Over the years I’ve driven by this log house a hundred times, but never stopped to take a closer look. Last week, to beat the oppressive heat, I set out at 6 am to photograph another piece of Texas history, catching the log house at sunrise.
Location: In Bicentennial Park, off of White’s Chapel Boulevard, about a quarter mile north of White’s Chapel’s intersection with FM 1709. Look for the water tower; the log house is nearby.
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- Front
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- Front Porch
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- Side
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- Back Porch
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- Side and Back Porch
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- Back Door
Southlake’s log house is a replica that represents a house built in the 1850s by a well-off family. At 14×14 feet, it is only as big as many bedrooms in today’s Southlake. Of special interest are the supports for the back porch – they once were telegraph poles made about 1853 that ran alongside the Butterfield Stage line in Wise County.
Also interesting is that the house sits next to Bunker Hill, which settlers used as a lookout point, and Blossom Prairie, where wagon trains heading west camped. At the end of this file, read the Log House Blog detailing the building of the log house.
Read more: https://southlakehistory.org/buildings-markers/log-house/
I thought it was “White Chapel Blvd”, not “White’s Chapel”.
Very interesting log house. Would love to see it sometime!
White’s Chapel is the correct name. The street was named after White’s Chapel Methodist Church which will be featured in a future blog post. The small chapel still exists and is on the grounds of the new Methodist Church, which is adjacent to the original chapel. Over the years the name has morphed to White Chapel. Guess the possessive name was too much for some to pronounce. It was named after Rev. White. The settlers used to say, “See you Sunday at White’s Chapel.” And that’s how the street got its name.