Farmhouse Thomas Jefferson Nash built in 1869.

Long before Grapevine became the Christmas Capital of Texas, history was being made at Nash Farm. Circa 1859, Thomas Jefferson Nash purchased 110 acres of farmland in Grapevine in North Texas. The farm is the oldest operating farmstead in Tarrant County and includes the original house, a barn, and a family cemetery. 

The Nash family consisted of Thomas, his wife Elizabeth, their six children, and Thomas’s brother William. In 1880, their first home, a log cabin, was replaced by the current two-story structure, and a barn was added in 1905. The Nash family raised cash crops such as corn, wheat, and cotton in addition to subsistence crops. They also raised livestock: cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, oxen, mules, and chickens.

Before the Nash family left the farm, the spread had grown to 450 acres, four times the average size of a farm in North Texas at that time. Part of their land was given as a right of way for the Cotton Belt Railroad, but the majority of the land remained in the Nash family until 1927, when they sold to Carl Yates. The residence changed owners and renters throughout the years until the remaining five-plus acres was purchased by the Grapevine Heritage Foundation in 1997. 

In 2004, a capital campaign raised $800,000 to restore the farm. Four years later, the restoration was complete. The original home is in its original location, but the barn had burned to the ground in 1907. On the grounds is also the small cemetery where two grandsons of Thomas and Elizabeth Nash rest.

In 2010, the farm was listed in the national register of historic places, and in 2014 was recorded as a Texas historic landmark, forever preserving Nash Farm.

So how did the town where the Nash family decided to settle get its name? Because of its location on the Grape Vine Prairie near Grape Vine Springs, both of which were named for the tart, wild Mustang grapes that blanketed the region. It was actually called Grape Vine until 1914, when the post office decided the town’s name should be a single word. 

And yes, Grapevine definitely lives up to its self-proclaimed name of being the Christmas Capital of Texas. Come visit, y’all, and I’m certain you’ll be warmly greeted with a “Howdy!”