Wimberley-Hughes House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Wimberley-Hughes House, and friend, this one's got layers. Now, picture Hays County, somewhere around 1877. A man named Zachary Taylor Wimberley, Zach to everybody who knew him, sets out to build a house for his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Franklin.

Board and batten construction, stone foundation, end-gabled structure. All of that sounds like a fine, respectable house. But then Zach goes and does something nobody else in late-19th century Texas architecture seems to have been doing.

He paints the whole thing pink. With red trim. Now, you can call that bold.

You can call that a statement. The marker calls it unique, and that's the polite word for it. Here's the thing, though: traces of that red trim paint are still visible today on the exterior window moldings.

Some choices just refuse to fade. Inside, the house is built around a central hallway, with two main rooms flanking it, each with its own chimney, each with windows dressed in elegant triangular pediment moldings. It is, by any measure, a house built with intention.

And it needed to be. Because Mary Elizabeth Franklin Wimberley had eleven children in that house before she died in 1901. Eleven.

After her passing, Zach married a second wife, Rachael Taylor, and they added three more children to the story of that house. Now, you don't build a house like that, and you certainly don't raise that many children in it, without some means of putting food on the table and lumber on the walls. Zach and his father, Pleasant Wimberley, had that figured out.

They owned and operated a mill on Cypress Creek, and they'd been running it since 1874. That mill provided the lumber for the house itself, and it didn't stop there. It expanded into flour, cornmeal, and sorghum molasses.

That mill was feeding and supplying a whole village. But by 1898, competition came calling in the form of Landa Mill over in New Braunfels, Comal County. Cotton farming was on the rise, and Zach, along with his partner and son-in-law Sidney Pyland, made the call to replace the old mill with steam-driven facilities to meet the moment.

Smart move. The mill stayed the focal point of the village of Wimberley all the way until it closed in 1925. Zach himself died in 1913, and here's where the house gets a second chapter.

His sister, Eliza Mary Wimberley, known to everyone as Lidie, moved in after he was gone. Her husband, Nathan Emery Hughes, was no small figure in the story. He had been a partner in the mill, and he was also a noted stonemason.

You can see his handiwork in the petrified-wood terracing, the patio, and the steps that lead up to the gabled front porch. A stonemason's mark on a pink house. There is something almost poetic about that.

Lidie lived there until her death in 1954. After her, her granddaughter, Velma Rose Hughes Lawhorn, was the last of the family to own the place. Today it belongs to the Wimberley Institute of Cultures, and it stands as a witness to the very founders of the village of Wimberley and the preservation of local residential architecture.

Pink walls. Petrified wood. Fourteen children across two marriages, a mill that ran for decades, a stonemason's steps, and one family's full grip on a piece of Texas land.

The Wimberley-Hughes House has seen some living.

What the marker says

Zachary Taylor "Zach" Wimberley began construction on this house around 1877 for his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Franklin. Built of board and batten on a stone foundation, the end-gabled structure was painted pink with red trim, considered unique for late-19th century architecture. Traces of red trim paint are still visible on the exterior window moldings. Flanking the central hallway, two main rooms, each with a chimney, feature windows with elegant triangular pediment moldings. Mary Elizabeth had 11 children here before she died in 1901. Zach and second wife, Rachael Taylor, added three more children. The mill on Cypress Creek, owned and operated from 1874 by Zach and his father, Pleasant Wimberley, provided lumber for the house. It expanded into the production of flour, cornmeal and sorghum molasses. By 1898, competition with New Braunfels" Landa Mill (Comal County) encouraged Zach Wimberley and partner, son-in-law Sidney Pyland, to replace the mill with steam-driven facilities to adapt to the upsurge in cotton farming. The mill remained the focal point of the village until it closed in 1925. When Zach died in 1913, his sister, Eliza Mary "Lidie," moved into the house. Her husband, Nathan Emery Hughes, also a partner in the mill and noted stonemason, added the petrified-wood terracing, patio and steps leading to the gabled front porch. With Lidie's death in 1954, her granddaughter, Velma Rose (Hughes) Lawhorn, was the last of the family to own the house. Now the property of the Wimberley Institute of Cultures, this house bears witness to the founders of the village of Wimberley and exemplifies extensive preservation efforts of local residential architecture. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2016