Who owns this house and who built this house??????
It's amazing to see that it is the ONLY structure standing as far as the camera can see.
Who was the engineer/architect?
What kind of building materials did they use?
What kind of reinforcement did they use to keep the structure from wind, and then water damage?
What was the damage outcome for the structure?

I AM astounded!!!!!

I think this house was built over a concrete base, ......it´s an area of mud as you can see in the picture and for the construction they will dig very deep the foundations, reinforced with concrete; and for the rest of the house I think they may use resistant materials like bricks, not wood or "plywood" boards.

(es una zona de fango como se puede ver y habran escavado los cimientos a gran profundidad, con hormigón y materiales resistentes, no maderas ni tableros de "plywood")

the grace of god

I think yhis house is protected by God Himself.

What a great depiction of the damage that a this thing did, omg. And as said before, there must have been a higher power watching over this home for it to be the only thing left standing.

I grew up in Port Arthur, Tx and we went to all of the areas affected by Hurricane Ike. I am heartbroken. I have so many memories and will cherish them forever. It's so sad.

A "higher power"? Give me a break...anyone who thinks their imaginary deity spared this one house for some reason is as dumb as their sky-daddy is a pryck.

This was my moms dream home, she didnt leave until friday morning around 3:30 am with the dogs in her arms and he husband putting the last board on she Kissed the house and said I will see you soon. It is the grace of god the house is still there. My mom stayed at her friends house in Lufkin, Texas they own the green patch of land next to it.

Mr. Schneider

How do you know there isn't a higher power? Also; you spelled "prick" wrong. Give me a break "sky-daddy".

the builders of this house could make a fortune advertising with this image in a few years

I am glad by seeing this picture that this cabin made it (to be honest I expected this one to), but saddened to see my cabin destroyed. I have a very vivid memory of gilchrist and our cabin that was there (3 weeks before ike). I have spent much of my free time in gilchrist for example: fishing in the bay, fishing at rollover, boogie boarding, ticking off the neighbor during fourth of july, cooking, trips to galveston, and just making great memories. This cabin was also the closest thing I had to my grandfather who passed in 2005. It's just shocking to know how quickly something so meaningful and wonderful can be taken away from you in such an instant event. I just hope my favorite village can rebuild and act as if Ike never happened. Also, I will be praying for those who have lost their lives, and for the families who have lost something as close to them, as my families beach cabin was to me.

I'm trying to figure out which side of rollover pass this house is on.?. We lost my dad and my grandparents home in Gilchrist across from the hardware store. My family is in Houston with no power. I can't explain how hard it was telling my dad over the phone about this picture. He was hoping to be able to go down in a few weeks. I had to tell him that there was nothing left to go for. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I can't seem to find any other pics of Gilchrist besides of this house.

The real question is.. This house is still standing 99% intact... after EVERYTHING around it was totally destroyed. Who owns this house? did they survive?

This is the real STORY of this image...

I would like to know more about the owners....and most importantly what religion they practice. For GOD surly holds them dear.

I have also seen the devastation of hiroshima in '45 and one building escaped the nuclear blast.... one building among the ruins still stood and the inhabitants unharmed....research it and you will find out..

IF the owners can drop me a note I would be grateful.

thanks

Marco

To the left of this house use to be the local Baptist church. The house sits on Church street. My home was 6 streets back just past the cedar brush at the top center. It is all gone. They wont let us back down there to even pick up a bottle of soil to remember it by. God bless all my friends lost that said to us as we left on Thursday, "we are leaving in the morning, the storm is still 200 miles out". I haven't heard from any of them since.

I grew up on the coast. Since I was little, my parents, brother and I have been vacationing on the Bolivar Penn. @ Barnett's Cabins (now known as Reynolds Retreat) From what I hear it is completely gone. Sad. My favorite vacation spot is gone.

To the daughter and family who own this house.

I am glad that you wrote a comment here as many here are still in disbelief. Your mother left upon faith that the house would still stand and she would see it again and we all know that Faith moves the hand of God and this picture sure says it all. God Bless You and may others have this same strong faith in our Lord.

