Tolar Kitchen
Woodville, Tyler County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built as home south of town 1866 by Robert Tolar. Logs cut, squared and notched on site. Has "mud cat" chimney, roof of hand-rived shakes. Converted to "cook house" where 3 meals every day were cooked over open fireplace until 1960. Pots were cooked "full" for travelers who "dropped in."
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Robert Tolar built this log dwelling south of Woodville in 1866, its timbers cut, squared, and notched on the spot and topped with hand-rived shakes above a mud-and-stick chimney. Over the years it became the family's "cook house," where three meals a day were prepared over the open fireplace, with pots kept full for any traveler who happened to drop in — a routine that continued until 1960.
Why it matters
The surviving log kitchen preserves the everyday craft and open-handed hospitality of Reconstruction-era East Texas homesteading, when a hot meal for a passing stranger was simply expected.
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Related people
- · Robert Tolar
Themes & tags
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