Historic Houston Street Victorian Cottage

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker on a Victorian cottage over in Marion County, so let me lay it out just as the record has it. Now, there are houses, and then there are houses with a story tucked into every board and shingle. The Historic Houston Street Victorian Cottage in Jefferson is the second kind.

It sits near a ferry, the very ferry that brought riches rolling into early Jefferson. Think about that for a moment. Wealth coming across the water, right past this spot, again and again.

The first known owners, back in 1851, were John M. and Nancy Dollehite. Whatever the cottage saw in those early years, it kept its counsel. But the name that really makes you sit up a little straighter belongs to a later chapter.

From 1872 to 1875, a Mrs. Ernestine Sterne was living under this roof, and she was Jefferson's postmaster. Now the marker calls her a distinguished occupant, and it's not wrong to say so.

The mail of a whole town passing through, and she was the one holding it together. The story doesn't end in the nineteenth century, either. Mrs.

Katherine R. Wise took ownership in 1946, and she's the one who brought this old cottage back, restoring it to the place it is today. Three sets of hands across more than a century, and that cottage near the ferry is still standing to tell the tale.

What the marker says

Situated near ferry that brought riches to early Jefferson. First known owners (1851): John M. and Nancy Dollehite. A distinguished occupant: Mrs. Ernestine Sterne, 1872-1875 Jefferson postmaster. Restored by Mrs. Katherine R. Wise, owner since 1946. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970