Maybe stricter building codes (to withstand Cat 5) along the coast should be required,if they have not been already. That way everytime one of these disasters happens (which seems to be every time I turn around) the Fed Govt isnt having to hand over as much of the taxpayer dollar for those who are willing to build in the face of danger.

trying to locate dear friend Gail Ettenger who lived on Tyrell St. 6 days with no contact. I do know she tried to get out Thursday am but was pushed back by high waves and decided to stay. Obviously from these pictures there are no homes left. If anyone knows anything about Gail pls call me 848-469-6617
She worked for Exxon in Beaumont in the environmental lab, but have had no luck getting to them

How fanatical and heartless can you be to start claiming this house's survival as proof of god and his/her/it's strength?

This is a time of great distress for many people, those with family, friends and memories lost in this disaster. The last thing they and their loved ones need right now is someone shoving in their face relentless words of faith in god. What they really need is people to rally around them and help them in a physical and logical way. Help them with charity (food, water, shelter, clothes), service (advertise yourself as able to help with chasing up leads on missing persons) and providing advice to stablise their plane of living in this world.

To those who lost family and friends in this tragic event, my thoughts go with you and may they rest in peace.

To those fanatical examples of faith gone mad above, you should be ashamed of yourself, one last quick question... If god saved that house, but not the rest... does that mean he hates those who live in the others? Think about what you're suggesting here -.-

I'm sorry for the double post but this just came into mind, I forgot to type this since I was so fuelled up with outrage...

Shannon A, you're right, this is a perfect example of the need for stronger codes. The world witnessed the calamity of new orleans and now ike, both times it has been made clear, radical action must be made. Perhaps building solid obstructions not just on the coast line but also out in the gulf itself, similar to as seen in holland, it may diminish the strength of the waves coming in?

Neil, have you tried contacting any of the people she holds dear nearby? Maybe she got a lift with one of the other residents in the community via other means? If there is some sort town council try contacting them, or even the admins of that town? Perhaps they could help you in tracking her down. Good luck, hope she's alright.

I wonder if that house is supposed to be there!!!

This house was on higher ground than the others. Search the KHOU pics just after the storm to see that everything else is under water.

My beach house was located on the water (front row) not far from this house, in Caplan, next door to Andy, owner of the Firehouse Restaurant (that recently burned.) Our houses, as well as everything around us, is gone. I just personally spent all of last year redecorating it from one end to the other. Sadly, I never took any pictures afterwards. My primary residence in La Porte suffered severe roof damage and we are in the process of packing to move until it can be made inhabitable once again. I heard Claude's Hardware is gone, but I've heard nothing regarding the new school, or the new shopping strip. Anyone know? May God keep us all!

Sorry, meant to say, habitable again.

No, folks, they had a good builder and used good construction methods. Your superstitions remind me of some backwards tribe in deep Africa. Grow up.

This house is a symbol of something. We need to deeply look into the matter and analyze what must have kept this house from destruction. We need to find out why this house didn't go down with the rest of the city. Was it God? Was it the way it was built? There must be a good reason. Were the other houses poorly built? Were these owner devoted more to God then the rests? Did they pray before leaving the house? Were they the only ones that prayed? Where they expecting to receive a huge amount of money from the insurance company and now they don't get anything? What's the deal here? This is not an insolated case. I've seen this happened in other cases where a fierce hurricane wipe up a city except one house. I would like to talk to the owners so they can answer some of these questions.

At this time last month, we stayed at Pelican Landing, owned by a nice lady, Hope Sage, who also had Chance Cottage (next door). Pelican Landing was only the 3rd house on the left after turning right on 87 from 124. I am sure this is a really silly question, but does anyone know about that area - near the "Dirty Pelican" pier. Also, I have not heard from Hope. stasey@gmail.com

Any info is appreciated!

ALL front and second row houses are gone in Gilchrist?

Mr. Harvill, I do not KNOW there is no 'higher power' but if you are in any suggesting the existence of one who would gleefully kill hundreds while sparing one house for some perverse reason, you're insane. Not to say you're alone...in spite of a complete lack of evidence for any supernatural entities, an alarmingly large number of braindead people appear to think they are...one or more of them depending on the brand of religion involved...every one of which is totally certain THEY have the TRVTH and everyone else is wrong (and presumably deserving of some variant of hell.)
I wrote prick as pryck because I assumed this forum was like so many others and would censor the word.

