{"nrhp_refnum":"79002998","name":"Barret, Tol, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Nacogdoches","address_restricted":false,"city":"Nacogdoches","county":"Nacogdoches County","state":"TX","lat":31.535955801000057,"lon":-94.66711734499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-07-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story frame east Texas farmhouse built about 1848 of locally milled pine, originally southeast of Nacogdoches and moved in 1975 to a site about 3.5 miles south of the city.","why_significant":"It is a good example of a mid-19th century east Texas farmhouse with unusual details, including 12/12 windows and vertical 2\" x 12\" pine board construction. It was the home of Tol Barret, who completed Texas' first producing oil well, from 1867 until his death in 1913. It is the only surviving building directly associated with him.","narrative":"Built around 1848, this one-story frame farmhouse near Nacogdoches was originally a two-room dog-run dwelling made of locally milled pine. John B. Hardeman built it and sold it in 1867 to Tol Barret, who lived there until he died in 1913. Barret was a merchant and Confederate officer who founded the Melrose Petroleum Company and completed Texas' first producing oil well in 1866. The house is the only surviving building tied directly to him. Its symmetrical front has a central door, 12/12 windows and a full-length porch. Vertical 2-by-12-inch pine boards, unusual for the region and period, were exposed when later siding was removed. A rear shed addition came in the late nineteenth century. Neglected after 1956 and slated for demolition in 1975, the house was bought and moved to a rural setting resembling the original. Its owners are restoring it to the Barret period and plan to reconstruct the chimneys.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"John B. Hardeman (built the original two-room dog-run house about 1848)","architectural_style":"Mid-nineteenth century east Texas farmhouse (dog-run plan)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Moved in 1975 to save it from demolition; being restored to its Barret-era appearance for use as a guest house. The form lists the status as work in progress and unoccupied/vacant.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.570051-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/9730/40973072/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/79002998.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002998/2ffb76bcdd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002998/2ffb76bcdd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Dbezan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tol_Barret_Houst.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dbezan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tol_Barret_Houst.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973072","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107321775"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/nacogdoches-county/barret-tol-house-79002998/"}