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Bluebonnets are coming to life in Nebo Valley as the Shaw-Kemp open house draws near. CRYSTAL BROWN/DEMOCRAT PHOTOS

March 31, 2011

Plenty of bluebonnets blooming for Shaw-Kemp open house this year

Crystal Brown Weatherford Democrat The Weatherford Democrat Thu Mar 31, 2011, 08:41 AM CDT

WEATHERFORD —

The bluebonnets are making their annual appearance as volunteers prepare Nebo Valley for the annual Shaw-Kemp open house.

Set for 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 16, this is the 31st year Mary Kemp has put on the event.

Kemp first started hosting tours of an 1856 log cabin in the late 1970s, and was taking some 3,000 school children through it each year.

The family purchased the building in 1975, believing it to be a barn. After discovering its true identity, Kemp applied for a historical marker, which was received in 1982.

In 1981, the open house became an annual event, and since then has grown to draw in about 3,000 guests annually.

Nebo Valley now includes the two-story Shaw-Kemp house, a school, church, grocery store, post office, barber shop, bank, bathhouse and the DeBeauford house.

Several of the buildings were donated over the years from county residents who wanted them preserved. Many of the primitive items inside them have also been donated.

This year’s event will include live music, a tractor-pulled trailer filled with hay to transport guests from the main part of the village down to the log cabin and classic cars to take a peep at. Kemp will also sell her books, all filled with details of Parker County history. Proceeds from book sales all go to charity.

No food will be served this year, but guests are welcome to bring along snacks as they enjoy touring the seven historic buildings lining Nebo Valley and exploring fields of bluebonnets.

A favorite of the event, attendees are regularly found taking photographs of their families in the bluebonnets. A hillside by the dirt drive down into Nebo Valley is decorated with a stone outline of the State of Texas nestled into a bluebonnet field. The other side of the road includes an old wagon with the state flower growing up around it.

“The bluebonnets right now in front of the log cabin are the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen,” Kemp said. “[The rest] are just about two inches tall right now. They need a rain. If we can get one to two inches of rain in the next week-and-a-half, they would just blossom. We’re depending on the rain to make what’s there beautiful.”

But she hopes it doesn’t rain the day of the open house.

Last year’s event, which had one of the best bluebonnet seasons ever, Kemp said, was rained out. She hopes they will be just as beautiful this year. But in case of inclement weather, a rain date is set for Saturday, April 23.

For more information, contact Kemp at 817-594-6837.