Bear Bend Cabin Dedication

As part of the dual celebrations for Sam Houston's Birthday and 175th Anniversary of Texas Independence in Huntsville, Today@Sam notes the Sam Houston Memorial Museum will dedicate Bear Bend Cabin on Wednesday, March 2. The cabin is located directly across the parking lot from Sam Houston's Historic Woodland Home on the Museum Grounds.

Bear Bend Cabin is a classic double pen, planked log two-story cabin with a central dog trot. Tradition says Sam Houston often stayed here while bear hunting. It was moved six miles from its original site in Montgomery County and restored by B. Carroll and Mae Tharp in 1987. In October 2010 it was moved again to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum grounds and restored.

Sam Houston Moved This Historic Cabin

The Item reports on the building that recently was transported 40 miles to take up permanent residence on the Sam Houston Memorial Museum grounds:

Bear Bend is the name given to the old hunting cabin which was moved from Montgomery County where it has resided in two separate locations since at least the 1840s.

Patrick Nolan, director of the museum, said the cabin is an impressive part of Sam Houston’s history. “In the 1840s and 1850s, Sam Houston would go bear hunting here...that’s the legend. We found a quote in a book that said there was a bend in the creek near the cabin and they would drive bears into that bend." The cabin’s construction is unlike any other period structure available for viewing on the museum grounds. "It’s a two-story double pen log cabin. There are four rooms in two segments to the building connected by a breezeway."

For moving purposes, the cabin’s roof, chimneys and porches were taken off and moved separately. Over the next few months, inmates from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will work to restore the cabin to its original form.

Originally, the cabin was located in Montgomery County near the Walker County line near a U-shaped bend in Atkins Creek. A couple named Carroll and Mae Tharp began collecting old structures and moving them onto a property they called “Fern Land.” This cabin was moved from its original site to Fern Land, along with two other cabins, a frame house and a blacksmith shop. The entire grouping was later donated to Sam Houston State University. All total, the property had buildings moved from Montgomery, Walker and Angelina counties.

“Over 40 years, they had developed these structures into a grouping in the woods that had a pioneer feel to it,” Nolan explained. “The university spent a number of years trying to figure out how to best deal with the issue (of the five buildings).

“It was 40 miles away. There was no infrastructure on the grounds and no parking,” he added. “To make it publicly available would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A number of people in the city of Montgomery began working a deal where the university would lease the cabins to the people in Montgomery and they would be moved to a different site.”

In return for four of the buildings remaining in Montgomery County, the city of Montgomery paid to have “Bear Bend” moved to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.

Historical Buildings Ready for Move

The Conroe Courier reports on the movement of four historically-significant structures from the woods to a "place of public prominence":

After months of planning and preparation, the first of the vintage buildings that will be showcased in Montgomery’s new Fernland Historical Park is scheduled to be transported to the facility this week.  Montgomery officials approved $430,000 in expenditures – including $140,000 for moving the structures – over the next two years to create the historical park featuring early Texas buildings to be an educational resource and to encourage tourism.

Four of the five buildings come from Fernland, a  40-acre parcel of land donated to Sam Houston State University by Carroll and Mae Tharp. Dating back to the 1820s, the structures feature early Texas architecture and artifacts. The most famous structure on the site, Bear Bend, a hunting lodge used by the Republic of Texas’ first president, Sam Houston, will ultimately be transported to SHSU.

Moving any large structure more than a dozen miles is difficult, but when the buildings are historically significant structures dating back to the early 19th century, the challenge is even greater.

“Prepping the buildings involves reinforcing the structures from the inside so they can make the trip,” said Artie Morin, a workman with Cherry House Moving, which is preparing the structures for transport. “We’ve also had to clear a path through the woods so we can get the buildings out.”

Christiana Huffman, project coordinator for Cherry House Moving, said chimneys and steps have been removed from the buildings and will be reassembled when the structures arrive at their ultimate destination, more than a dozen miles away in Montgomery. Some of the buildings will have to be cut in two so they can be moved.

While a specific schedule for moving the buildings has not been finalized, Huffman said the company is coordinating with local law enforcement and utility companies related to the move.

“Power and phone lines are going to have to be raised,” she said. “We’re going to try to do the move at night to minimize disruption to the public on local roads.”

The buildings will be transported from their Honea-Egypt Road location to the park location, adjacent to the Charles B. Stewart Library in Montgomery, via FM 2854 and Texas 105.

History Park Committee Guidelines Set

The Conroe Courier reports that the Montgomery City Council approved the addition of five new members to the Fernland History Park Building Committee,:

City officials have finalized the appointees and the responsibilities of a specially formed committee that will oversee development of a planned historical park.

Committee activities will include fundraising, public relations, historical documentation, construction and interface with Sam Houston State University.

Fernland History Park is being developed on 1.75 acres of land donated by LefCo Development. Historical structures leased to the city by SHSU and other structures will be moved to the site designed to create interest in the community’s past significance and serve as an educational facility for area students and historical scholars.

Pad sites for the buildings that will be transported to Montgomery have been rough graded in preparation for foundation work. Subject to favorable weather, committee member Philip LeFevre said he anticipates the four SHSU structures will be moved at the end of March.

Montgomery Considers Creation of Historical Park

The town that lays claim as the birthplace of the Texas flag is considering creation of a historical park to enhance its niche in Lone Star lore, reports the Conroe Courier:

Montgomery officials will review options related to the creation of the Fernland Historical Park – a collaborative effort between the city, Sam Houston State University and Buffalo Springs....

