Durham Ranch House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Hamilton County, there's a two-story rock house that's been standin since 1873, and the man who built it was not exactly the type to sit still. His name was John Jefferson Durham, and if you were keeping score in early Hamilton County, well, J.

J. Durham was runnin up the numbers on just about every front. He built that house himself, a two-story rock colonial residence, solid as the hill country around it.

But the house is just the beginning of the story. Before he built it, before he was an early merchant of general merchandise, before he owned several thousand acres of land, J. J.

Durham had gone and fought in the Civil War. A man comes back from something like that, and some men set down. Durham did not set down.

He became a builder. He became a merchant. He became, by all accounts, a man of great influence in the area.

And here's the detail that I think tells you everything about who John Jefferson Durham was: he was the first to teach school in Hamilton. The first. In a place that was still figurin itself out, still drawin its own borders, this man stood up and said, somebody's got to teach these children, and that somebody is going to be me.

Several thousand acres, a general store, a colonial rock house two stories tall, and a schoolroom. Not bad for one life's work. That house has been standin in Hamilton County since 1873, and if walls could talk, partner, those rock walls would have some stories to tell.

What the marker says

-- from application - Built 1873 by John Jefferson Durham; 2-story rock, colonial residence. J. J. Durham was first to teach school in Hamilton. Owned several thousand acres of land, fought in Civil War, was an early merchant of general merchandise, a builder, and a man of great influence in the area.