Halfway Inn (Flournoy - Granberry House)

Duane's take

The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. Now settle in, because this story's got stagecoaches, a postmaster, a house that couldn't quite stay put, and a piece of the old El Camino Real holding it all together. Around 1840, a man named Samuel Flournoy built a two-story log dwelling right on the El Camino Real.

He'd come from Mississippi with his wife Minerva, she was a Wadington before she married him, and their family. They put down roots in the Chireno area and purchased three hundred acres of Texas ground. Now that was just the start of it.

Flournoy was not the kind of man to sit quietly on his porch. He became an active member of the community, and in 1843 the Republic of Texas appointed him postmaster. When Texas joined the United States, he kept right on serving as postmaster under the United States Postal Service.

That house on the El Camino Real became the post office for a fifteen-mile radius. Think about what that means out here. Fifteen miles in every direction, this was the place people came to.

And it wasn't just mail bringing folks to the door. The road between Nacogdoches and San Augustine ran right past, and the stagecoaches knew a good halfway stop when they found one. Popular, they call it on the marker, and you can believe that.

Good water, solid walls, a dogtrot down the middle letting the breeze through, two rooms wide and one room deep, hewn square-notch logs holding the whole thing up two stories tall. By the time the Flournoys had acquired an additional five hundred acres on top of their original three hundred, they apparently decided they'd done what they came to do. In 1852 they sold the property and moved on.

The house changed hands several times after that, as old houses tend to do, until 1917 when H. R. Granberry purchased it.

His family held onto it all the way until 1981. That's a long time for one family to keep a piece of history in their hands. But here's where the story gets a little strange.

In 1984, somebody moved the house. Twelve miles east of Nacogdoches. Now I don't know what prompts a person to relocate a log house that's been sitting on the El Camino Real since 1840, but it happened.

And then, as if the house itself had opinions about the matter, in 1988 it was returned. Returned to the Flournoy homestead, within one-quarter mile of where Samuel first set those square-notch logs down for Minerva and the family. Local citizens put in the work to restore it.

The old halfway stop between Nacogdoches and San Augustine, still standing, still roughly where it belongs. Some things just have a way of finding their way back home.

What the marker says

This two-story log dwelling was built on the El Camino Real about 1840 by Samuel Flournoy for his wife Minerva (Wadington) and their family who moved to Texas from Mississippi. They settled in the Chireno area, where they purchased 300 acres. An active member of the community, Flournoy was appointed as a Republic of Texas postmaster in 1843, and continued as postmaster as part of the United States Postal Service. This house served as the post office for a fifteen-mile radius, and was a popular halfway stop on the stagecoach route between Nacogdoches and San Augustine, Texas. The Flournoys, after acquiring an additional 500 acres, sold this property in 1852 and moved away. The property changed owners several times until 1917 when H. R. Granberry purchased the house; it remained in his family until 1981. This house was moved twelve miles east of Nacogdoches in 1984, but in 1988 was returned to the Flournoy homestead within one-quarter mile of its original location. This hewn-log residence is constructed of square notch logs two rooms wide and one room deep with a dogtrot, or central hall. The two-story house was restored through the efforts of local citizens. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962