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The
Colonel’s Homeby
Bob Bowman
"Today, Myrtle-Vale is one of the most magnificent pre-Civil
War homes still standing in East Texas." |
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When
Colonel John Dewberry came to Texas in 1835, he was looking for a place to put
down new roots.
The War of 1812 veteran from Georgia settled on Saline
Prairie in what would become southern Smith County. By 1845 he had helped establish
a voting place in his home, built a pioneer cotton gin and became one of five
men appointed by the Texas Legislature to locate the boundaries for Smith County
and the new county seat of Tyler.
Around 1852 Dewberry embarked on the
construction of his family’s dream home on land where General Thomas J. Rusk and
the Army of the Republic camped in 1839 while they pursued the Cherokee Indians
and its legendary chief, the Bowl.
Dewberry soon became one of Smith County’s
most successful entrepreneurs. Tyler merchants seeking loans came to Dewberry,
who at one time had $100,000 stuffed in a safe at a drug store in Tyler. The colonel
also had interests in stores at Larissa and old Jacksonville.
Dewberry’s
Greek Revival home near Teaselville soon became the center of a vast cotton plantation
of 20,000 to 30,000 acres.
Built of massive beams, handmade bricks, cypress
siding, heart pine floors, and square nails, Myrtle-Vale -- named for rows of
crepe myrtle trees flanking the home’s drive -- was built to last a lifetime.
But it almost didn’t.
When Dewberry died in 1877 his estate
went to his heirs and he was interred in an above-ground tomb not far from his
home. Myrtle-Vale was sold, but without the care and pride of the old colonel,
the mansion began to deteriorate. Soon, it was hidden by the forest’s growth.
In the l990s young Andy Bergfeld of Tyler went driving one day, looking for “an
old home someone had told me about.” As he stopped beside a road fifteen miles
southwest of Tyler, he happened to look down a hidden lane. There, in the deep
woods, were the columns of Colonel Dewberry’s home, “beckoning me to come visit.”
For reasons known only to him, and perhaps the spirit of Colonel Dewberry,
Bergfeld decided he wanted the old home. He haggled with fourteen heirs of the
previous owners and finally bought the crumbling mansion and five surrounding
acres.
Married only fourteen months, Bergfeld and his wife soon began
an exhaustive restoration effort. They found new cypress lumber in Baker, Louisiana,
period glass in New Orleans, and new brass fixtures in Baton Rouge. Wallpaper
designs came from old homes in Natchez, Mississippi, and Virginia.
Bergfeld
also unearthed tidbits of the house’s history. He learned that one of the previous
owners had burned down an outhouse while he was reading a Sears catalog by candlelight,
which led to the construction of a interior bath in a corner of a sitting room.
Bergfeld ripped out the bath.
In another room he found an old piano. As
his wife opened the piano’s keyboard cover, she screamed. Inside was a snakeskin
left by another occupant.
The $194,000 restoration was completed in 2001 and Colonel Dewberry’s proud old
home is now open for tours, receptions and other events. The restoration also
earned the Bergfelds the prestigious Terry Preservation Award given annually by
the East Texas Historical Association.
Today, Myrtle-Vale is one of the
most magnificent pre-Civil War homes still standing in East Texas. Visitors are
awed by the mansion’s beauty, its history and the long driveway flanked by majestic
crepe myrtles.
Some visitors even say they’ve seen Colonel Dewberry’s
likeness standing on the porch, smiling broadly. |
All
Things Historical
January 12, 2005 Column
Published with
permission
(Distributed by the East Texas Historical Association. Bob Bowman
is a member of the Texas Historical Commission and the author of more than 30
books about East Texas)
See
Tyler, Texas
*Listed
on the National Register of Historic Places
A Texas State Historical Landmark |
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