James and Geneva Burd started the Burds Nest in Lamarque on Cedar Drive, close to Foreman street where they raised five boys. James Burd worked for the LaMarque ISD and bought a portable school house from an auction LISD had. James had the building more to the property on Cedar Drive. This was the beginning of molding a dream known as “The Burds Nest Antiques & Collectibles”.
Moma Burd was passionate about the past. She appreciated and cherished things from days gone by. This was a time before the Great and Powerful OZ (now known as Google). So with boxes of books, a folded up map from Texaco and a roll of quarters for pay phones, James and Moma Burd went treasure hunting...now known as Picking.
They enjoyed traveling to estate sales and the excitement of finding history. They met so many interesting people. One of the great benefits of this journey was the stories behind the antiques they would find. It was like their very own antique road show. When they were not picking, Pop Burd would recondition antique furniture and moma Burd would clean and fix the small finds. After several years, and health conditions, it was time to really retire.
Moma Burd's son Daniel Burd kept the Burds Nest running for a while but it closed a couple years after that.
In 2010 one of Moma Burd’s other son Michael and wife Angie Burd file the DBA to reopen the business. They had a consignment section at “The Bookish Pelican” in Bacliff, Texas. Angie (known as Burdie) from her days as a R.N. supplied the business with crafting works and some vintage and antique finds.
Michael was the handy man that loved to fix it. In 2011 they bought property on Grand Ave in Bacliff. Then history repeated itself, they found a portable school building from Lee High School in HIDS and had it moved to Grand Ave.
Burdie filled the place with all her passion. One special item was chalk paint. Burdie taught class in the back of the store. These were techniques on how to double layer and stress furniture. She could “Dream in Color”. Burdie and Mike went treasure hunting and their finds were brought back to life for someone to enjoy for any more years. Burdie was the internet Guru and started the first Burds Nest website, Facebook and all the other social links.
Their passion was to give customers real attention to their needs. There were several other resale shops in the Bacliff area at this time and the group organized meetings to work on projects to develop our community as a destination spot for Pickers and shoppers. One of the wonderful satisfactions of The Burds Nest was when a costumer would walk into the store and they would experience their personal pass. They would see items that their mom or grandmother had in their homes. The memories would follow with stories of days gone by. The Burds Nest would benefit from the stories and they might even revel some interesting fact about an item not readily known. This could be folklore or fact. Now the Google search was on!
In 2015 Burdie was diagnosed with cancer. The Burds Nest was closed so they could fight this battle. Angie Burd (Burdie)R.N. passed away in April of 2016.
The Burd’s Nest was reopened for a time in 2017 and then hurricane Harvey came to visit. We kept the shop open on weekends until February 2018 and then I needed to repair Pop Burd’s home from the damage due to flooding.
Here we are in 2021 and COVID has made retail a struggling endeavor. We are open on a regular schedule with advised protocol.
We wish you and yours a safe and healthy world.
