Alvie Cole Ranch
Sterling City, TX
(There is no address or Google Maps link here because I am unsure of the status of the site.)
Date Visited: Unknown
UPDATE: (A Memorial) I first visited Cole Ranch in 2010 and had the great pleasure of speaking with Alvie Cole. I am aware that Mr. Cole passed away in 2013. I have not returned to the location of the ranch. It is possible (even probable) that it is no longer what it was when I visited. It was amazing and so was Mr. Cole. Legacy.com does have his obituary here. Please visit to learn more about this man. Despite speaking with Mr. Cole for at least 90 minutes, I don’t recall a single minute of Mr. Cole speaking about himself or his many accomplishments (detailed in his obituary). It turns out I was in the presence of even more greatness than I realized at the time. I did know that I had the good fortune of a wonderful visit with a great person. Rest in Paradise, Mr. Cole. Thank you for making this nomad’s experience a lot better and creating an everlasting memory for me!
WOW… what a place. I’ll start off by saying that I took over 80 photographs here. Everyplace you look there was more to see. Cole Ranch was a surprise. I just happened to see it as I as traveling from one place to another! The ranch is out in the middle of nowhere, as we used to say. This place was not on my radar at all. I hadn’t seen any internet sites on it or about it. Nobody had told me to watch for it. I was just driving north on US 87 in Texas, and saw it there. So I made a U-turn and stopped at the side of the road.
As I was taking photographs from the roadside, I saw someone on the porch waving me in. I walked up to the porch and met Alvie Cole. He was a man who had lived his life and had nothing to prove. He had no one to impress. He was amazing. Dressed in a bathrobe, he was comfortable, without worry of appearance or impression. He and his dog, sat with me on the porch. I can’t even express how immediately comfortable and pleasant the conversation was.
I sat in a rocker on the porch with Mr. Cole and Freckles, the dog, for an hour and a half. We spoke of many things, including the things on the ranch, but the more interesting conversation was him telling his life story, including living during the depression, ranch life, current and past conditions of the U.S. and just generally, “life.” Mr. Cole told me he was a widower, having lost his wife a few years ago.
The various items were made, collected and placed by Mr. Cole over many years. There are silhouette sculptures of the old west, mock up buildings like the old saloon, jail and general store/Post Office and just an incredible array of items.
I could write pages and pages on this visit, but for now, will let the photos speak for me. I apologize for the load time. It’s a trade off, make the pictures smaller or lower resolution in the interest of speed, or keep the quality up and hope you don’t leave instead of waiting! All in all, a wonderful, informative, great visit. Take a look at the slide show. Drop me comments or questions and I’ll try to answer. The photos in the slide show below do not begin to do justice to the place. Just a great day, great visit and great man.
By the way, in speaking with others later in the day… this place is apparently AMAZING at Christmas time. If you happen to be in the area… send me pics!!!
As always, THANK YOU for the visit. I welcome and appreciate comments (at the bottom of every page/post) and/or EMAILS. Please feel free to SUBSCRIBE (free or voluntary donation) to this site. If you enjoyed your visit, learned anything, or feel like helping the site out a little, I would love it if you shared our site with friends and family. If you don’t like this site ***GASP*** then you should spam your enemies with it LOL. Hey, any traffic helps! You can also DONATE to keep this dream alive. I always give 50% of all (net) donations and (net) profits from any source to charity as my way of giving thanks and sharing my good fortune.
Thanks again!
Joe
