Henry Allen Pennington House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere in Houston County, there stands a house that has been watching East Texas life go by since 1889. That's the Henry Allen Pennington House, and its story is quieter than a thunderstorm but just as steady.

Henry Allen Pennington was a Houston County native, born in 1853, and he and his wife Mary, she was a Beeson before she married, set up their home in a style that was pure East Texas practical. A dog trot cabin. Four rooms, a wide open breezeway running right through the middle, letting the summer air do what summer air does best.

Nothing fancy. Everything necessary. Now Mary, born in 1851, and Henry raised ten children in and around those four rooms.

Ten. You start counting heads at the dinner table and you understand pretty quick why, come 1892, they added a kitchen, a dining area, and a short connecting hall. The house was growing the same way the family had, one careful addition at a time.

Then 1928 rolls around, and that central hallway, the one that had been open to the breeze all those years, got enclosed. The dog trot, in a manner of speaking, came inside. Henry passed in 1925.

Mary carried on until 1937. And the house they built together, the house that fed and sheltered and witnessed all of that living, stayed in the Pennington family for nearly a hundred years. Folks who study such things call it a fine reflection of East Texas pioneer architecture.

I'd call it something simpler. Proof that what you build with care has a way of lasting.

What the marker says

Built in 1889 as a dog trot cabin with four rooms, this house originally served as the residence of the Henry Allen Pennington family. Houston County native Pennington (1853-1925) and his wife, Mary (Beeson) (1851-1937), had ten children. In 1892, they added a kitchen, dining area, and short hall. The central hallway was enclosed in 1928. The Pennington house is a good reflection of East Texas pioneer architecture. It remained in the family for nearly 100 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1985