Bourland-Stevens-Samuell House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm going to tell it to you. There's a house sitting in Hunt County that has been quietly watching Greenville grow up around it, and friend, that story goes back further than the house itself. Let's start at the very beginning, because this one earns it.

A man named M. H. Wright once owned the land.

Wright donated a site for the town of Greenville, and he deeded land to a Colonel James Bourland. Now Bourland, in 1854, gave that land to his daughter. His daughter was Virginia B.

Stevens. Write that name down in your memory, because Virginia is the one who really makes this story move. In 1883, Virginia B.

Stevens built the house. A southern colonial structure, the kind that carries itself with a certain unhurried dignity. And here's the detail that gets me every time: part of an earlier house was incorporated right into the new one.

Walls within walls. History folded into history. Virginia eventually gave the home to her daughter, Berta V.

Samuell. And Berta, in 1912, sold it to a man named C. A.

Leddy. Three generations of women carrying this place forward, and every owner along the way counted among the leading citizens in the town's history. The land helped start Greenville.

The house watched it grow. Some places just have that kind of gravity.

What the marker says

Built in 1883 by Virginia B. Stevens, daughter of Col. James Bourland, on land deeded him by M. H. Wright, joining site Wright donated for Greenville. Bourland gave land to daughter in 1854. Part of her earlier house was incorporated into this southern colonial structure. Mrs. Stevens gave home to daughter, Berta V. Samuell, who sold to C. A. Leddy in 1912. Owners have been leading citizens in the town's history. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969