Family corn cribs, log structures in early Texas. (original) (raw)
Most of the historic buildings East Texans have restored are ornate homes, public structures and churches.
The other day in Crockett, the good people of Houston County came together and dedicated one of the region's overlooked symbols -- the family corn crib.
The Runnels corn crib, built in the l930s by black pioneer farmer Simon Reynolds and his sons, was donated by descendant R.C. Runnels' family, moved log by log to Camp Street in Crockett, and carefully restored.
To celebrate, the crowd ate a meal of black-eyed peas, cornbread, ham, shoe-peg corn salad and buttermilk pie -- and listened to little-heard songs by Pip and Guy Gillette, Houston County�s hometown cowboy balladeers.
In early East Texas, corn cribs were as essential to farmers as their plows and mules. Used to store corn on the floor and peanuts in the rafters, the cribs enabled families to store food for themselves and their livestock for the winter months.
In those days, farmers were largely self-sufficient. Their crops produced virtually everything they needed. A trip to town once a month was only for the things they couldn't produce themselves.
The Runnels corn crib was moved from its original location near Gail Creek, 18 miles southeast of Crockett, to the Gillette Brothers' famous Camp Street Cafe, just across the street from a statue of another legend, blues singer Lightnin' Hopkins.
The crib is a relatively rare semilunate notched log structure, apparently an American invention found almost exclusively in the Deep South. To build the crib, a farmer cut down suitably-sized pine trees, split them with dogwood wedges and a wood maul, and then notched the ends of the logs with an ax or hatchet so they would fit snugly against each other.
The Runnels crib brought back a lot of memories for the Runnels and Gillette families, who owned adjoining lands near the little community of Lovelady.
"It's where we came from and where our family began, and that's very important to all of us," said Crezette Runnels, who dedicated a plaque on the old crib.
Charles Runnels remembered picking peanuts as a boy, putting them in the crib, and then sneaking inside to eat the peanuts when they dried out."Peanuts have never tasted the same to me," he said.
Pip Gillette had a different memory: "In the old days, there was a well-known moonshiner named Rambo, who lived for a little while in the crib and stayed just ahead of the local law," he said, adding: "He was known for making some of the best adult beverages in Houston County."
John Tatum, an authority on pioneer log building, had one of the most poignant comments:
"You're looking at one of the last survivors of a rare symbol of American ingenuity."
Nov. 3-9, 2002 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
Published with permission
(Bob Bowman of Lufkin is the author of nearly 30 books on East Texas history and folklore and a former president of the East Texas Historical Association.)