J.F. and J. Nutt Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, you'd think a story about two blind men helping plant the roots of a Texas county seat would be the kind of thing people made up around a fire. But Hood County doesn't need to make this one up.

Jesse and Jacob Nutt, blind brothers, both of them, played a hand in establishing the county seat right here at Granbury. That alone ought to stop you in your tracks. Two brothers who couldn't see the land they were shaping, and yet here their name still stands in stone.

Speaking of which, that first store of theirs, back in 1866, wasn't exactly what you'd call grand. Sixteen feet by twelve feet of log house, with a wagon yard out back. That's smaller than some living rooms I've been in, and I've been in some humble living rooms.

But the Nutts weren't finished. Not by a long shot. Fast forward to 1893, and local contractor Jim Warren puts up something altogether different: a proper structure, built from hand-hewn Hood County stone.

The kind of building that says we are staying. Then around 1919, after the grocery space got remodeled, the Nutt Hotel moved in, and that hotel did not go unnoticed. People remembered it, specifically for the dining room.

Famed for it, the marker says, and in Texas, a reputation for a good dining room is nothing to wave off. What really seals the story, though, is this: the building has been occupied by three generations of the Nutt family. Jesse and Jacob laid the foundation, in more ways than one, and the family just kept right on going.

Some legacies are written in documents. This one was written in hand-hewn stone, and it's still standing on the square in Granbury to prove it.

What the marker says

Erected for Jesse and Jacob Nutt, blind brothers who aided in establishing county seat at Granbury. Their first (1866) store had been a 16 by 12 log house with a wagon yard in the rear. This structure of hand-hewn Hood county stone was built in 1893 by local contractor Jim Warren. About 1919 Nutt Hotel--famed for dining room--moved in after "grocery" was remodeled. Building has been occupied by 3 generations of the Nutt Family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970