Who to call in Sargent

Just 27 miles down the road from Bay City is an area that many locals call Matagorda County's best kept secret. Sargent Beach is at the end of FM 457, 30 miles south of Highway 35.

The town of Sargent is three miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Its population of 500 residents swells to 5,000 on weekends and during the summer. Sargent was once a hub for cotton, sugar and cattle production; now it attracts fishermen, pleasure craft and hunters to its lush prairies, beaches and wide verdant Caney Creek.

Today, Sargent is a community of quaint beach homes and quiet neightborhoods. It serves as the hub for some of the best fishing in the area.

There are at least six distinct neighborhoods in the Sargent area, each one with its own identify. Some of the neighborhoods were developed in the 1970's when man-made canals were dug to connect the Waterway and nearby Caney Creek, giving nearly all homesites waterfront access. Waterfront property is still available at a reasonable price in Sargent, perhaps one of the last places on the Gulf Coast where that is true. Robertson Realty (409-245-4760) maintains a complete listing of available property.

The community is named for George Sargent, who bought some bottomland in the area in 1844, and built his ranch house between Caney Creek and Cedar Lake. In those days Caney Creek emptied directly into the Gulf, so that during the Civil War Sargent was able to ship his Texas beef and cotton undetected by the north along this water route.

Sargent has long been a cattle raising area. Several large ranches still operate there on the large flat coastal plain that surrounds the community.

Residents were recently honored by the state of Texas for their committment to preserving coastal resources. As a result of their work, an eight-mile long revetment wall was constructed. Built at a cost of $60 million, the wall was designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and constructed by Luhr Brothers Construction of Columbia, Illinois. It took three years to build the buried wall, which is made of huge granite blocks and limestone. The revetment is designed to prevent the Gulf of Mexico from breaching the Intracoastal Waterway.

Sargent has several small businesses to cater to visitors. There are three general merchandise stores, a hardware store, a package liquor outlet, three restaurants, two marinas and numerous drinking establishments. There is also a branch library, a post office and two churches. Guided fishing trips are available from several boat captains in the area.

The Sargent Chamber of Commerce President is Ms. Billie Clays, who can be reached at 409-244-5018.