DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Somewhere in Houston County, there stands a house — built in 1835 by a man named A. E.
Gossett, who'd earned himself a large land grant from Mexico. Typical southern plan, the marker says, with a separate kitchen out back in the yard. Nothing too flashy.
Just a solid piece of the Texas frontier, put together the year before everything changed. Now, you'd think that alone would be enough to earn a marker. But then the marker drops something else on you — quiet, almost casual — and that's where the story gets its weight.
Early 1836, a visitor came through. A former Tennessee neighbor of Gossett's. Came with his company, made camp for a night at the spring nearby.
That visitor was Colonel David Crockett. On his way to the Alamo. Think about that for just a moment.
One night at the spring. A man who'd come all the way from Tennessee, passing through Houston County, stopping at the home of someone he'd known before Texas was Texas. By early 1836, nobody in that camp knew how the road ahead would end — but we do.
And so every board of that 1835 house, every step of that separate kitchen, carries the echo of a night when Crockett and his company rested at the spring, before riding on toward San Antonio. Some places hold history like a still pond holds the sky. The Gossett home is one of them.
What the marker says
House of typical southern plan, with separate kitchen in back yard, Built 1835 by A. E. Gossett, owner of large land grant from Mexico. An early 1836 visitor was former Tennessee neighbor, Col. David Crockett, on his way to the Alamo, and camping with his company for a night at the spring nearby.