'Landmark Magnolia House in Cameron up for sale' by Jeanne Williams/Temple Daily Telegram

Landmark Magnolia House in Cameron up for sale

by Jeanne Williams

Temple Daily Telegram - February 18, 2009

The landmark Magnolia House in Cameron is up for sale.

Owner Rosalind Brinkley is downsizing her business,

Cameron Country Inns. (Shirley Williams/Telegram)

CAMERON - Cameron’s reigning real estate royalty - the Magnolia House - is up for sale.

The house is one of three Cameron contributions to the U.S. Department of the

Interior’s prestigious National Register of Historic Places and is a Texas Historical

Landmark.

The 1885-era, elegant two-story home of Dr. and Mrs. Nathen Cass was christened the

Magnolia House because of a flowering tree. It was bought and restored by John and

LaGayle Sosnowy in the late 1980s, and purchased by Rosalind Brinkley of Cameron at a

November 2001 auction.

Famed for its unusual architecture, the structure was built to resemble a Mississippi

riverboat with ships’ wheels worked into the design, admiral’s and captain’s rooms, and

woodwork boasting hand-carved animals adorning frames of doors and windows.

Mrs. Brinkley added Smithsonian-registered, Bradbury antique, gold-foiled, lithographed

wall coverings of the type used in the White House and other fine homes, silk drapes

with authentic Eastlake patterns, and the same fine linens by Italy’s Sferra Brothers

used in the Vatican, and tucked in some original Cass-family memorabilia.

She then christened the house Magnolia Inn and opened the doors at 501 N. Travis Ave.

to public patronage as a bed-and-breakfast, and a location for formal weddings and

fancy parties.

Mrs. Brinkley paused momentarily to collect her thoughts as she searched for the

correct words to describe her decision to part with this masterpiece.

Aside from meticulous work to polish the Magnolia Inn, there is some sentiment lurking

in the corridors. The house was built by kinfolks; Mrs. Brinkley, as a direct

descendant of the Randolph family of Virginia, shares forebears with Mrs. Cass, and

incidentally, Martha Washington.

Most of the furnishings are from Mrs. Brinkley’s personal collection - each has its own

significance - and will not be sold with the house.

“I will always love it, but I am getting older and my children don’t want anything this

fancy,” Mrs. Brinkley said.

Cameron Country Inns, Mrs. Brinkley’s business, will continue to offer hospitality at

the Dallie Rose Inn, and soon will open the Travis House restaurant offering fine

dining with the goal of “being the best of the year in Texas Monthly.”

“I need to start gearing down,” Mrs. Brinkley said. “This is a bad time to sell, but

this is a fast growing area.”

The real estate listing in the Temple Daily Telegram offers the house at a reduced

price of $980,000. Though Mrs. Brinkley is eager to find a new owner quickly, she hopes

she will have the luxury of choosing a buyer who will take care of her special house.

“Everybody has begged me not to sell it to anyone who wants to move it,” Mrs. Brinkley

said. “But they can tell me they won’t move it and then move it.”

Only Mrs. Brinkley’s decision to out-bid a couple in the 2001 auction kept the house in

Cameron, she said.

Dr. Dee Dee Green, Milam County Historical Commission co-chairman, said a major threat

to the Magnolia House’s on-site future is its location in a commercial zone adjacent to

U.S. Highway 77.

“They could move it and put a McDonalds there,” Dr. Green said. “It would be most

unfortunate because it is one of the most recognizable and important historic buildings

in Cameron. It would be a tragedy if it were moved.”

Dr. Lucile Estell, Milam County Historical Commission member, said Rockdale has lost

the Lockett House and Dr. Barkley House to owners who moved the structures out of town.

“When history is gone, it’s gone forever,” Dr. Estell said. “Once the property is sold,

then I don’t think it will have a lot of protection. I think somebody could buy it and

do whatever they want with it. Heritage tourism is money, and Cameron sits on a gold

mine with the Magnolia House, courthouse, jail, old Dutch Town and the El Camino Real

National Historic Trail that came right through Cameron.”

The courthouse and jail also are registered Texas Historical Landmarks and are listed

in the National Register of Historic Places.

Larry Oaks, Texas Historical Commission executive director and state historic

preservation officer, was a Magnolia Inn guest during the El Camino Real de los Tejas

history and tourism seminar in Cameron in 2005, and later on an exploration jaunt of

Central Texas with his wife.

Oaks praised Mrs. Brinkley’s choices of vintage furnishings and trappings that have

made the Magnolia Inn such a spectacular example of Victorian architecture. He also

expressed admiration at Milam County’s preservation and restoration of its courthouse

and county jail.

Losing the Magnolia House to a house collector wanting to move the structure “would be

a tremendous loss” to Cameron, Milam County and Texas, Oaks said. Moving a house of

this size would be complicated and serious, and should be a last resort because of its

value to heritage tourism.

“Being as close as it is to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth, with people

commuting further these days, I would hope its karma would be to sit right where it

is,” Oaks said.

Oaks’ reflection on the house?

“I like Victorian houses,” Oaks said. “I am not a ghost-oriented person, but my

experience there … there was a spirit or the sense of someone who lived in that house,

who built it obviously with great resources and loved it. If there were any vibes that

came from it, there was certainly one of pleasant history and a structure that reflects

what life was like in the 19th century for a few with gifted resources.”

All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram
Photos by Shirley Williams -
Temple Daily Telegram photographer