Charles Lewis McGehee Cabin

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what you need to know about the Charles Lewis McGehee Cabin in Hays County. The McGehee family came to Texas from Alabama in 1847. Now, that kind of move takes conviction, and this family had plenty of it.

Then, in 1859, Charles Lewis McGehee Jr. acquired a stretch of property along the San Marcos River. He was born in 1837, and he would live all the way to 1929, so he had time to see a lot of Texas change. But in 1859, he was a younger man with land, a wife, and work to do.

He built a cabin, sitting about half a mile east of where you're standing now, for his wife Sarah Jane, she went by Humphreys before she married him, and for their children. Now here is the part that earns this place a second look. That cabin is one of the oldest existing structures in this part of Hays County.

And it did not go up easy. The fireplace and chimney were built from hand-hewn stone, which means somebody was out there with tools and muscle and patience, shaping rock into something meant to last. It lasted.

About 1870, McGehee moved his family off the farm and into the town of San Marcos, where he turned his hand to a different kind of work, land developer and stock dealer. The farm gave way to the town, but that stone chimney stayed put. Some things you build by hand have a way of outlasting every plan you ever made.

What the marker says

The McGehee family came to Texas from Alabama in 1847. In 1859, Charles Lewis McGehee, Jr. (1837-1929) acquired this property along the San Marcos River. He soon built a cabin (1/2 mi. E) for his wife, Sarah Jane (Humphreys), and their children. One of the oldest existing structures in this part of Hays County, the cabin features a fireplace and chimney of hand-hewn stone. About 1870, McGehee moved his family from the farm into the town of San Marcos, where he worked as a land developer and stock dealer. (1985)