Home Care In Fredonia, TX

The athletic department of Stephen F. Austin State University will launch its own whiskey, Stone Fort Bourbon, this August to celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary, the department announced Wednesday.

The athletics department will debut Stone Fort Bourbon in collaboration with Sisterdale Distilling Co., which will produce the whiskey. Sisterdale is located in Houston, Texas, about 150 miles south of the university.

“We are extremely excited to be able to launch this partnership with Sisterdale Distilling Co., and our very own bourbon that celebrates the history and beauty of East Texas. This has been an extremely collaborative effort with Sisterdale, and I am confident that ‘Jack Nation will enjoy this bourbon product,” Director of Athletics Ryan Ivey said. “There are very few institutions with officially branded bourbon/whiskey partnerships. I am very appreciative of the work of our staff, our partners with Learfield/CLC and, of course, Sisterdale and the statewide businesses that will carry this great product.”

Stone Fort Bourbon will officially launch 5:30-7 p.m. July 28 at the Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches, Texas, near the campus. The event will be free to attend and will feature live music, appetizers and giveaways.

The bourbon will go on sale in the area beginning Aug. 1. On the same date, the university will launch the Centennial Stone Fort campaign, which will aim to raise money for the athletics department. Multiple donation levels will be available and will be “accompanied by Stone Fort related gifts,” the athletics department said, with the first 100 bottles of Stone Fort Bourbon made available as gifts based on giving levels and availability.

Stephen F. Austin Athletics encourages fans to visit liquor stores throughout Texas to request Stone Fort. The product will be distributed by Republic National Distribution Company, which will make it available in restaurants and bars across the region and then the state.

About Stone Fort Bourbon

Stone Fort is a high-rye straight bourbon aged at least 2.5 years, filtered and bottled in Texas. Stone Fort exits the barrel at 120 proof and is bottled at 96 proof.

“We are dedicated to making one thing: delicious bourbon,” Sisterdale Distilling Co. said. “We painstakingly handcraft every drop of our bourbon and you will taste the difference. To capture a bit of Stone Fort’s history in every glass of Stone Fort Straight Bourbon Whiskey was a partnership that made great sense to us.”

Nose: Buttered popcorn with rum-soaked dried fruit and candy corn

Taste: A creamy feel of brown butter caramel and coffee cake

Finish: A lingering finish of cinnamon and applesauce. The finish is long and smooth with a balanced taste of sweet fruit and strong undertones of vanilla and spice.

The History of Stone Fort

Stone Fort Bourbon is named for Old Stone Fort, a mercantile house built from iron ore in 1779. The building traded hands several times. Over the years, it served as a business catering to indigenous tribes, various government facilities, headquarters for Col. José de las Piedras during the Texas Revolution, a courtroom and a commercial building. It was dismantled in 1902, but a replica was built on the Stephen F. Austin campus in 1936 thanks to the funding of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Today, the Old Stone Fort Museum is open to visitors and hosts exhibits.

University whiskey releases are unusual, although not unheard of. In April, South Carolina-based Furman University debuted a bourbon named “FU All The Time.”

Join the Whiskey Raiders Bottle of the Month Club, where you will receive hard-to-find bottles curated by Whiskey Raiders staff with a 90+ rating on whiskeyraiders.com plus live virtual tastings. Sign up here!

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It's common for weddings to end with a relaxing getaway, but what if they started with one too? That's the idea behind destination weddings, which combine a vacation with the vows, and you don't always have to travel far to enjoy the benefits of being away from from it all while saying "I do."

Take Nacogdoches, for example. The oldest town in Texas is brimming with historical charm and only two hours from Houston, most of that a bucolic drive through national forests. Once there, you and your wedding party can practically take over the town, enjoying the locally owned restaurants and shops, historic town square, and multitude of outdoor activities.

But for your home base, The Fredonia Hotel should be No. 1 on your list. This midcentury modern boutique hotel is where the big city meets East Texas, with everything you need to pull off the big day of your dreams.

A recent renovation to the tune of $18 million means that the hotel features all the luxe amenities and modern conveniences you could ever need, surrounded by original features that speak to the property's fascinating past.

There are four ballrooms from which to choose, with the largest able to accommodate up to 1,000 guests. Projectors, video screens, ceiling-mounted speakers, and wireless microphones are all available to really get the party started, with trained staff on hand to help keep everything running smoothly.

The event staff is also available in advance to help plan and coordinate everything down to the smallest detail, including the full catering service that's able to make your culinary dreams come true.

Of course, group rates will make it easy to have your nearest and dearest by your side. Guests can relax in any of the hotel's 100 stylish rooms, lounge by the kidney-shaped pool, or catch up at the two restaurants and bar. Revel in azalea season in the spring, when an explosion of color blooms throughout the town and the weather is wedding-album perfect.

You can fill out a request for proposal here, or learn more about The Fredonia Hotel by visiting its website. It might be the easiest part of planning your wedding, and definitely the most fun.

The Fredonia School of Music has assembled an exciting lineup of guest conductors and professional musicians to work with students and present a series of concerts and opera performances during the 2022-2023 academic year that promise to be memorable.

"We are thrilled to welcome this amazing group of artists to campus to work with our students," said School of Music Interim Dean Laura Koepke. "These musicians bring a wealth of knowledge, mastery and experience to Mason Hall, and will provide our students with invaluable opportunities for meaningful growth."

The Fredonia College Symphony Orchestra will welcome two conductors, Jaman E. Dunn and Tamara Dworetz.