Bravo Mr. Schneider, Bravo
(no this isn't sarcasm)

Mr. Schneider..no matter what your beliefs..your comment regarding a "Sky Daddy" was uncalled for. It was rude and disrespectful

I don't know. To me it seems more rude and disrespectful to claim that your god wiping out hundreds of homes is some kind of miracle.

One house is standing. Grace of god? What about the other homes? Wrath of god?

Besides, it's a building of wood, not a human life. Why would your god care more about one structure than all of the others?

I have no problem with belief in a higher power, but sometimes it just becomes a cartoon.

Ok, is this a real photo? Or a little creative photoshop?
I don't even see any dirt or mud on the porch. Come on!

Why would god spare this house only? Did he have it in for everyone else? Is he that vengeful? So some of you people say that the people of that house must have prayed hard. Does god strike others down for not praying? Aparently so, from your comments. I certainly hope there is no one out there that evil!

Someone emailed me this photo and I thought it was photoshopped. I used to go to Crystal beach when I went to school in Beaumont 10 yrs ago and remember this place. So I decided to do a little research and found the aerial photos at the noaa website and from gilchrist wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Gilchrist_-_east_roll-over_pass.jpg
The jaw drops when you compare this to the before aerial shot still hosted on google maps' satellite image.

Yes. The Higher Power some of you refer to. It is GOD. Yes He has worked miricles in this storm, people HAVE had prayers answered...but please. God gave us all a brain (me thinks!) and some common sense. Noah was advised by The One, The Only, yes God. And He has His reasons for doing what He does. HE ALSO ALLOWS THINGS TO HAPPEN WITHOUT HIS INTERVENTION. Bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people and vica versa. Dont think about it too much it's part of the mystery of His Holiness (we are not meant to understand)It is your faith that matters...Do you believe?
Now about the house. God gave someone a brain and some common sense enough that when he rebuilt a house he built it to withstand something much stronger than the "normal" hurricane. I think that's why we're all here talking about this.

I just saw this house on CNN (AC360). The owner was being interviewed by Anderson Cooper and she indicated that the house is still standing but will need to be demolished....

Are there any other structures left on Church Street - across the highway?

Gilchrist was my boyhood home for many years. Me, my mother and my father lived there in 1978 while my father was receiving cancer treatment at UTMB in Galveston. Gilchrist took me in and wrapped me in a warm blanket during those difficult times and what should have been the worst memories of my life are now some of the best. My father survived the cancer and went on to enjoy 30 more years of life, but passed away this July. I'm glad he did not have to see this happen to Gilchrist. It is as if someone just erased my childhood from the face of the earth. I am so sad.

The house left standing was built recently to withstand a CAT 5 hurricane. As a retired pastor, even I understand that. God gave them wisdom to have it built correctly the first time.

I'm not particularly religious, but the smug, arrogant nastiness of Shneider and his ilk for calling religious people "braindead", etc. is despicable. They (and millions of others) take comfort in their faith, and all you can do is belittle them? How vile and pathetic.

God needs to shake things up every once in a spell. So he send storms in to test the sheeples faith.. Oh lord, whatever we did to displease you we are sorry! Thank you lord for sparing that house, and destroying all the others.. I know it is a part of your divine plan..

Loki you have a lot of nerve for being thankful for our homes being destroyed. Posting such things brings anger to those families that are trying to get through this horrible disaster. Thanks for your support! What a 'godly' thing to say...A number of things can take out houses such as earthquakes, fires etc. It's geographical..This is hurricane season and has been for how many years past?

This was smart planning for hurricane conditions that homes are exposed to on coastal land. Didn't anyone learn from Andrew? Flordia did. Rebuild smart .Follow flordia building codes! God did bless these people with common sense.

I think you're all just blowing your own horn. Life is life and it will either be good or bad to you. If you don't want to face or can't handle tornadoes, hurricanes, tropical storms, earthquakes and whatever else mother nature throws at you, don't live where that type of weather occurs yearly. I live in Upstate New York and some of our winters are awful and yes people here complain about the snow, sleet, freezing rain and the below 0 temperatures in the winter, but if you continue to live here, deal with it and stop complaining or move to another state/climate that would be better for you. JUST STOP ALL THE WHINING...Texas knows that this is hurricane season and if you continue to live there, then deal with whatever mother nature throws your way or get out.

