A short distance from where State Highway 62 meets U.S. Highway 96 sits a small white house painted with bright blue polka dots. Located in the small town of Buna, about 40 minutes north of Beaumont, this landmark was built by my grandfather, Virgil Newton Davis.
Some say this eccentric piece of history put Buna on the map.
I’m the daughter of Virgil’s third son, Jud. I grew up on a family homestead in Buna until I was 14. Although I never had the opportunity to meet my grandfather, as a child I heard all kinds of stories about him.
Family described him as a hardworking man of few words with an odd sense of humor who loved his coffee black and bitter. I soaked up stories about his adventures throughout the Southwest, busting broncos before settling in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, where he became a rancher and a father of six.
But he’s a Texan through and through, and my Texas roots run deep because of Granddaddy. He was born in Newton County, in the Old Laurel community, in 1896. Although he left the state as a teenager, he returned just as the U.S. entered World War II, making his way to Buna with his family in tow.
In 1948, he built the Buna Polka-Dot House, a home that would become a part of my family’s legacy. Virgil took inspiration from Native American homes that dotted the stark plains of Oklahoma. Those homes were colorfully embellished with petroglyphs and other designs. He decided to bring some of that color to the area just outside the Golden Triangle.
I often think about this modest structure, made of lath and plaster stucco and covered in blue dots applied with an old cloth attached to a two-by-four. Was he trying to create a bright spot among the dust and gray that was still clouding most of the South in the aftermath of the war and the Great Depression, or was this stoic man really just a jokester at heart? Maybe it was both.
Personally, I like to imagine him as a jokester. I mean, he was building a duplex with plans to paint horseshoes and teardrops on either side when he suddenly passed away in 1950. If that décor didn’t make people laugh, what would?
Decades later the Buna Polka-Dot House is as meaningful to this small community as it is to my family. It’s the backdrop of many community events, was the home of the chamber of commerce for a period and was the subject of many pieces of folk art.
My only wish is that Granddaddy had lived long enough to see how cherished it has become.
