Despite the “open” sign, the Taylor Cafe wasn’t open yesterday morning. (Due to the recent death of pitmaster Vencil Mares, who first opened back in 1948: https://www.taylorprovidencefuneralhome.com/ob…/vencil-mares )
We stopped by so I could take some photos yesterday on the way to Austin from Thorndale. If you’d like to see one of my other “right-place-at-the-right-time” photos from yesterday (taken here), it’s posted on my LSBR Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/lonestarbackroads/ ):
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Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time to get that photo. Yesterday, I was blessed enough to be in the right place at the right time THREE times. This was the second time. To the right is Taylor Cafe, which was operated by World War II veteran Vencil Mares from 1948 until his death on November 24 of this year. Walking inside was like taking a time machine forty years into the past! Mares, who had just celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday on November 10 (and received the key to the City of Taylor) served as a medic in World War II and took part in the D-Day invasions. Up until a few days before his death, he was the first person at work every day and greeted his customers from his spot inside. Over the years, I've read several different articles about Mares; in one of them the interviewer asked: "How many trains do you think you've seen over the years?" "All of 'em," he responded. I'm sure he watched Amtrak's Texas Eagle roll into Taylor in the morning many times, just like it is in this photograph. I just happened to be right here trying to photograph the place from this angle when it arrived! (If you'd like to see one of the other three "right-place-at-the-right-time" photos, head on over to @offscriptroadtrips, which is my new non-Texas-centric Instagram account! The sunset photo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dessau is the third; we just happened to be in the area as the sun was setting.) #tx #texas #texasbbq #txbbq #bbq #building #architecture #cafe #restaurant #train #railroad #amtrak #railfan #williamsoncounty #williamsoncountytx #williamsoncountytexas #taylortexas #taylortx #taylormadetexas #jj_mytexas #latergram #lonestarbackroads
A post shared by Jeremy C. – TX Photos/History (@lonestarbackroads) on Dec 9, 2019 at 5:40am PST
Also, if you’d like to see one of my other right-place-at-the-right-time photos of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dessau, check out my other (new!) non-Texas-centric Instagram account, https://www.instagram.com/offscriptroadtrips/ :
I’m finally getting that one off the ground after a few months of “planning on thinking about starting!”
