Smith-Carlton Adobe House

Duane's take

The way the marker reads it, here's the story Duane's gonna tell you. Out here in Jeff Davis County, at the foot of Dolores Mountain, there stands an adobe house that has outlasted just about every expectation ever placed upon it. And it starts, like so many good Texas stories, with a man who earned his place in this land the hard way.

In 1873, Archie Smith, a former Buffalo Soldier who'd served in the 24th U.S. Infantry at Fort Davis, took 160 acres near the base of Dolores Mountain and decided he was done soldiering and ready to build something that would last. He built a home.

A real one. From the land itself, local materials, native oak beams, a near-rectangular one-story adobe rising up out of the desert like it had always meant to be there. Now, one room in that house had a vaulted ceiling, and that room was something special.

Smith's wife used it as a private chapel. But private didn't mean exclusive, not out here, not in those days, when the nearest proper church was a long ride away. That chapel opened its doors to other denominations, and it held Catholic masses too, right there inside a man's home, before St.

Joseph was ever built. Think about that for a moment. A former soldier's living room was doing the work of a church.

The walls of that house have heard a lot of prayers. Then comes 1911, and a man named Emmett H. Carlton buys the property.

He builds himself a new home, and the old Smith house, that chapel, those oak beams, those thick adobe walls, gets reassigned. It becomes a barn. Now some folks might call that a demotion.

But Carlton was practical enough to do something important: he stabilized those walls with a lime plaster. He kept them standing. And standing they stayed.

Come the early 1970s, Don and Vida Carlton moved in and restored the house, turning it back into what Archie Smith always intended it to be, a residence. And here's the part that really lands: that adobe at the foot of Dolores Mountain is, to this day, the oldest home still in use as a residence in Fort Davis. Built in 1873 by a man who came out of the 24th Infantry with 160 acres and a plan.

Still standing. Still lived in. Some things, when they're built right, just refuse to be finished.

What the marker says

In 1873, Archie Smith, a former Buffalo Soldier in the 24th U.S. Infantry at Fort Davis, built a home on 160 acres near the base of Dolores Mountain using local materials. Native oak beams support the near-rectangular one-story adobe. A large room with a vaulted ceiling was a private chapel for Smith’s wife. It was also open to other denominations and Catholic masses before St. Joseph was built. In 1911, Emmett H. Carlton bought the property and built a new home, using the Smith house as a barn and stabilizing its walls with a lime plaster. Don and Vida Carlton occupied the house after restoring it in the early 1970s. The house is notable as the oldest home still in use as a residence in Fort Davis. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2013