Waverly
Chappell Hill, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1850) Antebellum home built by William Leigh Tunstall, a practicing physician 1850-54. Also home of Col. William M. Sledge 1854-60. Sledge built railroad to Chappell Hill and mortgaged his cotton crop 1856 to build bridge over Brazos. Greek Revival architecture; arched cornices; hand hewn cedar sills; native stone.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1850, this Greek Revival home — with arched cornices, hand-hewn cedar sills, and native stone — first belonged to physician William Leigh Tunstall and, from 1854 to 1860, to Colonel William M. Sledge. Sledge was an ambitious developer who built a railroad to Chappell Hill and in 1856 mortgaged his cotton crop to finance a bridge over the Brazos River. Waverly stands as a relic of the antebellum cotton economy that shaped the Brazos Valley.
Why it matters
The house reflects the antebellum planter class whose cotton wealth funded the railroads and bridges that knit early Texas together.
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Related people
- · William Leigh Tunstall
- · William M. Sledge
Themes & tags
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