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H I S T O R I C   W H E E L O C K   T O U R

A Tour Of Places, Buildings, & Homes With Architectural & Historical Significance In Wheelock

Additional Information About Historic Wheelock Is Available At:
Handbook Of Texas Online, Texas Escapes, Robertson County Post Offices,
History Of Wheelock, History Of Robertson County by James Walter Baker,
Historical Recollections Of Robertson County by Richard Denny Parker

U N D E R   C O N S T R U C T I O N

# On Map	Sketches & Photographs	Names & Descriptions Of Places, Buildings, & Houses With Architectural & Historical Significance
		Early Wheelock Photos Photos from History Of Robertson County, pp. 100, 101, 102, 104, 107, 109, 110, 116, & 118.
		Eleazar Louis Ripley Wheelock Historic Marker 30 53 58 N / -96 23 32 W, [State & High Streets, FM 391 & FM 46], Map Texas Historic Marker reads:  "Founded in 1833 by Colonel Eleazar Louis Ripley Wheelock, soldier, lawyer, and educator. One of the organizers of Robertson's Colony. Captain of Texas Rangers. Died in Edwardsville, Illinois in 1846 while visiting the place of his birth." THC Marker, Handbook of Texas Online Biography, Texas State Cemetery Photo to left from History Of Robertson County, p. 98.
		Town Of Wheelock Historic Marker 30 53 59 N / -96 23 34 W, Map Texas Historic Marker reads:  "Eleazar Louis Ripley Wheelock [1793 - 1847] came to Texas from Illinois in 1830. A surveyor for Robertson's Colony, he established a town on his land along the Old San Antonio Road. Named Wheelock in 1837, the town boasted twenty businesses by the 1840s, including general stores, land and freight offices, and a cotton gin. By 1845 Wheelock was a transportation hub in central Texas. A post office was established in 1846, and the town was Robertson County seat from 1850 to 1856. Bypassed by the railroad in the 1860s, Wheelock declined; many of its citizens moved to Hearne." HTC Marker
		Cavitt House 30 53 51 N / -96 23 41 W, [1/2 mile west of Wheelock on FM 391], Map The ante-bellum Cavitt house was built by Ann Cavitt and her family on 300 acres of the Sterling Robertson Grant near the town of Wheelock.  The house was designed by a Mr. Charleton, a New England architect, who was traveling through the area.  Construction began in 1845 and was completed in 1854.  The three-story mansion contained eleven rooms.  Woodwork, cornices, balustrades, and mantlepieces were hand-carved of Cypress and Pine.  Door latches, hinges, and square nails as well as the glass for the windows were made on site.  The six fireplaces were fashioned of pink brick and ironstone.  The house served as a staging point on the Old Spanish Road, linking San Antonio with Nacogdoches.  Among the visitors were Sam Houston, a longtime friend of the Cavitt family.  Texas Historic Marker reads:  "Old Cavitt House. Republic of Texas homestead established when log cabin was built 1836. Main house of hand finished lumber, begun in 1842, completed in present form 1854. During 1840s and 1850s, was stage stop between Nacogdoches and San Antonio de Bexar. Cavitts were political followers of Sam Houston, friend and frequent guest here, who gave a desk to Volney Cavitt."  The Cavitt House is one of 12 buildings or groups of buildings in Robertson County that is preserved in the U.S. Library of Congress American Memory Collection.  Architectural drawings and floor plans of this historic building from this collection are featured to the left and below.   THC House & Log Cabin Survey, THC House Survey, THC Marker Photo to top left from History Of Robertson County, p. 108.
		Cavitt Log Cabin 30 53 51 N / -96 23 41 W, [1/2 mile west of Wheelock on FM 391], Map Adjacent to the mansion is the two-story cedar log cabin built in 1836 by the Cavitt family slaves.  The cabin has a lower room with a fireplace and an upper sleeping loft.  The cabin was protected by a series of gunports.  The Cavitt Log Cabin is one of 12 buildings or groups of buildings in Robertson County that is preserved in the U.S. Library of Congress American Memory Collection.  Architectural drawings and floor plans of this historic building from this collection are featured below.   THC Log Cabin Survey
		Cavitt Cemetery 30 53 53 N / - 96 23 41 W, Map Behind the mansion to the north is the Cavitt family cemetery.  Not only are descendants of Andrew and Ann Cavitt buried here, but also the original family slaves.  The most distinctive grave marker, an anvil, indicates the grave of William, a slave who served as the family blacksmith.  The Cavitt Cemetery is one of 12 structures or groups of structures in Robertson County that is preserved in the U.S. Library of Congress American Memory Collection.  Architectural drawings and landscape plans of this historic cemetery from this collection are featured to the left.   Cavitt Cemetery
		Love Drug Store Located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 391 and 46 in the center of Wheelock, this drug store was built around 1800.  Vernacular in style, the two-story frame commercial building has a gable end front with canopy and shuttered windows. THC Survey
		Wheelock Post Office Located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 391 and 46 in the center of Wheelock, this post office was built around 1910.  It is a one-room Victorian-style post office with steep gable roof, turned columns, and 2/2 light windows.  THC Survey
		Dave Arnett House Located on Farm to Market Road 46, 1 mile southeast of Wheelock, this two-story house has hand-hewn lumber inside that dates from 1836.  The house was remodeled into a one-story house in 1900.  It was again remodeled in 1955.  The house features two end wall chimneys.  The Arnett family cemetery is nearby.  THC Survey
		Arnett Cemetery 30 53 24 N / - 96 22 34 W, Map Arnett Cemetery
		Wheelock Cemetery 30 53 21 N / - 96 24 14 W, Map Wheelock Cemetery
		Wheelock Community Center Need information and pictures.
		Dunn or Dunn's Fort Cemetery 30 51 58 N / - 96 25 40 W, Map Started in pioneer era on land of James and Isabella Caufield Dunn, who with 8 other families came from Ireland to America in 1821, living first in Charleston, S. C., then in Boligee, Ala. In Dec. 1833 they began trek to colony of Sterling C. Robertson by ox-wagons and carryalls. With the Dunns were families of Henry Caufield, Letitia Ellis and her daughter Elizabeth Watson, Henry and William Fullerton, Hugh and William Henry, the widow McMillan, and the Youngs. Burial of infant of James and Isabella Dunn [1836] opened this cemetery, used ever since by heirs of the pioneers.  Dunn Cemetery, THC Marker Photo to left from History Of Robertson County, p. 98.

THC = Texas Historical Commission

= For additional information

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