DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Out here in San Jacinto County, on high ground where waterways and land trails crossed in the early days of Texas, there stands a house with more history packed into its walls than most folks ever stop to notice. This is the Robert Tod Robinson House, and it has been standing since 1857.
Now, that's a long time to hold your ground. Robert Tod Robinson built it that year — he was a planter out of Point Blank, born in 1826, gone by 1878, and in between those two years he put up something that lasted. He modeled the house on the style from his native state of Alabama: a log house, two floors, wide front verandas running the length of each level.
You can picture it — breezes moving through on a hot Texas afternoon, the kind of porch that invites a long conversation or a longer silence. The house sat adjacent to the property of Governor George T. Wood, which tells you something about the neighborhood Robinson was keeping.
He brought up a large family inside those log walls, and the descendants that came from that house went on to be soldiers, statesmen, and civic leaders. Not a bad legacy for a planter on a hill above the waterways. Now, the house didn't stay unchanged.
In 1919, the original log walls got covered over with siding — the bones still there, just dressed differently. Then in the 1970s, the facade was modified again. Each generation leaving its mark, same as families do.
What makes this story land clean, though, is this: a descendant owns and preserves it still. Not a museum, not a historical agency — family. The line that Robert Tod Robinson started back in 1857 has held onto the place all the way to now.
That high ground near the old juncture of trails and waterways is still in the keeping of the people it was built for. Some houses just refuse to let go of their story.
What the marker says
Adjacent to property of Governor George T. Wood, and on high ground near juncture of waterways and land trails important in early Texas, this was originally a log house with wide front verandas on the two floors. It was built in 1857 by Point Blank planter Robert Tod Robinson (1826-1878), copying style from his native state of Alabama. He brought up a large family; his descendants include soldiers, statesmen, and civic leaders. The log house was covered with siding in 1919, and facade was modified in 1970s. A descendant owns and preserves it. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1975