Oakland

Duane's take

The marker tells it this way, and I'll spin it out just like it reads. One mile south of where you're rolling right now, the land holds a story worth slowing down for. That's where Oakland stood.

Home of David G. Burnet — born 1788, died 1870 — the first President of the Republic of Texas. Let that settle for a second.

The *first* President of the Republic of Texas had a home right here in Harris County, one mile south, down in the quiet and the dirt. Now, in 1831, Burnet brought his bride to Oakland. Not to a mansion.

Not to a place already tamed and waiting on them. He brought her to a piece of Texas that demanded everything you had and then asked for a little more. And together — David, his bride, and their son William — they wrested a livelihood from the soil.

Wrested. That's the word the marker reaches for, and it's the right one. Not coaxed.

Not cultivated. *Wrested.* Like the land wasn't giving anything up without a fight. The man who would hold the highest office of a brand-new republic first had to earn his ground the hard way, season by season, alongside his family. Oakland's gone now, just a site a mile south.

But that word — wrested — it hangs in the air out here like the dust never quite settled.

What the marker says

One mile south to the site of Oakland. Home of David G. Burnet (1788-1870). First President of the Republic of Texas. To Oakland he brought his bride in 1831 and there they and their son William wrested a livelihood from the soil.