The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 457
498 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
calling up some kind of Currier and Ives apparition, as the ones which
in recent years have been so fashionable in Texas. The absence of a
scholarly approach to restoration is, in San Augustine, strangely bal-
anced by the fact that many structures have prevailed unchanged and
not disheveled by the century and a quarter since the demise of the
Republic.
It is unfortunate, however, that San Augustine has had no more
opportunity-or sympathy-than it has had to preserve the interior
furnishings from those Republic times. The many San Augustine
cabinetmakers and woodcrafters are known today only by name, in
most cases. Isolated pieces-sideboards, secretaries, a table or bench-
survive to reflect the craftsmanship of the period (almost always un-
signed or with an unknown maker), but even this is rare. Generally
speaking, the furniture was brought in, or has been brought back. In
those structures which house the accumulations of generations there
is a satisfying quality of age lingering through the old rooms. But the
deliberate attempts at restoration or reproduction of Republic period
pieces seems to fail more often than not, and the rooms with their
expanses of Empire wallpaper and conglomeration of Golden Oak
and waxy synthetics from our own age fail to convey the sought-after
impression.
Still, the very presence of fine period houses is a good part of San
Augustine's special appeal. Most of the old Republic vintage places
have always been used as residences, some of them continuously by
descendants of the early occupants. At the Polk place, for example,
the romantic parlor paintings preserve the imagination of an ancestor
who created them; on a bedroom wall a mourning scene commemo-
rates the departure of a nineteenth century kinsman. On a cold Feb-
ruary day, Matthew Cartwright's office fireplace warms the Grecian
outbuilding which all these years has sheltered active land enterprises.
Columbus Cartwright's country garden, though no longer broom-
swept, has been resplendent each spring for one hundred and thirty
years with blooming quince, narcissus, and wisteria. The original
picket fence has been carefully dismantled and stored, in the belief
that someday the yard will again require its protection-and if so, the
fence must be the correct one.
The researcher who goes to use the rich collection of the county
courthouse, and is turned out during the lunch hour, soon finds him-357
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969, periodical, 1969; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117146/m1/411/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.