The Seward Plantation is a historic site built in 1855, a Southern

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

-turned-ranch located in

Independence, Texas ---> Independence is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Washington County, Texas, United States. Located twelve miles northeast of Brenham, it was founded in 1835 in Austin's colony of Anglo-Americans. It became a Baptist ...

. The Seward Plantation has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

since January 29, 2013. It was documented as part of the Historical American Buildings Survey. It has a Texas Centennial Marker.thc.texas.gov/preserve/projects-and-programs/state-historical-markers/1936-texas-centennial-markers

Location

The plantation is located east of

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

near Brenham in

Washington County, Texas Washington County is a county in Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,805. Its county seat is Brenham, which is located along U.S. Highway 290, 72 miles northwest of Houston. The county was created in 1835 as a municipality of ...

. It is off

Farm to Market Road 390 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

, also known as La Bahía Road (later Old Washington Road). The La Bahia Road was originally an east-west Indian trail also used by Spanish explorers in the 17th century. One can still see remnants of the La Bahia Road on the Seward Plantation.

History

Between 1832 and 1833, Samuel Seward (1794–1870) moved from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Mexican Texas Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially ...

with

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization ...

. Seward purchased of land, then more. In the 1850s, after

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

had become a state, the land passed to his son, John Hoblett Seward (1822–1892). John Seward was married Laura Jane Roberts (1838–1920) of Houston. The main house on the plantation was built in 1855. The plantation house was originally built as a one-story building 1/4 mile from Sam Seward's house. One year after its completion the house was rolled on large cottonwood logs 3/4th of a mile, to its current location because the original location was found to be inaccessible during the rainy seasons and unhealthful during the cold seasons. The house was constructed almost entirely from cedar trees growing within sight of the original location. It sits securely on a stone base. The Seward family added a second story soon after the house was moved, and made other additions through the years. After it was enlarged, the plantation home became the largest house in Washington County. The property also included barns, log cabins for slaves, a smokehouse, a corn crib and a blacksmith's shop, many of which are still standing. It was used as a

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

plantation prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

of 1861 to 1865. After the war, it became a cattle ranch. The house survived the storm of 1900. The Seward Plantation remained in the Seward family until 2017, when it was purchased by a family from Houston who is restoring the property and using the house as a private home.

References

External links

{{NRHP in Texas National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Texas Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Houses in Washington County, Texas Houses completed in 1855 Museums in Washington County, Texas Historic house museums in Texas Cotton plantations in Texas

Location

History

See also

References

External links