The Sims Cabin
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1852 in Freestone County by Sterling Sims (d. 1882), settler from Georgia. With family and 17 slaves, Sims journeyed up the Trinity from Galveston, then by ox-wagon from Navarro Crossing to 490-acre farm he had bought. He and skilled slave carpenter built oak cabin as permanent home. The 18-foot (14"x 14") sills weigh more than a ton each. Moved to Waco, 1930s; damaged by fire, 1959; cabin has been restored by Robert E. Davis.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Georgia settler Sterling Sims built this sturdy oak cabin in 1852 after bringing his family and seventeen enslaved people up the Trinity River from Galveston and on by ox-wagon to a 490-acre farm in Freestone County. He and an enslaved carpenter raised it as a permanent home, hewing sills fourteen inches square and eighteen feet long that each weigh more than a ton. Moved to Waco in the 1930s and damaged by fire in 1959, the cabin was later restored.
Why it matters
The cabin is a tangible reminder that the labor and skill of enslaved people literally built the homesteads of antebellum Texas.
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Related people
- · Sterling Sims
- · Robert E. Davis
Themes & tags
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