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.
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Related people
- · W. L. Nunnely
- · J. A. Strickland
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Presbyterian Church of Clarksville
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This Presbyterian congregation traces its roots to Old Shiloh in 1833, when Anglo settlers were streaming into what was then Mexican Texas, and relocated to Clarksville in 1858. The present church building went up in 1905. It stands among the oldest congregations in Red River County, a corner of Texas settled early via the routes down from the north and east.
Five Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Red River County
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On March 2, 1836, delegates at Washington-on-the-Brazos signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, breaking from Mexico. Of the fifty-nine signers, five came from Red River County — Richard Ellis, who presided over the convention, Robert Hamilton, Albert Hamilton Latimer, Samuel Price Carson, and Collin McKinney — more than from any other old district. These men went on to shape the government of the young Republic, and one, McKinney, lent his name to both a county and a city.
The Rev. William Stevenson
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