Claiborne House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Claiborne House, out in Marion County. Now, every good house has a story behind it, and this one starts the way the best Texas stories do, with a man a long way from home. Volney H.

Claiborne came out of Virginia, a Civil War veteran, and somewhere along the way he met a woman named Lucy A. Perry. They married on December 15, 1864, and that right there is where the foundation of this story gets poured.

Then, eleven years on, in 1875, Volney built the house. And not just any house. He built it in the late Greek Revival style, which, the marker will tell you plainly, is uncommon in Texas.

You don't see a lot of it out here on these roads. But here's the thing worth noticing: the house closely resembles the nearby home of Lucy's father, William Perry. Draw your own conclusions about what a man will do to make a woman feel at home.

The house itself is a one and a half story structure, with a small front porch, a flat roof over that porch, and two square columns standing their post. The main roof is pitched, and on both the north and the south sides of the house, larger porches stretch out with sloped roofs and square columns of their own. It is, by any measure, a considered piece of work.

Volney and Lucy raised eight children inside those walls. Eight. The house held all of it, the noise, the growing, the years stacking up one on another.

Volney died in 1897, and the property passed on to their descendants. The house kept standing. Some things are built to outlast the builder, and the Claiborne House, quiet on the Texas landscape in a style that was never quite supposed to be here, is one of them.

What the marker says

Volney H. Claiborne, a Civil War veteran from Virginia, married Lucy A. Perry on December 15, 1864. In 1875, Volney built this house in the late Greek Revival style. Although the style is uncommon in Texas, the house closely resembles the nearby house of Lucy's father, William Perry. The one and a half story house has a small front porch with a flat roof and two square columns. The main roof is pitched and there are larger porches on the north and south sides of the house with sloped roofs and square columns. The couple had eight children while living in the house. Volney died in 1897 and the property went to their descendants. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2016