To those who say that "god" had any part in saving this house, you disgust me.

Regardless of anyone's belief in a higher power... To say that god saved this one house, is to say that he allowed ALL of the others to be destroyed.

God had no part in this, only nature.

Uh...hey you religious nut jobs. God did not save this house because there is so much wind and water damage, it is not salvageable. Morons!

Let's not turn this forum into one on religion.

This house is east of Rollover Pass. Near the top, on the left of Hwy 87, there appear to be three 'birdhouses' standing. These small cabins are built super high up on concrete pilings. Beyond that, there is a fairly new pipe (or something) warehouse-type building that still appears to stand. Beyond that, would be my beach house or at least where it used to be. We can't for the life of us get any good satellite images or pictures of the neighborhood of Canal City. I guess we'll wait until the coast is clear. People had driven two hours this morning only to be turned around. No Galveston Co. representatives even bothered to show at the High Island meeting this morning. When asked when Gilchrist would be open, the DP officer said "As soon as the bridge is open. Hell, how did you get to High Island if the bridge is not open - Duh. Very frustrating, indeed.

I lived in Canal City from 1975 to 1985. My dad lived there until 2000. I have a pic of Canal City after the hurricane. Let me know where to send it and I will.

Secret email address - rsb320@comcast.net

Didn't you used to just love it when kids would take off the 'C' from the Canal City sign. I digress. Thanks.

Was your dad a realtor? Mr. H?

Secret email address - rsb320@comcast.net

Didn't you used to just love it when kids would take off the 'C' from the Canal City sign. I digress. Thanks.

My family has owned property on Bolivar for 3 generations. I grew up spending all our vacations here. My dad lives/lived year round at the last driveway before the bridge at Rollover Pass. He has heart trouble now, I cann't imagine he'll rebuild. I feel like I have lost a piece of my past. Aunt Linda, if you read this. Where are you now? I cann't seem to get in touch with Micheal or Margaret to find for an update on everyone. Or better yet could you get Dad to call? Tracy's phone still isn't working.

My email address is KimberlyAClarke69@Hotmail.com. I am trusting the world out there to leave me alone if you aren't my family. Thanks... and I am thinking of all of you.

I am a coastal geologist. I flew most of the Texas coast on 9/15/08 and took a series of photos on Bolivar Peninsula. They can be found in the first link for Hurricane Ike at the following website.

http://texascoastgeology.com/Hurricanemaps.html

I have done geology work on the Bolivar Peninsula and have written a paper about the long term beach erosion there caused by Rollover Pass. That paper can be found at.

http://texascoastgeology.com/papers/surfside.pdf

I live in Port Aransas and feel very lucky that we were spared this one. All of you from Bolivar Peninsula have my sincere condolences at you losses and I hope that the losses are only property and not people.

Richard L. Watson, Ph.D., P.G.

Could i also get a picture from canal city? we have a beach cabin right in that area as well. Jacobs Rest. I would like to see what kind of damage was done, or spared. thank you.

Could i also get a picture from canal city? we have a beach cabin right in that area as well. Jacobs Rest. I would like to see what kind of damage was done, or spared. thank you.

hfqt2002@yahoo.com

Awesome pic but can't for the life of me understand all the religious nuts attributing this to some kind of Godly miracle...Sky daddy...lol for all the space cadets

Not wishing to ignore the real issue here. My heart goes out to all the people who have suffered and lost their homes..Hope the death toll isn't high... Something has to be learned from these tragedies to prepare for future climatic events which will sadly but inevitably happen again.

We have (had) a place across from the Audubon Village "bird Houses" that appear to have survived. We also have not seen good pics of our loss. We would also like to go there and see where our place is or was. Anyone who knows if this is possible, please email me @ dorismartino@cox.net.

