PRESERVE THE FUTURE VISITORS GUIDE Welcome to Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site, founded in 1824 by one of Help the Historical Commission preserve Texas’ first settlers, Martin Varner and later owned by Texas Gov. James S. Hogg. the past while touring this historic site. Please be Visitors can explore the real stories of the people who lived and worked on this mindful of fragile historic artifacts and structures. property, from the prosperous landowners to the enslaved people and oil field workers We want to ensure their preservation for the whose labor was essential to the economic viability of the site. enjoyment of future generations. SEE THE SITES VARNER-HOGG PLANTATION many of them former enslaved people, leased From western forts and adobe structures to through state prisons. In 1875, however, state Victorian mansions and pivotal battlegrounds, the The Karankawa tribe inhabited the land along Varner Creek long before European contact, but the investigators found “particular cruelty,” combined Texas Historical Commission’s state historic sites with the rising cost of convict labor, ended the illustrate the breadth of Texas history. first recorded settlement of Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site began in 1824 with the Varner use of prisoners, and the plantation turned to a family. Martin Varner, a Virginia native, purchased a sharecropping system. PLAN YOUR NEXT TRIP 4,428-acre Mexican land grant as a part of Stephen storiedsites.com F. Austin’s colony in present-day Brazoria County. In 1876, the Texas Land Company purchased the The Varners and at least two enslaved men farmed plantation and gradually shifted the site’s focus to and raised livestock on a small scale. They also ranching. The majority of laborers living and established a rum distillery in 1829, possibly the first working on the property were still African American. VARNER-HOGG PLANTATION in the state of Texas. The plantation sustained major damage in several STATE HISTORIC SITE 1900s hurricanes. Many of the original buildings, Open Tuesday-Sunday, 9am-5pm including the sugar mill, were destroyed. 1702 N. 13th St., West Columbia, TX 77486 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION 979-345-4656 In 1834, Varner sold the property to Columbus R. In 1901, former Texas Gov. James Stephen Hogg visitvhp.com Patton of Kentucky. The extended Patton family purchased the property, convinced that large moved to Brazoria County with 40–60 enslaved amounts of oil lay beneath the surface. Large people, and with their labor, Columbus Patton built quantities of oil were never found during his a successful sugarcane enterprise complete with a lifetime. When Gov. Hogg died in 1906, his will two-story mill. The enslaved people constructed the recommended his children not sell the mineral rights plantation house, smokehouse, sugar mill, and their for at least 15 years. Within that time period, the own quarters with bricks made from Brazos River Hogg heirs struck oil and became very wealthy. mud. The lives of some of the enslaved people on the plantation are well documented, partly in court While none of the Hogg children lived in the records of Patton’s contested will in which he made plantation home, they each spent time at the site. special provisions for four of the enslaved people: Long weekends with visitors, dinner parties, and Rachael, Marie, Jacob Steel, and Solomon. outings to the country brought them to the house. In 1919, the Hoggs made several modifications Patton and two of his brothers became active in to the house, including the relocation of the main politics prior to the and served in entrance, which resulted in its current appearance. the Texian army. Patton successfully managed the plantation until November 1854, when his family Ima Hogg, the governor’s only daughter and last had him declared insane, possibly as a result of a surviving child, was a great collector and lover of brain tumor. He was placed in an asylum in South decorative arts, and she furnished the home to reflect Carolina, where he died of typhoid fever in 1856. her father’s love of history and her own admiration The Patton family sold the estate in 1869. for George Washington and other early Americans. She donated the plantation to the State of Texas Between 1869 and 1901, the site changed ownership in 1958. thc.texas.gov | texastimetravel.com several times. At one point, owners used convicts,

In accordance with Texas State Depository Law, this publication is available at the Texas State Publications Clearinghouse and/or Texas Depository Libraries. WALKING GUIDE 9 SWIMMING HOLE 1 PLANTATION HOUSE Gov. Hogg constructed this pool to give his children The plantation house, built for Columbus Patton a place to swim other than Varner Creek, which is in the 1830s, originally faced Varner Creek. A free- home to several species of snakes and alligators. standing kitchen structure was located just to the northwest. The current appearance and orientation 10 GOVERNOR HOGG’S BATH of the house is the result of remodeling done by the Hogg Family in the 1920s.

2 SUGAR MILL RUINS 12 BUNKHOUSE The brick foundation Built in the 1920s, this building was used for the oil and chimney are the field business and workers’ sleeping quarters and is only remains of the large now the visitor center and gift shop for the site. two-story sugar mill that once was the heart 13 PECAN ORCHARD of the plantation. The When Gov. Hogg purchased the site, there was no Pecans were a favorite of Gov. Hogg, and the orchard mill was built by the indoor plumbing in the house. The governor, who has been maintained since his time. In the fall, visitors Pattons in the 1840s and 5 RANGER COTTAGE was 6’3” and weighed more than 300 pounds, did not are allowed to pick up fallen nuts with the permission was destroyed, like many of the buildings on site, by This small house was built in the 1920s during the site’s comfortably fit in the galvanized metal bathtubs of of site staff. the 1900 hurricane. The raw sugarcane was cleaned oil boom and used by oil field workers. Visitors may rent the time, so he had this outdoor tub constructed. and crushed on the second floor of the mill and then this cottage that sleeps eight. Please inquire at the 14 COLLECTIONS RESOURCE CENTER boiled and refined into usable sugar in the large metal visitor center. 11 BARN The Collections Resource Center is home to Miss Ima kettles on the ground floor. Today, visitors can observe The Pattons built this barn in the 1840s, and it was Hogg’s historic decorative arts collection, as well as a 19th-century kettles near the building ruins. 6 MISS IMA’S COTTAGE later moved to its current location. Today it is used conservation lab and the plantation’s archives. For an Built in the 1920s, this small house was both home and to display farming equipment, wagons, carriages, and additional fee, guided tours are available 3 MISS IMA #4 office for the oil field manager that oversaw the fields and items used in sugarcane processing. upon request. Gov. Hogg originally purchased the property in 1901 employees. Inside this house, visitors may explore exhibits for the oil he speculated the ground held. In 1918, 12 about the site’s history. years after his death, profitable wells and oil derricks 4 3 were finally established and covered the area. The 7 HAL’S HOUSE Hogg children’s fortune came from this oil. This tin-roofed building was the last residence constructed 2 4 SLAVE QUARTERS on the plantation in 1921. The slave quarters were For many years it was home 5 constructed around the to Mary and Hal Fields. Hal same time as the main worked as the ranch foreman plantation house out of and property manager for the slave-made bricks and Hogg family until his death local materials. After in 1969. 8 6 1 slavery was abolished 9 these small cabins were 8 PATTON CEMETERY 7 used to house convict This is the final resting place of at least four members of 10 laborers and later by the Patton family. The 1900 hurricane destroyed most of 13 sharecroppers working the cemetery’s decorative brick work. None of the original the land. Like so many headstones remain, but an obelisk commemorates those 11 other site buildings they were destroyed in the 1900 buried. A separate slave cemetery is also said to have hurricane. Only the brick foundations of the existed elsewhere on site, but no trace of it has buildings remain. been located. 14 12