Texas, Fayette County, near Weimar
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Dubina, which derives its name from the Czech word for oak grove, was founded in 1856 by a group of Moravian immigrants, including the Marak, Kahlich, Sramek, Peter, Holub, Muzny, and Haidusek families. By 1900 the farming community had erected a church building, mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, store, and post office. A 1909 storm and a 1912 fire caused extensive damage from which the town never recovered. As the first settlement in Texas to be founded entirely by Czech-Moravians, Dubina remains an important part of the state's regional and cultural history.
(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Dubina, which derives its name from the Czech word for oak grove, was founded in 1856 by a group of Moravian immigrants, including the Marak, Kahlich, Sramek, Peter, Holub, Muzny, and Haidusek families. By 1900 the farming community had erected a church building, mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, store, and post office. A 1909 storm and a 1912 fire caused extensive damage from which the town never recovered. As the first settlement in Texas to be founded entirely by Czech-Moravians, Dubina remains an important part of the state's regional and cultural history.(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Named for the nearby tidal lake of the same name, the community of Green Lake began to develop in the late 1840s, although records indicate there were some settlers in the area before that time. A group of wealthy planters from Kentucky migrated to the area about 1849, along with their families and many slaves. They established extensive cotton plantations and built large and impressive homes.
Johann Traugott Wandke (1808-1870) immigrated from Prussia to nearby La Grange with his wife Christiane and two daughters, Karoline and Christiane, in 1855. About 1860 Johann and Christiane came to Round Top to live in the home of their daughter Karoline and her husband Zoellistin Pochmann. They built their own native stone home/workshop at this site about 1863. Johann was a skilled mechanic and cabinetmaker but is best known for the high-quality organs he crafted from native cedar for several churches in the area including Round Top's Bethlehem Lutheran church.
A Tennessean, Angelina Peyton came to Texas in 1822. With her husband, J.C. Peyton, she operated an inn in San Felipe, capital of the Austin colony. Peyton died in 1834; in 1836 the widow married Jacob Eberly. She and Eberly had a hotel in Austin by 1842, when Angelina Eberly discovered men secretly removing records from the capital. Firing a cannon, she started the "Archives War", and rescued the original records of the Republic of Texas. Later she lived at Indianola. Her burial place and marker (¾ mile NW) were destroyed in a flood in 1875.
This portion of Fayette County is named for William Rabb (1770-1831), a prosperous miller from Pennsylvania who came to Texas in 1821 with members of his family. Rabb claimed a site on the east side of the Colorado River he had selected during an exploratory trip in 1819. He was a member of Stephen F. Austin's first colony in Texas, and recipient of one the earliest and largest land grants of more than 22,000 acres, of which 13,285 acres comprised Rabb's Prairie. Part of Rabb's agreement with Austin was to build a grist mill for future settlers of the colony.
Site of 1820 trading post of Jesse Burnam. His ferry on the Colorado River helped Gen. Sam Houston reach San Jacinto, 1836. To cut off Santa Anna, Houston then burned post and ferry.
As a young man Martin Allen assisted his father, Benjamin, in surveying roads in their native state of Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Vice in 1804 and by 1810 they and their three children were living in Louisiana.
German native Hugo Zapp established his mercantile business in Fayetteville in 1865. In 1900, after a fire had burned his wooden store at this site, Zapp had this 2-story brick building constructed. Intended to be the finest structure in the city, the Romanesque revival building features decorative brickwork in a checkerboard pattern. In 1915 another merchant, F.C. Knippel, bought the store, and it was operated by his family for more than fifty years.
F.W. Grassmeyer commissioned German-Texan stonemasons to construct this Italianate style commercial building between 1856 and 1859. The structure served as a hotel until 1893, when German immigrant Fritz Presun purchased it as a regional sales office for large American breweries. In 1897 Presun added a bottling operation, the Crown Soda Factory. His son Henry continued the business and also sold oil and gas here.
In 1773, when Williamsburg's Public Hospital opened, it was the first facility in America dedicated solely to the care and treatment of the insane. The original building burned in 1885. Reconstructed by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1985, the Public Hospital houses an exhibit on the building's history and serves as the entrance to the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum including the Hennage Auditorium, Museum Store and Cafe.
At their grist mill on nearby Rock Creek, James McAllister and his family provided temporary shelter to hundreds of fugitive slaves. Now in ruin, it was part of one of the earliest UGRR networks through which freedom seekers passed on their way north. It was the site of a significant gathering of abolitionists on July 4, 1836, that led to the formation of the Adams County Anti-Slavery Society, an early and influential abolitionist organization.
The Blue Springs School was first established in 1920. The land was donated by Henry H Shepard. The Plans were drawn by the State School architect. The lumber was donated by citizens of the community and prepared at A.S. Knight’s sawmill. Other financial needs were donated by local citizens, county board of education, and state aid for schoolhouse construction. Old Bethel, Anderson, and Old Blue Springs were consolidated to form the new school. The school was opened in 1921 for the first year of teaching in the consolidated building. In addition to academics, the students were taught high moral standards, honesty, love, and respect for God, country, and each other. The first trustees were: Dr. J.D. McLaughlin, Chairman: N.B. Parmer; G.C. Reeder; and A.F. Scarborough.
This church had its origins in a mission station established by the Rev. J. L. Gay in 1844. On May 10, 1872 the mission was formally accepted in the Diocese of Alabama as Grace Church. Construction of a church building began in 1875 on a lot owned by General Henry Delamar Clayton and his wife Victoria. The Gothic Revival style building was completed on February 26, 1876 at which time the lot was deeded by the Claytons to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the State of Alabama. Bishop Richard J. Wilmer formally consecrated the church on November 14, 1876. The mission and church have been served by the Revs. Thomas J. Bland, DeBerniere Waddell, E. W. Spalding, as well as others.
Erected to the glory of God, the Methodist Church in Abbeville was established circa 1830 as a mission of the Lawrenceville Circuit. The 1850 church was erected north of the present post office on East Washington Street. Present church retains most of its original features including bell and belfry, parquet ceiling and hand finished beams. First Sunday School annex built in 1949 with addition in 1958. Proclaimed Henry County’s number one historical structure in 1973 by Henry County Historical Society.
This rare, dual front door, double pen Creole cottage was constructed circa 1840 on the military three-notch road, now Kirkland Street. It is the oldest remaining structure in Abbeville. Earliest known owner was Confederate Colonel William Calvin Bethune, M. D. Last owner-dweller was Mollie Kennedy. To avoid immediate demolition, it was purchased in 1976, placed on the National Register in 1978 and initially restored by the Henry County Historical Society. It is presently owned by the Abbeville Chamber of Commerce.
John H. Miller built this Gothic Revival townhouse in 1859. He and his wife moved from Orangeburg, South Carolina to Barbour County in the early 1830s, settling in an area which would become known as the Tabernacle community. He later purchased a tract of land in Clayton on which this house was constructed. It is noteworthy for the handpainted murals on the entrance hall ceiling which depict The Four Seasons as well as other designs on the parlor and dining room ceilings. This work has been attributed to an artist named Massillon. The townhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1974.
