This is the first time this lovely piece of history will be available on the Christmas Home Tour. This incredible relic has been preserved in its original historic glory.

 

At the tender age of 23, Dr. L.E. Griffith first arrived in Texas on April 30, 1836, nine days after the Battle of San Jacinto. His first patient in Texas was Sam Houston. Dr. Griffith is credited with saving Sam Houston’s leg, which was seriously wounded in that battle.

 

The Griffith Homeplace in Terrell, TX, was the longtime home of Dr. Griffith, who purchased it for his family in 1882, just before his 70th birthday. The house was built between 1853 and 1873, before the town’s incorporation, and was lived in by several different families- including Jas. Browns and C.M. Johnsons - before being bought by Dr. Griffith.

 

Unchanged since its construction, the plantation-style raised cottage is typical of early Texas architecture. It is one of North Texas’ oldest residences and the first home in Kaufman County to have an interior bathroom with running water.

 

Established as a museum by Dr. Griffith’s great-grandson, the late Davis Griffith-Cox, the home is no longer open to the public for tours, except for this year’s Christmas Home Tour.

 

Unusual features of the Griffith Homeplace, according to the inscription of the Historical Marker on the property’s front gate, include:

 

• Two front doors

• Exterior access to most rooms

• Floor-to-ceiling windows

• A basement dining room with an interior well

• Greek Revival woodwork

• Gas lights

• An interior bathroom with running water - the first of its kind in Kaufman County

• Numerous outbuildings: a detached kitchen, a washroom, a smokehouse, servant’s quarters, carriage house privy, barn, and stables