DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, this old house in Bastrop County — the R. L.
Perkins Home — doesn't look like much at first glance, just sitting there with its dog-trot hall open to the breeze the way Texas houses used to breathe before anybody thought to put in air conditioning. But don't let that fool you. This place was standing before 1851, hewn together with hand-pegged and grooved heart pine so tight and stubborn it's outlasted just about everything around it.
That's the kind of building that has opinions. And it turns out, it raised a boy with opinions too. Joseph L.
Sayers grew up inside these walls. The same Joseph L. Sayers who went on to serve as a United States Congressman, and then — if that wasn't enough — became governor of Texas, holding that office from 1899 to 1903.
And even after all that, he chaired the Board of Regents of the University of Texas. Not bad for a kid from a dog-trot house. Now, the house itself didn't stay frozen in time either.
Somebody came along later and added an ell, porches, a hall, a bay window, a second story, and stairs — layer by layer, the way a life gets built. But underneath all those additions, the original bones are still there, that hand-pegged heart pine holding the whole story together. Some houses just refuse to let history walk away.
What the marker says
Boyhood home of Joseph L. Sayers, U. S. Congressman, Texas governor (1899 - 1903); chairman, Board of Regents, University of Texas. Built before 1851. Texas dog-trot style. Hand-pegged and grooved heart pine. Ell, porches, hall, bay window, 2nd story, stairs added later. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965