking a step back in time (See if you can spot the founding brothers — Dell and Charlie — in the black-and-white photos that hang on the walls).The café specializes in southern country cooking: Sausage sauerkraut balls, chicken fried steak, fried green tomatoes, and house-smoked sausage share the menu with a selection of sandwiches and hamburgers. Several desserts can be addictive: Key lime, coconut cream, and buttermilk pie are on the menu, as is a sumptuous chocolate pecan cake drizzled with whiskey-infused caramel sauce.
- The Doll Hospital. Where dolls go when they’re sick. Enter the big grey store on Gentry Street and find yourself surrounded by dolls, dolls, dolls. Pleasantly cluttered with antique dolls in all sizes, shapes and costumes, The Doll Hospital, in business since 1987, offers its service to ailing porcelain, plastic, and plush patients far and wide. Mary Ann Pizzolato, the hospital’s owner and head surgeon, so to speak, replaces limbs, does restitching, cleaning, and more. The venerable house of healing also sells “healthy” new and vintage dolls, including Madame Alexander dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids, Danny Boy ragdolls, and Berenguer babies.
- German Gift House. Step inside the cozy armoire-size shop and you feel you’ve traveled to Germany. Hundreds of cheerful wooden figurines line the walls of the German Gift House, an inviting bright white shop peddling German-made imports and collectibles. Standing in neat rows on shelves and stands, the carved creations (nutcrackers, incense burners, etc.) make an unlikely choir of chefs, angels, Vikings, dragons, soldiers, and smiling mushrooms. Intricate cuckoo clocks, handcrafted steins, and an assortment of treats are also among the delightful novelties that make up the shop’s varied inventory.
- Connie’s Bath Shack. Connie Putnam whips up the most exquisite handmade soap. Mixed with a blend of shea butter, olive, coconut and castor oils, her bars are perfumed with combinations of essential oils and other natural elements like goat milk, honey, kelp and sea salt. The soap smells divine. The most popular bar, playfully named “Saggin’ Butt,” blends peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender to perfection. Putnam also produces many soap-related products including bath bombs, shower steamers, shampoo bars, bath salts, lotions and shaving cream. Along with the artisanal soap, the shop proffers another bath essential: rubber duckies. Hundreds of colorful ducks in all sizes, shapes and costumes decorate the small shop, with variations from zoo animals to Star Trek.
- The Little Dutch Girl. At this specialty store that sells treats and trinkets, kitsch treasures included wooded clogs, Delft Blue keepsakes, and imported confections such as marmalade, Stroopwafels, and licorice. More enticements include taffy and fudge.
MORE: 10 shops to visit the next time you’re in Old Town Spring