Toliver-Cone House

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what I know about the Toliver-Cone House in Colorado County. James A. Toliver was born in 1844, a native Texan, a Civil War veteran, a man with roots in the community and a hand in its politics.

And somewhere around 1870, he decided to build himself a house. Now, he wasn't going to cut corners. The marker says he used the finest pine and cypress, and here's the part that makes you smile just a little: the man had a lumber yard.

So you can imagine he had his pick of the timber. The house that went up was something to look at. A two-story wrap-around porch, the kind that lets you watch a thunderstorm roll in from every direction.

And the woodwork, decorative jig-sawn work on the columns and the railings, the kind of detail that tells you somebody cared how this thing looked from the street. Toliver lived until 1911, and the house stood after him. Then in 1916, a woman named Sallie Cone purchased it.

Sallie Cone was born in 1872, and she would live all the way to 1966. Think about what that woman saw come and go from that wrap-around porch. After Mrs.

Cone passed, the home stayed in the family. Stayed in the family until 1974. That's the kind of house people hold onto.

The kind built from good timber, with good bones, and enough porch to make it worth the trouble of keeping.

What the marker says

James A. Toliver (1844-1911), native Texan, Civil War veteran, and local and political civic leader, is said to have built this house about 1870 with finest pine and cypress form his lumber yard. It was purchased in 1916 by Sallie Cone (1872-1966). Prominent features of the residence include its two-story wrap-around porch and decorative jig-sawn woodwork on the columns and railings. After Mrs.Cone's death, the home remained in the family until 1974. rthl - 1986