Drive an Hour East of Longview, TX to Sleep in a Charming Ship Wreck Cottage
ARRRGGHHHH, Mateys! Have you ever dreamed of staying the night in a ship wreck?
Well, you don’t have to leave East Texas to have the experience. A short hop, skip and a jump from Longview, a short hour drive in truth, is where you’ll find ‘Ship Wreck #7’ from Hodge Podge Cottages.
Locating a shipwreck in Uncertain, TX… yes, that’s the actual name of the town near Karnack and Caddo Lake, sounds a bit like looking for the Bermuda triangle. I assure you it's safer. If you’ve never traveled to the area, you’re in for a treat.
Caddo Lake is a natural lake, and the views are extraordinary. It’s like traveling back in time to a pre-historic era. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the earliest inhabitants of Caddo Lake lived there 12,000 years ago. Naturally uprooted trees began blocking the Red River in the late 1700’s and created the Lake, which became known as Caddo Lake, named for the Caddoan people.
It’s quite the place to explore, and unlike anywhere else. I find it to be quite mysterious with it’s swamp-like qualities and towering moss draped bald cypress trees. The Shipwreck is not the only thing Insta-worthy!
The lake is not the only history you’ll find.
According to Hodge Podge Cottages, the shipwreck cottage has a unique story of its own.
"The hull is made of steel from deck plate steel that was used in boxcars to carry ammunition that was unloaded with forklifts for the Longhorn U. S. Army Ammunition Plant in Karnack, TX during WWII.
These railroad cars were built in 1952 in Illinois. The handrails are made from 1” pipe that was the air lines for the brakes on the railroad cars. It is 36 feet long, has 2 decks and weighs 9-l/2 tons. It has 250,000 ft. of electric wire inside it’s hull.
This is the third houseboat built by Gary Summers of Karnack and was built like a Sherman tank especially for Caddo Lake, because of the stumps and cypress knees. Gary started this boat in his front yard and 14 months later – on Dec. 26, 1988, launched it at the TX 43 bridge ramp and spent 3-4 months more completing it."
The current owners purchased it in 1999, with the intention of keeping it as a floating houseboat cottage.
In 2005, they came up with the idea of moving the houseboat out of the lake and making a cottage on land. After extensive collaboration and construction with local experts, Cottage No. 7 ‘The Shipwreck’ housed its first guests in October of 2005.
Will you be it’s next guest?
You’ll need to book at least two nights. It sleeps four people with two guest rooms, a fully equipped kitchen, full bathroom, and covered pavilion with a picnic table and charcoal BBQ pit. You’ll have a lake view adn can enjoy an outdoor fire pit.
Will you get shipwrecked in Uncertain?