Older Than the County

This cabin went up in 1854. Parker County did not exist yet. The bill creating it had not passed, the county seat had not been chosen, and the name Weatherford meant nothing to anyone.

The Strain family were here before any of that. When the county was finally organized, a marker down the road would list them among the first neighbors on this land, alongside the Newberrys, the Porters, and a family named Doss.

That is worth standing still for. The people who built this room did not move to Parker County. They were already living here when Parker County was invented around them.

Look at the corner notching. No nails, because nails had to be freighted in and cost more than a day’s work. The logs hold each other, and the whole thing pulled tighter every year as the wood dried.