WOW! I can't believe some of the comments posted on here. For those of you who are Christian people who believe in God, we all know that God shows himself in various ways. This photo is definately for a non-believing person, he left this house standing with mimimal damage to prove one thing, HE is in control. I can remember back in the day when a tornado came ripping through my grandparents street, it started at the end of the street and basically hopped over houses. There was a couple standing on each street. My grandparents left untouched. God is not a vengeful God, we all know that. But, God does allow things to come to pass in order to see him at work. I feel sorry for those of you on here who still have "NO Faith" in God. As a hurricane Ike survivor, I can say that I wasn't nearly as affected as some people were. The worst thing I can say is I didn't have power for 6 days and had to find food to feed my children, since it was so scarce. I was up at 3:30 when the storm came in. My house shaking, windows sounding as if it the glass was going to blow out any minute. I could hear the whistling of the wind,and signs blowing and hitting the ground. To see the aftermath and what was outside my front door when daylight came,and I can say that I am blessed! I have come to realize, that every day we wake up we are blessed. God has allowed us to get up for a reason, and we need to be thankful that he spared us. I pray the people will recover and get back to their lives, and the people who don't "BELIEVE" will. May GOD bless you all!

There are no neighbors, The house will likely be demolished. No one will return to that area to live so hopefully they are able to recoup every dollar they invested to make this fortress. If they are waiting on insurance money then I doubt it.

My family has vacationed many Labor Day's in Gilchrist and Crystal Beach and we are so sad about it's destruction. I pray for the families of the peninsula. We were last at Cassidy's Hideaway and so loved the house and have great memories of it even though Gustav forced us to leave a day early. If anyone knows the owners of Cassidy's please pass on my email address so I can thank them for the great times their lovely house provided our family and send them pictures we took of their wonderful home. We also stayed at Sunny on Bowers Lane and had a beautiful time.

seekzwizdom@aol.com

Our thoughts and prayers are with all on Bolivar!

could you please send the picture of Canal city? I did have a house their also....but it is gone too. Thanks jcm24@earthlink.net

Jeff, check your inbox.

Actually, God will allow even greater calamities than Ike to persuade some to confess Christ and not be destroyed with Satan and his demons. Really.

bagladye, I am not religious at all, but I find it funny that you claim that god left that house standing because he is in control, I would have to say that the fact that GOD knocked all those other homes down shows that he is in control, lol :O)

The house is standing people because it is well built, wait a minute do I see a picture of jesus in that mud...... LOL!

Yup folks, this is a real house and not any kind of photoshop creation. The owners planned ahead. They searched until they found a builder that knew how to design and build a house that could withstand a cat 5 storm.
It really astounds me the number of people on here that aren't even from the area and yet know it all ......

To me personally, I believe construction companies should use concrete, bricks or cement to build houses. Usually, the houses made in the USA are a bunch of plywood. Go to the Carribean, go to Puerto Rico, when a hurricane comes it can destroy Neon signs, traffic lights, or even shake cars, but the houses remains, you know why? because they are built 100% cement, no gypsen board, no nothing, no wooden roof, everyhting is make out of cement, durable, to last under the worst conditions. USA should do the same, stop building paper houses.

I owned a home also on Church Street. It is now beach. We owned this home for over 27 years. Lots of memories and great neighbors. Pam and Warrens home (the only one left standing) are great people. They are not whining and telling anyone of all the other problems they have been challenged with, Pam a breast cancer survior and Warren currently going through chemo himself for bladder cancer, in addition the cabin that was there before they built this new home was struck by a tornado one month after they purchased it, and they had to tear it down and build the new home. Hope they don't get mad at me for spilling the beans. Yes, these were our great neighbors, and all Pam said was she wanted her hourse, and neighbors back.

And those of you who are bashing God, need to look around and count their blessing.

Well its been two weeks since the ike destroyed this area. Its been hard on everyone, those who lost everything they had and those who lost loved ones the most. My heart goes out to all of you. We used to own a beach house on 991 May street a few years back and there is no evidence it was ever there. It does not matter how many times I look at this picture I still have a hard time believing it and the whole town is gone. I know there are some very nice people from this area and this was your homes. I pray that you keep your heart right with God. There are always going to be trials in our life. We have to keep the faith and believe . He will not give us more than we can handle. My prayers are with you all. God Bless you all and I pray that he will give you the strength to carry on and peace through the journey ahead.

