Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site

Henry Fanthorp, an English immigrant, arrived in Texas in 1832 and asked Stephen F. Austin to let him settle in the colony. He bought 1,100 acres on the road that crossed his land and in 1834 built a two-room cedar log dogtrot cabin, which put travelers at his door from the start. The provisional government made him postmaster in 1835, and he soon sold goods, meals and beds as well. By 1850 the cabin had grown into the seventeen-room inn that stands today.

The inn was well known in the Republic years, on the crossing of the mail roads from Houston to Springfield and from Nacogdoches to San Felipe. From 1850 to 1865 it was also a community center for Anderson, which became the county seat of Grimes County. Fanthorp died in 1867, and the inn ran for one more year and then closed. His family kept the house as a home until 1976.

The state bought the house and grounds in 1977 and restored the inn, and a separate building tells of travel in the period. The inn sits within the Anderson Historic District. Tours are free on Friday through Sunday, and living history programs and group tours are offered by reservation. The family cemetery lies on the grounds.