DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and friend, it's worth every mile. Joseph Redmond Rice was born in 1805, and his wife Willie Masters Rice came into this world in 1809, and together they did something that takes a certain kind of nerve. Joseph cut the timber.
That part sounds straightforward enough. But then Willie, described right on the marker as his young wife, took those logs and snaked them to a homesite sixteen miles southwest of where you're standing right now. Not Joseph.
Willie. You let that settle in a moment. The cabin that rose from that work became a noted way-station on the San Antonio Road.
Travelers coming and going had reason to be grateful for what those two built. And they weren't finished building, not by a long measure. They brought up nine children in that cabin, and as the family grew, they enlarged the place, not once but several times.
That log cabin stretched and grew right along with the family inside it. Joseph Rice died in 1866. Willie carried on until 1881.
Then the generations kept rolling, and in 1919 a grandson built a frame home, and just like that, the old cabin got reassigned. It became a farm storage shed. From way-station to storage, which is the kind of quiet fade that swallows up a lot of history.
But not this one. The Texas Centennial Commission stepped in back in 1936 and marked its history. Then in 1973, the cabin was given to the State of Texas, moved here, and set on the path to restoration and exhibition.
Willie snaked those logs to one spot in the 1800s. Texas moved them again in 1973. Some things are just too stubborn to stay forgotten.
What the marker says
Joseph Redmond Rice (1805-1866) cut timber; then his young wife, Willie Masters Rice (1809-1881), snaked the logs to a homesite 16 miles southwest of here. the cabin they built was a noted way-station on the San Antonio Road. They brought up nine children, enlarging their cabin several times. After a grandson built a frame home in 1919, the old cabin became a farm storage shed. The Texas Centennial Commission in 1936 marked its history, and in 1973 it was given to the State of Texas and moved here for restoration and exhibition. (1976)