Going Down that Road

Résumé du livre

Following cultural resource surveys conducted as part of planning and formal application for development of the Calvert Mine, a lignite operation in northwestern Robertson County, it was determined that measures should be taken to mitigate the proposed loss of one historic site, 41RT260, and to assess the potential eligibility of six additional properties for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In January, 1989, the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, submitted a comprehensive plan for the scope of work that would be required. The following month, a field crew began implementing the plan, which involved archeological testing, oral history interviews, archival research, artifact analysis, photodocumentation, and, for 41RT260, measured architectural drawings conforming to standards of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) program. All work was conducted in consultation with the staff of the Texas Historical Commission, the state's historic preservation office. The mitigative phase of the intensive research plan resulted in an appropriate and successful treatment of 41RT260, the Weaver-Rushing house. Located near the center of a dispersed rural community known as Tidwell Prairie, the house and surrounding farmstead reflect the settlement's period of significance, from the late nineteenth century to the 1940s. Field notes, original architectural drawings, and additional documentation are on file at the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory. In addition, HABS-quality architectural drawings were provided to the architecture departments at The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A & M University. The six sites slated for additional testing and research represent former dwellings also associated with Tidwell Prairie. A combination of oral history, archival research, mapping and photodocumentation, and subsurface probes provided information on site layout, function and history. The research potential of five sites, 41RT251, 41RT252, 41RT258, 41RT261, and 41RT271, was fully exploited by this program and none meet criteria for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The sixth site, 41RT254, the Ed Okonski site, is an intact example of the development of a rural farmstead in Robertson County and is eligible for listing on the basis of its architecture and layout. The site is privately owned and operated, and will not be affected under current mining plans, so no further work is warranted at this time.