DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Robertson County, there's a house that's been standin' since before Texas was even Texas — and that story deserves to be told right. It starts in 1836, when somebody drove the first logs into the ground and called it a homestead.
A Republic of Texas homestead, mind you — that's not a casual thing. That's a family planting itself into raw, uncertain ground and saying, we're stayin'. That log cabin was just the beginning.
Come 1842, the Cavitts started somethin' more ambitious — a main house, built from hand-finished lumber, the kind of work that takes patience and a steady hand and years you can't get back. They didn't rush it either. That house wasn't completed in its present form until 1854.
Twelve years of building. Twelve years of getting it right. Now, while all that constructing was goin' on, the place was already pullin' its weight.
Through the eighteen-forties and into the eighteen-fifties, the Old Cavitt House served as a stage stop on the route between Nacogdoches and San Antonio de Bexar. Think about what that means — travelers dusty and road-worn, rollin' up to this place in the middle of a hard journey, grateful for whatever rest and shelter it offered. The house saw a whole era of Texas movin' through its doors.
But here's the part that makes you lean in a little closer. The Cavitts were political followers of Sam Houston. Not casual admirers — followers.
And Sam Houston wasn't just a name they admired from a distance. He was a friend, and a frequent guest right here at this very house. And at some point, Sam Houston — the man himself — gave a desk to Volney Cavitt.
Just think on that for a second. Somewhere in that house, there was a desk with Sam Houston's fingerprints on its history. That's not a footnote.
That's the whole story, right there — a family, a homestead, a house built slow and true, a road that brought the world to their door, and a friendship with one of Texas's most towering figures, sealed with the gift of a desk. Robertson County has held onto that for a long time. And it earned the holdin'.
What the marker says
Republic of Texas homestead established when log cabin was built, 1836. Main house of hand finished lumber, begun in 1842, completed in present form 1854. During 1840s and 1850s was stage stop between Nacogdoches and San Antonio de Bexar. Cavitts were political followers of Sam Houston, friend and frequent guest here, who gave a desk to Volney Cavitt. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964