This delightful and incredibly detailed miniature town was created by Pete Chanack several decades ago, seen in the last photo with his wife Dorothy. Sadly, they are both dead now. My dad and Pete were great friends. My dad owned a drapery and upholstery shop in Austin and brought fabrics and wood scraps to Pete for his buildings. Almost everything in the buildings was fabricated by Pete, even all the shingles on the roofs were hand made. Pete and Dorothy traveled to various art shows to sell and for fun. My dad was given a couple of these and bought the rest.

Pete was a retired oil field wildcatter when he started making these. He was a stubborn Cajun and occasionally gruff. He told stories of his work all over the world. Many times he worked in dangerous and primitive placess. He maybe the toughest man I ever met. Twice, when I knew him, he broke bones and had Dorothy set them. The first time he tried to jump into his car that had begun to roll, slid under the wheels and broke his leg. The second time he was removing mustang grape vines from his oak trees and one snapped off too quickly while he climbed it! He was a talented and interesting man, he was close to 90 when he died. His hair never turned gray!

This town has been kept in a non-somking household.