This is the only home that is on the beach side.
Went down there thursday and for those that think this is not a real picture i saw it myself.From hwy 124 to rollover pass there are seven homes including this one and the nine new homes on the that are supposed to be lake fornt.The other six homes are on the bay and from what i could see are badly damaged. The ones calle don the lake were recently built and are way up high but are damaged also.I brought my mom down there and there is almost complete distruction.We found a few of our belongings but most pepole that had homes there will go there to find nothing and it is horrible.Pray for those that are missing .

I believe that God is definitely able to protect those that call on him in times of trouble. However with that said, to imply that this home and its owners are the only ones in this area that God had his hand on during this horrible storm is ridiculous. Rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous. Your faith will not prevent you from getting wet! The God that I serve, the mighty God of Israel, works all things together for good to those that love Him. All things. Both good AND bad. He is the God of those whose homes survived as well as those whose homes were destroyed.
Using the mindset of this families great faith or Noah like righteousness, I would be much more grieved to know that in that entire town, this was the only righteous family in the area...
Sometimes, as Christians, we can say the stupidest things and then wonder why they (unsaved) look at us like we are arrogant, self righteous, morons.

The owners have stated in many interviews that the it was the engineers overseeing the construction that made sure the house was built to code and not the builders. They actually fired their first builder due to workmanship issues.

Last May when we were down there at Reynolds Retreat as we go every year, we were saddened by the fact that they were having to get a petition signed to save RollOver from being taken over by the State. Cause everyone was leaving it in a mess. Now, I think that God was saddened by the fighting that he decided to take it from everyone. It's sad that it takes something like this to make you appreciate what you have. Take care of it when you have it. Now we have nowhere to go next year. Sad!

Hilarious!

"God saved the house??!?"

Maybe the spirit of George Carlin is in me, but... doesn't anyone want to give God credit for Ike, too? Isn't that in His job description?

Okay... okay... so, God was sitting up there, watching His 1000 inch HDTV LCD and He's thinking, "Dang... I think those pests...er, I mean, My children... need a few hurricanes... it IS that time of the year and my Outlook just went off..." So, He took a shot of tequila, sneezed and the hurricanes came. But, because His HDTV is so much better than ours, He saw that house and He said, "You know? WTF. I'll really screw with them and leave THAT house alone. Yeah. Sweet! Hey! JESUS - Boy, put down Guitar Hero and check this out -- I'm going to blow this whole town away but leave that one house! They'll be spending forever trying to figure that one out!" "Dad - you are like, so cool! Are they Jewish?" "Aw Dude! You crack Me up!" "Thanks Dad." "Here - take a swig. It'll put hair on your chest!"

God. For me to believe that God saved that house, I'd have to believe that God is a micromanager. Either that, or He did a half-assed job and didn't quite destroy everything.

BRILLIANT!

I'll bet next hurricane season God leaves a few more houses intact on that same patch of land. Anyone want to take that bet?

Maybe - just maybe - God wants everyone to build houses just like this one so property values can go up and so all the poor people who lived there can get forced out. Did anyone think of that? Maybe God wants a cabin next to Tom Cruise's so he can visit Suri when he's on holiday!

I think God is getting bored with us. We already know Allah is.

Ok... LETS JUST SAY IT WAS NOT SUPERNATURALY PROTECTED BY GOD, SO LETS SAY THE OWNERS PRAYED THAT ONE DAY THEY WOULD HAVE A BEACH CABIN, AND WHEN THE TIME CAME WHEN THEY COULD BUILD IT, THEY PRAYED THEY WOULD FIND THE BEST BUILDER, AND WHEN THEY WERE LOOKING FOR LAND TO BUILD IT ON, THEY PRAYED FOR THE BEST AND RIGHT SPOT OF LAND, SO TO YOU ANTI-CHRISTS, GODS HAND WAS IN IT...

THIS LINK LIST ALL INFO ABOUT THIS ONE HOME STANDS ALONE:

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=gilcrest texas %2Bike %2Bone house stands alone

This is a national News Program about this house:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1058430891551531209&ei=tzfrSMqZJaC4-wG9xfQF&q=gilcrest+texas%2Bike+%2Bone+house&vt=lf&hl=en

This is a list of Google links about this Beach house:

(http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=gilcrest texas %2Bike %2Bone house stands alone)

HERE IT IS AGAIN... I FIXED THE LINK...

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=gilcrest+texas+%2Bike+%2Bone+house+stands+alone