Tait Compound

The plaque gives Tait's plantation; his papers at the Briscoe Center fill in the man who ran it. Born in Georgia, he took a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Navy surgeon before Texas. He was surgeon to John C. Hays's regiment in the Mexican War and a lieutenant colonel in the 4th Texas Cavalry. He ran a ferry on Sylvania, wrote rules for the overseers of its enslaved workers, sat in the Texas House, and organized relief after the 1869 flood and the 1873 yellow fever. The compound is on private land.

What the plaque says

Tait Compound Charles William Tait (1815-1878), A physician, civil engineer, U.S. Naval officer (1838-1843), came to Texas from Alabama in 1844, surveyed extensive lands for railroads and opened 6,000-acre Sylvania Plantation. Here he grew cotton, corn, cane and produced lime. His slaves hewed logs and fired brick in plantation kiln, then built headquarters compound 1847. Originally beside the family cemetery (1 mi. S), the headquarters was relocated on higher ground at present site. Double log barn and slave cabin were moved here and restored in 1969-70 by a grandson, Robert Elbert Tait. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

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More markers nearby

• Navigation of the Colorado River — 5.3 mi
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