History
Site of Piedmont Springs Resort
In operation as early as 1850 as health spa and resort because of three nearby sulphur springs (varying in taste from mild to strong). Numerous drinking places and bathhouses allowed guests to move freely about grounds. Grand four-story hotel with 100 rooms, built about 1860, was social center for area, where guests enjoyed billiards, poker, horse races, and Gen.
Architecture
Steele House
In the late 1800s, two brothers named Steele had large cotton operations near Navasota, at Allen Farm, and residences diagonally across this corner from each other. A. G. Steele (1853-1900) and wife Etta had this late Victorian home built in 1896 by contractor J. E. Watkins. Eastlake architectural features embellish the porches and entrances. Descendants lived here until 1970.
History
Steinhagen Log Cabin
Built before 1860. Log walls are unspliced. Slaves hand-hewed the timbers, stones, made doors, window shutters. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965
Architecture
Templeman House
Built in the mid-1890s for newlyweds Ward B. and Annie Foster Templeman, this home is reminiscent of Navasota's early cotton boom era. Originally a Queen Anne design, the house was bricked and modified in the early twentieth century to reflect elements of the Prairie School style of architecture.
History
The Giesel House
Situated near the Houston & Texas Central Railroad Depot, this three-story stone building was erected in 1860 by R. H. Giesel (1833-1872) and his German-born wife Fannie (1828-1881) to house a restaurant and hotel. A two-story frame porch originally extended across the front of the structure.
Architecture
The Leake Building
Originally a one-story frame business house built in 1873 by Walter J. and Julia C. Peterson, this structure was enlarged in 1885. Native sandstone walls and a second story were added. John Wesley Leake (1852-1940), a builder, horse breeder, and race track owner, bought the property in 1886. He and his descendants owned the building more than 80 years.
Architecture
The Terrell House
In 1897 Elizabeth Owen had this two-story residence constructed for her daughter Emmeline B. Terrell (b. 1849), the widow of local pharmacist Joel W. Terrell, II, who had died the previous year. In 1899 the home was purchased by John H. Mickleborough, a leading Navasota banker and businessman, and his wife Georgia.
History
Town of Bedias
Named for North and South Bedias creeks, which in turn were named for the Bidai Indians, an agricultural people reputed to have been the oldest inhabitants of the area. "Bidai" means "brushwood", which may refer to the building material used in their dwellings. The first white settlement in this vicinity was founded 1835 by Thomas P. Plaster, and for a while it was called Plasterville.
History
White Hall School
As communities were developed by early settlers in Texas, small rural schools were established. Primarily serving farm families, the schools were often closed when children were needed to help harvest crops or perform other farm chores. A number of such rural schools were established in Grimes County.
History
Zion Cemetery
Zion Cemetery is the final resting place of early pioneers of Grimes County and their descendants whose memory is preserved here. Methodist Episcopal Church, South, now known as Zion United Methodist Church, formed in 1852 when settlers purchased three acres of land from L.E. Jones. Initially on this property, a log cabin church also served as a school, known as McCary School.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
