Yeats-Duke 1858 Working Museum

The Yeats-​Duke Cabin is located at 214 North Crockett Street. Originally built in 1858 as a 16′ x 16′ single pen log home by Austin Newton Yeats, the house has evolved over time into the structure seen today. Austin Yeats settled in Texas in the middle 1850’s with his wife, Frances Bond and her family. Yeats was a house joiner by trade, which may account for the condition of the original log structure today. Yeats and his family were among the first settlers in the area, settling in the area several years before Granbury became a town. Yeats left Granbury only to fight for the Confederacy in the War Between the States. The Yeats family sold the house in 1875 to the Nutt family. The Nutt family was integral to the development of the town of Granbury, having donated the original forty acres the town was platted from. The Nutt family sold the house to Major William Duke and his wife, Sophronia, in 1880. The Dukes came to Granbury from Alabama, and William Duke practiced law and became very involved in the community, becoming a founding member of the Hood County School. The Duke family made several additions to their home, beginning by
surrounding the original cabin with a larger frame structure. Eventually the Dukes added a second pen the same size as the first attached by a dog trot. By 1905, dogtrot was enclosed adding a third room to the home and a front porch was added. The last addition to the home came in 1932, with the addition of a back porch next to the rear shed room. The home remained in the Duke family for many years, and it was not until the 1970’s that Granbury’s first preservationists rediscovered the original cabin inside the structure. The Yeats Duke Cabin now belongs to the City of Granbury and efforts are being made to fully renovate the structure.
The Yeats Duke Cabin was designated a local landmark September 5, 2006.
This information was obtained from the city’s website.