Gun Barrel City: A small Texas town with origins having little to do with firearms

GUN BARREL CITY, Texas — Sandra Ward is met with a calm but steady wind as she opens the screen door to head out to her garden.

“This is our all-around favorite plant that we planted,” Sandra said. “It is a pink shavon althea.”

Just beyond her garden are a row of homes where Eastwood Island meets the bank of Cedar Creek Lake. When her late husband Thomas "Buddy" Ward moved to the area in the '60s, Sandra says he and his father decided to build just off the edge of what would become the Cedar Creek Reservoir. It was still under construction at the time.

“Eastwood Island had no homes. This is the first home in Eastwood Island,” Sandra said. “But this is after four add-ons.”

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