The 1.75-acre site adjacent to the Charles B. Stewart Library and Memory Park would feature historical buildings representative of early Texas architecture – including four structures donated by SHSU from Fernland, a 40-acre historical site off Honea-Egypt Road owned by the university.

Plans call for the Crane Cabin, Jordan House, Tharp House, and a blacksmith shed to be moved from Fernland to the proposed site as part of a historical park. Fernland’s Bear Bend, the hunting lodge frequented by Texas statesman and military leader Sam Houston, is not part of the donation offered by SHSU, said [Brant Gary, city administrator].

“The current site [Fernland] is secluded and without modern conveniences like water, power and sewer,” said Dr. Patrick Nolan, director of the Sam Houston Museum in Huntsville in a previous interview. “Making it available to the public is a challenge because of security and accessibility.”

Land for the park would be donated by Buffalo Springs developer Philip LeFevre, Gary noted. Expenses for the park are projected at approximately $300,000 in the current fiscal year and $132,000 in 2011. Site preparation, moving of the structures and construction time for the park is estimated at less than one year.

Historical Building Collection Includes Sam Houston Hideaway

There was some information about the historical structures located at Montgomery County's Fernland property in the Dec. 2, 2008 edition of the Conroe Courier:

Historians and educators are wrestling with the challenge of preserving a collection of historical buildings – including a hunting lodge used by Sam Houston – in a secluded area of Montgomery County. Fernland, the 40-acre parcel of land donated to Sam Houston State University in 2002, is important to scholars and state historians because it features five historical buildings dating back to the 1820s.

“It’s a secluded site without modern conveniences like water, power and sewer,” said Dr. Patrick Nolan, director of the Sam Houston Museum in Huntsville. “Making it available to the public is a challenge.”

While the site is available for tour with prior arrangement, SHSU officials are reluctant to encourage tourism, citing security issues and a lack of modern conveniences. The rustic site has been used by filmmakers as a set for western movies, but Nolan noted future cinematic adventures may not be likely.

“There’s a lot of history there and it’s almost entirely made of wood,” he said. “An accidental fire or other mishap would be disastrous.”

University representatives and area historical groups are in discussions regarding a possible way for the grounds to be made more accessible to the public. While officials are concerned about releasing information about Fernland’s location, they are eager to inform the public about the site.

Today@Sam: Exhibit Shows History Of 19th Century Homes

The Sam Houston Memorial Museum will tour some of Walker and Montgomery counties’ prime real estate during the 1800s with a photo exhibit beginning July 17.

“Mudcats and Dogtrots: Historic Log Buildings in Walker and Montgomery Counties,” includes approximately 45 pictures, that will be on display through Aug. 31 in the Katy and E. Don Walker, Sr., Education Center.

Taken by museum curator of exhibits David Wight and borrowed from Walker County Treasures, the photographs highlight the structural details of houses that were once so common they weren’t carefully documented, Wight said.

These structural details include not only differences in the way cabins were “notched” and whether round or square logs were used, but also how the fireplaces were built—with mudcats, a special kind of mud—and the dogtrots, the open but covered central breezeway that separated two “pens” or “cribs.”

“Many dogtrot log houses evolved from a single log structure; as the family expanded, a second crib was added,” according to Gordon Echols’s book “Early Texas Architecture.” “The name dog run is derived from the fact that the family dogs found the shade and the breeze during the summer as comfortable as did the residents.”

Inside the Bear Bend Hunting Lodge, built in 1850, where Gen. Sam Houston often stayed while hunting.

While some of the pictures in the exhibit date back to around 1896, many of the cabins that are part of the exhibit are dated as early as the 1830s, according to museum director Patrick Nolan.

Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

The Walker Education Center is located at 1409 19th St.

For more information, visit the Sam Houston Memorial Museum online.

Historical Park Donated to SHSU

The Houston Chronicle tells the story of a recent donation to SHSU that includes a number of historically-significant structures, including one once used by Sam Houston himself:

Carroll Tharp helped design the Hyatt Hotel and other mainstays of the downtown Houston skyline.  But the primary love of the 84-year-old retired architect and his wife, Mae, was preservation of historic cabins deep in the Piney Woods of Montgomery County.

They spent years developing a 45-acre tract, called Fernland, which contains five historic structures - including a cabin that Sam Houston used as a hunting lodge.

Tharp ... and his wife recently donated the acreage and structures to Sam Houston State University.

"We are delighted that the university will continue the work we started and preserve this segment of Texas history for many people to enjoy," Tharp said.

The park, in an area rapidly becoming residential, is filled with towering trees and a creek bubbling with pure water.  It originally was named Fernland because of two fern bogs on the property.

Patrick Nolan, director of the Sam Houston Museum said the university's first priority is to preserve and protect the valuable historic resource.  "Our second priority is to develop a minimal amount of infrastructure to accommodate visitors....  We want to put in water, lights, restroom facilities and parking....  After those two goals are met, they plan to begin permitting visitors to the park."

The land and buildings are valued at $355,000 and the contents at $92,947, but the Tharps' visitors often describe it as "priceless."

Structures at the site include:

• The Crane cabin, which was moved from Angelina County.
• The Bear Bend hunting lodge, originally located on a bend of Atkins Creek, now under Lake Conroe.
• The Hulon House, a typical Texas Greek revival farmhouse.
• The Jordan cabin, considered to be the oldest house in Walker County, which was originally a part of Montgomery County.
• A blacksmith shop, which started its life in 1919 as a corn crib.