Three Stagecoach Inns in Grimes County
In Grimes County, beginning as early as 1834 with the Texas provisional government, postal routes began soon followed by stagecoaches. Fanthorp Inn at Anderson was the first, followed by the Camp Inn, just east of what became the town of Navasota. The last was the Freeman Inn built in 1856 on Navasota’s Washington Avenue shortly before the railroad reached Navasota.
The Fanthorp Inn at Anderson is the only structure standing today. Englishman Henry Fanthorp built the home/inn in 1834. A year later it became a post office for the provisional Texas government.
The La Bahia Trail, known to go well back beyond the early 1600s, led through Texas from far west of Washington-on-the-Brazos through Anderson into Louisiana. It was a natural ‘highway’ for stagecoaches.
The Camp Inn, built by Ira Malcolm Camp in the late 1840s, was located just east of Navasota where the Beard Navasota Veterinarian Clinic is now located. The frontage of that building is of rock from the Inn. The Freeman Inn was built at what is now 500 E. Washington Avenue in Navasota. A Texas Historical Commission marker marks the spot.
A book, “Stagecoach Inns of Texas,” written by Katharyn Turner Carter, published in 1972 by the Texian Press, relates, not only the sometime agonizing travails of stagecoach travel, but the basic history of over 200 Stagecoach Inns in Texas.
The Fanthorp Inn is located on six acres at the south end of Anderson’s Main Street. In 1977, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department acquired the property by purchase from a Fanthorp descendant. It opened to the public 10 years later, October 1987. Today, the Texas Historical Commission has the Fanthorp Inn open for public tours Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and for group tours (by reservation) and school events.
Author Carter states that Fanthorp Inn was “constructed of solid cedar logs cut from a nearby grove and tied together with vines. The long, heavy beams were laid on their leveled stumps. The original logs were later boarded over.” When completed “it contained 28 rooms, three rock chimneys, three porches, and three halls. The back ell served for the spacious kitchen and dining room. The east wing of the house was torn down over 100 years ago, leaving 14 rooms for the family”.
Author Carter also claims that in 1846, General Zachary Taylor, who became a hero of the 1846 Mexican War as well as President of the United States was a guest while his detachment of soldiers bivouacked beneath the trees. She claims that during the Mexican War, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and Jefferson Davis all were guests at the same time, and shared “food, lodging, and companionship at the Fanthorp Inn.” Later those three fought each other during the Civil War.
At the Camp Inn, Sam Houston was a favorite guest as he traveled from Independence, and Washington-on-the-Brazos, to Huntsville. The Inn was a three-story home with Italian imported bees occupying the third level with special egress and ingress openings. Guests occupied the second level, and the family occupied the ground level. A basement featured wine making from local grapes.
Author Carter claimed the Camp Inn served “gourmet styled food featuring deer, bear, turkey and quail with chicken considered too commonplace for guests, serving quail instead.”
The Freeman Inn, built by Ira Freeman, 1856, was a two-story pine building in a rambling L-shape three units. During the Civil War, dethroned Governor Sam Houston, was often a guest as well as soldiers. Soldiers who were penniless slept in the attic. The last of the Freeman Inn was torn down in the early 1940s.
Written by Betty Dunn, Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. See www.tworiversheritagefoundation.org for more info and membership)