The Manahan House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Freestone County stands the Manahan House, a Greek Revival structure with a story baked right into its bones, and those bones go back a long way. We're talkin' 1855, when Dr.

W. D. Strain set out to build something worthy of the Texas frontier.

And worthy it was. The lumber and hardware didn't just appear out of thin air, they came by wagon all the way from Galveston. Think about that for a second.

Every board, every nail, hauled overland by wagon. The siding is cypress. The interiors are hand-planed heart pine.

The chimneys and the cistern were built from local handmade brick. Somebody around here knew how to work a kiln. And if you ever find yourself inside, look up.

On one of the ceilings, there are unusual smoke spots, just hanging there, decorating the plaster like a signature nobody planned to leave. Now here is where the story takes a turn, and it's a somber one. Dr.

Strain started this house in 1855. He did not live to see it finished. He died on February the sixteenth, 1856.

The house was not yet complete. His widow, rather than walk away from what her husband had started, held his funeral right there in that unfinished house. Then she finished it.

Then she moved in. That is the kind of resolve that built Texas. She eventually sold the property to R.

M. Edwards, and the house passed through time until 1912, when Mrs. A.

C. Manahan purchased it. Her heirs have been preserving it ever since.

A doctor started it. His widow finished it. And a family has been keeping faith with both of them for over a century.

Some houses are just houses. This one earned its place on the map.

What the marker says

Greek Revival structure with cistern and chimneys of local handmade brick. Lumber, hardware came by wagon from Galveston. Siding is cypress; interiors of hand-planed heart pine. Unusual smoke spots decorate a ceiling. Started 1855 by Dr. W. D. Strain, who died Feb. 16, 1856. Widow had his funeral held here, completed house and occupied it, later sold to R. M. Edwards. In 1912 it was purchased by Mrs. A. C. Manahan, whose heirs still preserve it. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972