Winedale Stagecoach Inn

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Winedale Stagecoach Inn, out in Fayette County. Now settle in, because this story starts the way the best ones do, with a man, some cedar timber, and a single big room. William S.

Townsend built this place about 1834. One room. A fireplace.

A loft up above for sleeping. Cedar timbers holding the whole thing together. Modest as they come, but out here in Fayette County, modest and standing was plenty.

Then 1848 rolls around, and Samuel K. Lewis purchases the property. Lewis doesn't just move in, he enlarges the place to the form it holds to this day.

And somewhere along the way, travelers start calling it by a name that tells you everything you need to know about Texas hospitality at the time. Sam Lewis' stopping place. Not an inn, not a lodge, not an establishment.

A stopping place. Like Lewis himself was just doing you a favor, pulling up a chair, saying rest your boots a while. That name stuck for many years.

Now, a structure can carry a good name for a long time and still find itself in rough shape eventually. That's where Miss Ima Hogg enters the story. In 1964, she restored the Winedale Stagecoach Inn.

Cedar timbers that Townsend cut about 1834, the fireplace, the loft, the walls Lewis had expanded, all of it brought back. One room that had held a whole world of travelers, tended back to life. Sam Lewis' stopping place, it turns out, still had somewhere to go.

What the marker says

Built by William S. Townsend about 1834. Of cedar timbers-- one large room, fireplace and loft for sleeping quarters. Purchased in 1848 by Samuel k. Lewis; enlarged to present form. Became known as "Sam Lewis' stopping place" for many years. Restored by Miss Ima Hogg, 1964. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967.