Claiborne Kyle Log House

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Claiborne Kyle Log House. Now, before we talk about the house itself, understand what it took to get here. Colonel John Claiborne Kyle and his wife Lucy, born a Bugg, were Tennessee people by nature.

They made their way to the Republic of Texas from Mississippi in 1844, and if you know anything about that era, you know that was not a casual Sunday drive. That was a commitment. That was a statement.

They didn't build right away. They looked, they waited, they planted roots the slow way. It was 1850 when they purchased land here, and once they did, they got to work.

What they built was a four-pen dog trot log home, and they built it right. Hand-hewn cedar logs, fitted together with the kind of care that says you intend to stay. And stay they did, on a piece of ground that sat along the Austin to San Antonio stage route.

Coaches rolling past, travelers catching a glimpse of that cedar log home and moving on. The Kyles stayed. The Colonel was not a quiet man in the community.

The marker calls him an active political leader, and you can feel that energy when you learn what else is attached to this family. John and Lucy Kyle had five sons who went off to serve in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Five sons.

From one household. One of those sons was Captain Ferg Kyle. And that town you just passed, or the one sitting about four miles to the northeast, the town of Kyle, that town bears his name.

Lucy Kyle did not live to see the war's end. She died in 1863. The Colonel followed her in 1867.

But that hand-hewn cedar house stood on, and it stands still, a reminder, as the marker puts it, of a prominent pioneer family who came from Tennessee, crossed through Mississippi, arrived in the Republic of Texas, and left their name on the map in letters that aren't going anywhere.

What the marker says

Col. John Claiborne Kyle (d. 1867) and his wife Lucy (Bugg) (d. 1863), natives of Tennessee came to the Republic of texas from Mississippi in 1844. they built this four-pen dog trot log home soon after they purchased land here in 1850. Constructed of hand-hewn cedar logs, it was located on the Austin-San Antonio stage route. An active political leader, Kyle had five sons who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, including Capt. Ferg Kyle, for whom the town of Kyle (4 mi. NE) was named. The Kyle house now serves as a reminder of this prominent pioneer family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982