The College Symphony Orchestra's first concert of the year will be under the baton of Mr. Dunn, most recently the assistant conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, in King Concert Hall on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m., during Homecoming Weekend. The performance will feature the greatly anticipated local premiere of Avner Dorman's Double Concerto for Cello and Piano featuring Fredonia's Drs. Natasha Farny (cello) and Eliran Avni (piano). The performance is free and open to the public. A reception with the artists and composer will follow.

Dunn currently serves as artistic director of the Buffalo Master Chorale and is the founder and music director of Polaris Orchestra.

Ms. Dworetz, who will be on campus in the spring semester, was the only U.S. semifinalist this year in the prestigious La Maestra Paris Conducting Competition and Academy for Women Conductors. She recently served as assistant conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra at the London Proms, Austin Symphony Orchestra and Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and will make her debut with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2022-2023 season.

Additional information about the campus visit by Dworetz will be announced when it is available.

The Fredonia Chamber Orchestra will welcome Nikki Chooi, concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, during the fall semester, and Jordan Frazier, co-principal bassist with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to coach, lead and play with Fredonia students in a chamber orchestra setting.

Fredonia alumnus Andrew Bisantz, '95, artistic director and conductor at Eugene Opera, returns to his alma mater this fall to lead Fredonia's Hillman Opera performances. A versatile musician acknowledged for his passionate and commanding leadership from the podium, Mr. Bisantz is building an impressive roster of credits at leading national orchestras and opera companies throughout the country.

As the artistic director and conductor at Eugene Opera, Bisantz has been responsible for the emergence of the company as one of the most noted and important performing arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) - The Fredonia Hotel is in the "home stretch," its management said Monday. The long-awaited reveal and opening is expected to happen in June.

That's close enough that The Fredonia Hotel is accepting reservations from event planners.

The Fredonia Hotel may still look like it's a long way off from catering to its first guests, but general manager John McLaren says crews are now at "the pretty stage."

"So we're really doing some of the fit and finish work," McLaren said. "All the really, backbone, infrastructure is completed and done."

Attention turns to furniture deliveries, paints, carpet, and wall vinyls, which will reflect the mid-century modern look of 1955 when the hotel was built.

Recently, the property was doomed for closure. Richard DeWitt bought it and sunk millions into its restoration.

He's hired his son Bud as hotel manager.

Despite the whirl of construction activity, site visits are now underway.

"Different associations, forestry department, SFA athletics," DeWitt said. "There's a lot of people we've shown the space to just to kind of give them an idea. At the point right now, you definitely have to have the imagination and kind of listen to where our focus is going."

And they're sold. Event planners are signing up at least a year in advance.

"We have some for 2019 as well, so they get ahead of the ball and that's just something we want to go ahead and be able to do get those people lined out," DeWitt said.

Smaller groups, couples, and individuals wanting to just spend a night or two in the hotel will have to wait to make their reservations. That probably won't happen until May.

The DeWitts call the hotel refurbishing a gift to Nacogdoches. The responsibility can be overwhelming as the community anticipates the big reveal.

"There's definitely that stress, but at the same time, you know, since we're doing for the community, we're doing it for people to get some more memories," DeWitt said. "It definitely has some comforting side as well."

This summer, the doors will open. It's then when The Fredonia Hotel will need even more community support. The goal is to keep it up and running and let it be as good as it can be.

The best place to arrange a site visit or plan a banquet, convention or event is at The Fredonia Hotel website.

NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) - It's official. As of Tuesday morning, the once-foreclosed Hotel Fredonia in Nacogdoches has a new owner.

It now belongs to business man and restaurant owner Richard DeWitt who completed the $2 million purchase.

He plans to spend at least another $9 million for a total renovation.

Until recently, Dewitt has remained quiet about the investment, but he opened up Tuesday about how he plans to save the 60-year-old icon in the Oldest Town in Texas.

DeWitt has completed many successful business deals, but for him nothing compares to the one he made Tuesday morning.

"I never bought a hotel before, so it was a little bit different," DeWitt said.

Right down to needing his state representative to pass a bill for needed revenue.

"I want to thank Travis Clardy for getting the bill passed to help us to retain hotel occupancy tax money and sale tax money to help this hotel survive, and I don't know; without it if I would have done this," DeWitt said.

The Nacogdoches native's nostalgia also helped seal the deal.

"I just remember being underneath this stair when I was a kid. I like this hotel," DeWitt said. "I like Nacogdoches and I just want to make it better for everybody."

As part of the renovation, all of the old furniture will be moved out of the Hotel Fredonia and sold at a later date.

"We'll be moving furniture out and putting it in the convention center, and we'll have a sale in a couple of weeks selling antiques and artifacts and pieces of furniture we have around here," DeWitt said.

The plan is to have a completely renovated hotel up and running in about 10 months.

"All the rooms will be new," DeWitt said. "The lobby will be new. New restaurants. New bar. Everything will be new. There's kind of new decor type now called mid-century modern and that's what they did with the modern buildings in the 50s, so that's what we're going to try to make it look like, the 50s."

The long process of opening a hotel is teaching DeWitt something new.

"I realize how much I don't know," DeWitt said. "It's a lot more complicated than I gave it credit."

DeWitt said a competent staff will oversee operations.

This is a big year for Richard DeWitt and his wife Barbara.

Their restaurants, Clear Springs and Auntie Pasta's have been named as 2015 Large Business of the Year by the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce. They'll be honored on September 29th.

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