Architecture

Historic buildings, farmhouses, courthouses, churches, and Southern structures


Three Cultures and a Wedding: San Fernando Cathedral
Heritage & Ethnicity

Three Cultures and a Wedding: San Fernando Cathedral

By the time Alejandro and Carmen exchanged vows there, San Fernando Cathedral had already witnessed nearly two centuries of people arriving from elsewhere and calling San Antonio home. Founded by families from the Canary Islands, the small parish church built its first walls in 1731 and was initially called Villa de San Fernando de Béxar. Then Mexican, then American hands rebuilt it after war, fire, and flood, layering a Gothic-revival face over its eighteenth-century Spanish masonry without los
The Fabulous "Dogtrot" House!
Wyoming

The Fabulous "Dogtrot" House!

I don't know about you, but finding an old "dogtrot" house in the middle of nowhere in the western U.S., in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, near the Grand Tetons, was awesome! Now, you might think, why in the world would someone get excited about seeing this? Blame it on genealogy! A "dogtrot" house, or double house or double pen, is basically two single-room or "single pens" house with a central hallway or breezeway between the two pens with a single roof over all of them. [1] One room was generally the
Lincoln Slept Here — And Maybe My Ancestors Did Too!
Travel

Lincoln Slept Here — And Maybe My Ancestors Did Too!

The old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, Kentucky, established in 1779, has bragging rights as the place where our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, and his parents stayed during a land dispute before moving to Indiana. In the Nelson County Court Minutes for the 1780s and 1790s, a few taverns were specifically mentioned as located in Bardstown. The rest of the tavern licenses only noted that the person's dwelling was to be used as a tavern. That is a 20 to 30-year difference from when my ancestors se
Texas Courthouses and the Stories They Tell!
Architecture

Texas Courthouses and the Stories They Tell!

I admit it! I have traveled through Texas for many years. Whether by car, plane, or train (yes, by train, too), there are very few counties and courthouses I haven't visited. I also admit that it has taken me years to visit them. Texas has a total of 254 counties! (The next state in terms of the number of counties is Georgia, with 159.) I have been to the largest county, Brewster, and to the smallest county, Rockwall. After a while, it seems that some of these courthouses begin to look alike. Wa