Places in the Heart:Spalding Home

Built in 1900 the Spalding's Home in Places In The Heart is located off FM 813. The actual address is 5035 FM 813 near Rockett, Texas. It can not be easily seen from the road and has a private drive. (I would caution anyone trying to park along 813. The location of the house is on a curve and no shoulders.) It is owned by the Gibbons family. Still looks like it's in similar condition as when used in the movie. I believe that other smaller movies were shot here also. When I zoomed in I could see the unique stained glass windows.


From the road you can see the white picket fence and the screened in porch. It is 2096 sq feet with native pasture around it. The GPS coordinates are 32 deg 27'28.16"N 96 deg 46'54.67"W.
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Image from the 1984 movie.I think the color difference from the current house is because I think the movie was shot in early morning or late evening and gave the house that off white color or grayish look.
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There is a beautiful field on down FM 813 towards Palmer that would have been a great spot to film the cotton picking scenes. I don't know if it was used or not..

Places In The Heart:Five Points Cotton Gin

Off of Fm 876 near what I believe is called Walker's Triangle , there is what's left of the 5 points Cotton Gin. It was the setting for two great scenes in Places in the Heart. The first is when Edna Spalding goes with Moze to buy cotton seed. The Cotton Gin owner, W. E. Simmons, tries to pull the old switch-a-roo with the seed. But Moze, who "knows about most anything there is to know about farm'n cotton", catches Mr. Simmons' trickery. The second time is when Edna comes to sale the Cotton. She goes into the the office which is still there and currently it appears someone lives there. This time Moze tries to help Edna but the owner pulls down the window shade to the office so Moze can't listen or communicate to Edna. Edna uses her wit and her knowledge of how Mr. Simmons could gain some bragging rights among the masons by having the first bale of cotton in the county. She gets her 3.75 cents per pound which was over the going rate of 3.5 cents a pound at the time.

There is machinery missing since the movie and the grass is grown up. A fella owns the triangle portion of the property where two roads form a V shape.


GPS Location is 32 deg 16' 45.13"N 96 deg 54' 01.19"W

Places In The Heart:Bethel Methodist Church

This church was used in the beginning and the end of the movie. At the end was an emotional scene about forgiveness. It's a very interesting peaceful setting. Many Sims are buried in the cemetery across the road from the church and the God's acres pavilion was used in the second dance scene. I believe Ellis County Commissioner Heath Sims is a current member of the Church. The Sims were early settlers of Ellis County and founders of the Bethel Church. I believe N. P. Sims is Heath's Great Great Uncle. The church is in the vicinity of the community of Boz.








I sneaked a picture of the inside through a small clear rectangular piece of glass on the door. Wood floors and wood pews are still their like in the movie. GPS approximate location is 32 deg 17' 44.45"N 96 deg 54' 53.45"W






This video is spliced with my video of the current appearance of the Bethel Church. Notice the large bushes are gone beside the entrance. There is also a bar across the circle stained glass dove picture in the movie but not now. Also in the movie the beautiful windows are open as is the front door for air circulation. Now the church has ac.

Places in the Heart: :Tornado Road

I believe the curve is where Wayne(Ed Harris) drives around to get a glimpse of his extramarital lover, Viola Kelsey (Amy Madigan), the school teacher. In real life Ed Harris and Amy Madigan later married.

Emanuel st (use to be called Hackberry) at the end of East Marvin in Waxahachie is the location of the School tornado scene in Places In The Heart. I believe that their are new houses built since the movie and an older two story that was moved to the spot. Goats are grazing on an open field south of the curve.

The Trip To Bountiful Bus stop at Ennis st and 878

The Trip To Bountiful filmed in Waxahachie is the movie by Horton Foote that finally gave longtime actress,Geraldine Page , an Academy Award. She played an elderly lady trying to make one more trip back to her girlhood home in Bountiful, Texas. Kind of slow movie to for most guys but a universal story for those heading towards the end of their life and those who imagine what the end days of their life might feel like. In this bus stop a few of the bus passengers must be dropped off to be picked up by another bus. As they sit at the front of the store a fella that works there asks the folks if they now what Corpus Christi means and they don't so he tells them it means the body of Christ. I always thought there is some kind of message there. Now the movie location is a barber shop called Barbers and Beyond and it usually has phat cars parked there with there phat rims. Pretty stark difference between the folks in the movie that were sitting there waiting for their bus. The approximate GPS coordinates are 32 deg 23'34.74" N 96 deg 49'32.55" W

Largest Tree Girth In Ellis County?

There are some nice sized trees in Ellis County but I personally have never seen any bigger than the big old tree in Getzendaner Memorial Park on the east side near the kids maze. It's so big that one limb is held up by a support. I measured the girth of a few trees in Ellis County that I thought would be close to this tree but the closet one was in the park near the Mathews bridge but it was 9" short in girth. I try to measure 5 ft from the ground to get the girth. This tree has to be hundred plus years. It's girth measurement is 178". Which is 14.83 feet. Now I imagine that if their are larger trees they are going to have to be in creek bottoms or cemeteries or parks. Places where there is a good water source and that the old settlers wouldn't have chopped them down or modern home builders couldn't bulldoze them. There is a huge girthed tree on Main street in Waxahachie that I have not measured where the fountain is but it's not near as pretty has the park tree. If you have knowledge of a huge tree let me know.



approximate gps coordinates 32deg 23' 34.74" N 96 deg 51'51.20"W

Tredway and Friends at the Chautauqua

GROUP HANDS OFF TO A HAROLD SAXOPHONE SOLO.

The evening of July 5th was the beginning of hopefully something special. Though only a small crowd from 5:30 pm to 10ish pm, it was something that is needed in Waxahachie. Talent and and even wishful talent needs a place to spread it's wings. Randy Tredway has a vision to bring Waxahachie into the music world. I stopped by after work and gave a listen. I left to go searching for the Beauty Shop house used in Places In The Heart. No luck. When I came back with my grape snow cone, I found my long time family friends Alan and PJ Searsy(PJ is the director of the Waxahachie Community Theater.) I heard some Hippy look'n fellas sing about making love under the catfish moon. Absolutely great fun! I noticed a fella named Harold had been sitting in the back playing a saxaphone since I had left 3 hours earlier. Harold added a nice compliment to the songs. I believe he is in his 80's and I thought I heard was Randy's Granpa. My favorite song was the one about "if want to ride with the devil he'll be wanting to drive". Something like that. I really enjoyed the lyrics and the music. I am really looking forward for the songwriter's concerts to catch on. Hopefully we can get some writers to write about the rich History of Ellis County.


Tredway plans on having the Songwriter Concerts once a month from now on beginning with the July 5, 2008 performance.

“The songwriters that we have been talking about performing at Chautauqua are excited about performing there because of the history of the place. People like Will Rogers have performed there,” Tredway said. “We have had nothing but support from the city and we believe that we can make this happen. However, we need the community supporting us by coming out to the event.”-Randy Tredway

http://www.tredwayandfriends.com/

REMAINING SONGWRITER'S CONCERT DATES
AUGUST 16TH
SEPTEMBER 6th
OCTOBER 11th
NOVEMBER 8th
DECEMBER 13th
2009
JANUARY 10th
FEBRUARY 14th
MARCH 14th
APRIL 11TH
MAY 9TH
JUNE 13TH
JULY 11TH
AUGUST 8TH
SEPTEMBER 12TH
OCTOBER 10TH

NOVEMBER 14TH

DECEMBER 12TH