DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the John Howland Wood and Nancy Clark Wood House, out in Refugio County. Now, before we get to the house itself — and trust me, we're going to get to the house — you've got to understand the man who built his life toward it. John Howland Wood was born in 1816, way up in Dutchess County, New York.
Trained in the mercantile trade, apprenticed to a painter. Not exactly the profile you'd expect for a future Texas cattleman with vast land holdings stretching across a whole state. But then, Texas has always had a way of reshaping a man's story.
Wood enlisted in the New York Battalion to aid the Texas revolution, and he arrived in Texas in 1836 — right in time. Right in time to participate in the Battle of San Jacinto, and several other major events at the close of the war. He didn't miss the main event.
He was there. After the smoke cleared, Wood settled at Victoria as quartermaster of the Texas Army. In 1842 he married Nancy Anna Clark.
Together, John and Nancy Wood became civic and political leaders, and the parents of twelve children. Twelve. That alone could fill a separate marker.
The family eventually moved to St. Mary's — a place later called Bayside — where they opened a mercantile business and began acquiring vast land holdings throughout the state, while John established himself as a cattleman. In 1849 they purchased the property we're talking about today, and Nancy Wood gave it a name: Bonnie View.
Now that's a woman who knew how to plant a flag. They built their original house on that land. And for a while, all was well.
But lightning — patient, indifferent, and final — damaged that original structure. So in 1875, on the very foundations of what was lost, they raised something magnificent. Contractors Viggo Kohler and Hugo Heldenfels erected what stands there today: a structure that combines a typical Greek Revival plan with exuberant high Victorian Italianate detailing.
Exuberant. That word is right there on the marker, and it earns its place. The house features a two-tiered, full-height projecting portico supported by Italianate columns.
Pedimented window surrounds. Bracketed eaves. And up top — a widow's walk, sometimes called a captain's walk.
That last detail, the marker notes, reflects the architecture of John Wood's native New York. The boy from Dutchess County carried something of home with him, all the way to the rural Texas coast. And that matters, because on that rural Texas coast, few mansions were built.
This one surely impressed visitors and area residents alike during the post-Civil War era. You can imagine pulling up on horseback or by wagon, cresting a rise, and there it is — rising out of the coastal plain like it belongs somewhere grander and yet somehow belongs exactly there. John Howland Wood lived until 1904.
The house he and Nancy built outlasted them both. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. And today it remains one of the area's most substantial and least-altered country mansions of the period.
Least altered. Meaning what Kohler and Heldenfels built in 1875 is, in large part, still what you see. Lightning took the first house.
Nothing has taken this one.
What the marker says
John Howland Wood (1816-1904) was born in Dutchess County, New York. Trained in the mercantile trade and apprenticed to a painter, Wood enlisted in the New York Battalion to aid the Texas revolution. He arrived in Texas in 1836 in time to participate in the Battle of San Jacinto and several other major events at the close of the war. Wood settled at Victoria as quartermaster of the Texas Army, marrying Nancy Anna Clark in 1842. They became civic and political leaders and the parents of twelve children. The woods moved to St. Mary's, later called Bayside, where they opened a mercantile business and began to acquire vast land holdings throughout the state while John established himself as a cattleman. In 1849 they purchased this property, establishing a ranch which Nancy Wood dubbed "Bonnie View." Lightning damage to the original house led to the construction of this magnificent edifice on its foundations in 1875. Erected by contractors Viggo Kohler and Hugo Heldenfels, the structure combines a typical Greek revival plan with exuberant high Victorian Italianate detailing. The two-tiered, full-height projecting portico supported by Italianate columns establishes the house's imposing character. The house also features pedimented window surrounds, bracketed eaves and a "widow's walk" or "captain's walk," reflecting the architecture of John Wood's native New York. The house's presence on the rural Texas Coast, where few mansions were built, surely impressed visitors and area residents alike during the post-Civil War era. An outstanding example of the Italianate style, it remains one of the area's most substantial and least-altered country mansions of the period. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998