Permelia Haynie Home

Duane's take

Here's my tellin' of what the official marker has to say about the Permelia Haynie Home. Now, not every house has a story worth pullin' over for, but this one in Washington County just might. It started with land, the way most Texas stories do.

A sister and her husband deeded that land to Permelia Haynie, Mrs. John Haynie, and what went up on it was a Victorian house that has been standin' its ground ever since. The bones of that house, the very framework, are hand-hewn cedar, fitted together with square nails and wooden pegs.

Not a thing hurried about it, not a thing careless. Somebody took their time and their craft seriously, and the house remembers that. Then came the storm of 1900.

If you know anything about storms in this part of the world, you know that one had something to say. After it had its say, changes came to the Permelia Haynie Home. A bay window was added.

A kitchen. Other rooms, filling out the house, giving it more of itself to be. What stands today is a Victorian original with cedar at its heart and layers of survival built right onto its sides.

A house deeded by family, framed by hand, and shaped by whatever the years threw at it. That's not a bad way to end up.

What the marker says

Victorian house built on land deeded Permelia Haynie (Mrs. John Haynie) by sister and her husband. Framework is of hand-hewn cedar with square nails and wooden pegs. After 1900 storm and later, bay window, kitchen, and other rooms were added.