Old W. L. Nunnely Home
Clarksville, Red River County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1868 by W. L. Nunnely. Hand-hewn oak logs over bois d'arc wood blocks are joined by wooden pegs and square nails. Spacious 22 x 20-foot rooms have oak floors and high, 12-foot ceilings. Distinctive design in ornate, hand-carved mantel is repeated in cornices and wainscoting (half paneling). As Baptist parsonage, 1912-1927, was scene of hundreds of weddings. Restored by Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Strickland, present owners. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Raised in 1868 from hand-hewn oak logs set on blocks of durable bois d'arc and joined with wooden pegs and square nails, this Red River County house reflects the sturdy craft of post–Civil War rural Texas. Its spacious rooms, twelve-foot ceilings, and hand-carved mantel and wainscoting mark it as a home of ambition and skill. From 1912 to 1927 it served as a Baptist parsonage and, by tradition, the setting for hundreds of weddings.
Why it matters
It preserves the vernacular building traditions of Reconstruction-era East Texas and shows how a single frame home could anchor decades of a community's religious and family life.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When W. L. Nunnely raised this house in 1868, Texas was only three years past the end of the Civil War. Reconstruction was reshaping politics, labor, and daily life across the former Confederacy. Families in the Red River country of northeast Texas were rebuilding farms, businesses, and households in an uncertain new order.
Clarksville was already one of the older Anglo-American settlements in Texas by then. It sat in a region that had drawn settlers along the Red River since before Texas independence. Building materials came from close at hand: hardwood forests and the tough, rot-resistant bois d'arc tree, also called Osage orange, which was prized on the frontier for fence posts and foundations.
A house built of hand-hewn logs in 1868 was not a crude shelter. It was a statement that its builder meant to stay. Sawmills and factory-made nails were spreading across Texas, but many rural builders still relied on axes, adzes, wooden pegs, and a limited supply of square nails, the way their parents had.
People & events
The story begins with W. L. Nunnely, who built the house. The details recorded on the marker describe someone who wanted more than four walls. He shaped oak logs by hand, set them on bois d'arc blocks to keep them clear of damp ground, and fastened them with wooden pegs and square nails. The rooms were generous, about 22 by 20 feet, with oak floors and ceilings twelve feet high, which helped a house stay livable through a Texas summer.
The most personal touch is the hand-carved mantel. Its design is repeated in the cornices and the wainscoting, the half-height paneling along the walls. That kind of repetition means a carver thought about the room as a whole, which is unusual in a log house.
The house's second life began in 1912. For fifteen years, until 1927, it served as a Baptist parsonage, and the marker says it was the scene of hundreds of weddings. It is easy to imagine couples arriving at the parsonage door, a few family members in tow, and leaving married. Decades later Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Strickland restored the home, and in 1969 it was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Its place in the American story
Across the country, the years after the Civil War are often told through railroads, cities, and industry. Houses like this one tell the quieter side of the story. In much of the rural South and Southwest, people kept building with the skills and materials they already had, and they built well.
The Nunnely home also shows how a single building can serve a community in more than one way. In many small American towns, the minister's home was a public place as much as a private one: people went there for counsel, comfort, and, very often, weddings. A parsonage that hosted hundreds of ceremonies holds a big share of a town's family history.
Finally, the house is a preservation story. Its restoration and landmark designation in 1969 came during a period of rising national interest in saving historic buildings. Across the country, private owners were doing much of that work, one house at a time.
If you visit
When you visit, look at how the house meets the ground. The idea of oak logs resting on bois d'arc blocks is a small lesson in frontier engineering: builders picked the wood they trusted most to fight rot and insects and put it where the house was most vulnerable.
The Texas Historical Commission lists this as a home, and it may be a private residence, so enjoy it respectfully from the public right-of-way. Even from outside you can get a sense of the proportions the marker describes, from rooms built with high ceilings for the heat.
Clarksville is a good stop on a drive through the Red River country of northeast Texas, where older courthouse towns and historic homes are spread among farms and woods. Give yourself time to walk around and imagine the town in 1868, when a new log house built to last was a hopeful sign.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · W. L. Nunnely
- · J. A. Strickland
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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