Sports
Croquet may appear to be a summertime leisure sport that characters would play on Bridgerton or in The Nice Gatsby, however there was a time when it was a well-liked recreation for everybody. Widespread sufficient, actually, to be an Olympic sport in 1900. Though its heyday has lengthy since handed, it could possibly be making a comeback at this time due to a brand new spot in Fort Price.
4424 White Settlement Rd., Fort Price.
817-214-4500;
stewartscocktailclub.com
In Could, celeb chef Tim Love—recognized for his appearances on reveals like High Chef Masters and The Subsequent Iron Chef, and because the proprietor of Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, White Elephant Saloon, and Lodge Otto, amongst different hospitality spots in Texas—opened Stewart’s, a croquet and cocktails bar alongside Fort Price’s Trinity Path. It has all the things you’d count on from Love: model, magnificence, and nice eats.
Cozy at simply 28 seats, the bar includes a refined inside décor with plush velvet seating; cabinets full of books, croquet balls, and different odds and ends; and a glitzy bar with customized glassware. The menu leans towards elevated bites together with caviar, Texas Blue crab muffins, lobster rolls, and zucchini carpaccio.
Outdoors is the place the true motion takes place. The 15,000-square-foot garden presents two croquet courts that enable as much as 12 gamers per court docket. Stewart’s follows a first-come, first-served coverage, and gamers solely want to attend for these forward of them to complete their recreation.
Inspiration to open Stewart’s got here from childhood reminiscences. “Croquet is a recreation I grew up enjoying with my dad at his farm in Tennessee, and it simply at all times felt like a cool, under-the-radar recreation that’s simple to play with a drink in hand,” Love says. However, he provides, there’s additionally a sensible want: “In Texas summers, we wish to be open air however not working marathons.”
A high-end cocktail bar with a croquet garden might give off nation membership vibes, however Stewart’s is way from pretentious. Video games are congenial and informal—and completely free. Folks can spend a day enjoying an old school recreation whereas sipping signature cocktails just like the Croquet Cup, a mix of rosé, Lillet, raspberry coulis, lemon, and mint, or a vodka or gin martini from the bar’s Martini Cart.
Although Stewart’s is the one croquet bar in Texas to date, you’d be mistaken in the event you thought Texans and croquet have been an odd combine. There’s a historical past of the sport performed right here. Legend has it that in 1900, members of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch have been enjoying a recreation of croquet in Concho County at Ben Kilpatrick’s guardian’s place when a cowboy named Oliver Thornton arrived from a close-by ranch. Why he showed up is unclear, however the Wild Bunch’s croquet recreation ended when one (or extra) members shot Thornton lifeless.
A search on The Portal to Texas Historical past ends in black-and-white pictures of College of North Texas students enjoying the sport in 1942 and firefighters having fun with it within the Nineteen Seventies. There’s even a photograph offered by the Danish Heritage Preservation Society of men and women in fits, attire, and jackets braving the warmth to play video games of croquet in what seems just like the late 1800s.
Croquet has a more moderen presence in Texas, too. In October 1991, the Worldwide Croquet Affiliation hosted its third annual Masters of Croquet match on the accredited croquet garden of the Loews Anatole Lodge in Dallas (at this time the Hilton Anatole). Twenty-four professionals from Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Eire, Canada, the UK, and the US competed for a $30,000 money purse and prizes.
4 years later, the eXtreme Croquet Society shaped in East Texas when constitution members have been on a retreat within the Piney Woods. They created an excessive model of the game by inserting wickets in troublesome spots within the woods leading to more difficult programs. Tournaments for the eXtreme Croquet Society fizzled out round 2007, however there are nonetheless some gamers in East Texas who collect for sporadic video games.
Immediately, you’ll find croquet performed at Austin’s Commodore Perry Property, which hosts Croquet and Rosé on its decrease garden each Saturday within the spring and summer time for in a single day friends and members. Each Houston and Dallas have their very own croquet associations, and there’s a Fb web page for Croquet Texas.
In accordance with John Brown, president of the Houston Croquet Affiliation and first vice chairman of the US Croquet Affiliation, there are over 100 members within the Houston affiliation and over 130 gamers statewide which might be a part of the USCA.
“Texas does boast plenty of very achieved gamers in aggressive croquet which have gained nationwide and worldwide titles,” he says. In actual fact, Brown was USCA Rookie of the Yr in 2012.
Brown finds individuals are drawn to the game as a result of they’re not restricted by age, it’s “pretty simple” to play in opposition to gamers at different ranges, and, relying on gamers’ abilities and techniques, video games can construct in complexity. Others, he provides, benefit from the camaraderie of the video games or discover curiosity in new tendencies within the sport, like Golf Croquet. Brown picked up croquet after a knee damage from faculty lacrosse made him unable to play sports activities like tennis, lacrosse, or soccer competitively. “Putting a croquet ball with precision and accuracy mimicked video games like golf and tennis, and I wished to enhance as I loved the lawns and the sport a lot,” he says.
As for croquet being an amazing summertime sport, Brown says, “Croquet is a recreation that everybody can play collectively. There are few sports activities that provide this kind of lowkey pleasure.”
It’s nonetheless too quickly to know if Love is onto one thing, however he believes Stewart’s, with its trendy makeover of croquet, will appeal to people on the lookout for summertime enjoyable with sport, meals, and drinks in Fort Price. “Croquet’s an old-school recreation, however we’re serving it up with customized martinis and caviar bumps. That blend of grit and luxurious, of enjoyable and finesse—that’s Fort Price in a nutshell,” Love says.
It’s already attracted the eye of croquet aficionados like Brown, who noticed an commercial for Stewart’s and has plans to drive up with buddies for rounds of croquet and cocktails.
Enter your e-mail to bookmark Texas Highways tales and plan future journey.
Welcome again! Would you prefer to bookmark this story?
The e-mail deal with will not be signed up. Would you prefer to subscribe to our emails?
By clicking ‘Signal Up,’ you conform to obtain e-mail communications from Texas Highways. You possibly can opt-out at any time by clicking ‘Unsubscribe’ on the backside of any message. Learn extra in regards to the varieties of emails we ship on the Newsletter web page.
Thanks for signing up. Click on the ‘Save Story’ button under to bookmark this story.
You don’t have any bookmarks at present saved. Save a narrative to return again to it anytime.
Road Trips
Road Trips
Lodging
Join our newsletters and by no means miss a second of what’s taking place across the state.
Because the official journey journal of Texas, Texas Highways encourages journey to and inside the Lone Star State and tells the Texas story to readers around the globe.
©2008-2025. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy.
