N. H. Davis Cottage

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the N. H. Davis Cottage, up in Montgomery County.

Now settle in, because this one's got layers. It starts with a log house, built back in 1831. Somebody couldn't pay their legal bill, and Judge N.

H. Davis took that old log house as his fee. A lawyer's fee.

Not coin, not land deed, but an entire house. And what do you do with a house you took in trade? Well, if you're Judge Davis, you build something with it.

In 1851, he and his wife, Sarah E. White, turned that 1831 log house into what became the family cottage. The bones of something three decades old went right into the walls of something new.

Then 1880 rolls around, and the kitchen area gets attached. The house keeps growing, keep breathin'. Then comes Texanna Snow, and here's where this old cottage really comes alive.

From 1881 to 1891, she ran her school right there in that house. Ten years of children learnin' their letters and numbers under that same roof. Then in 1895, J.

F. Davis added a south wing, and the place stretched out a little further. From a lawyer's unpaid debt in 1831, to a home built in 1851, to a schoolhouse, to a wing added in 1895.

And the marker will tell you plainly: still in the family. That cottage has been holdin' onto its people for a long, long time.

What the marker says

Home of Judge N. H. Davis and wife, Sarah E. White. Built 1851, from 1831 log house received as legal fee. Kitchen area attached 1880. Texanna Snow's school here 1881-1891. J. F. Davis added south wing in 1895. Still in family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966