Log Cabin at the Stagecoach Inn

Built in the 1800s, this log cabin once stood on the Claude and Bernice Hodge Ranch about two miles west of Salado on Thomas Arnold Road. About 1934, Claude Hodge gave the cabin to Charles and Eva Stevens, who then owned the Stagecoach Inn. They moved it by wagon and team to downtown Salado, where it was reassembled at its present site after being dismantled; originally, it had a dirt floor and a tree growing through the ceiling, and it had been put together with ashes. The Stevens opened a restaurant in the cabin to attract travelers headed to the 1936 Centennial in Dallas by way of old Highway 81. Eva Stevens served what she called "depression food," including fried fish, fried chicken, black-eyed peas, and other homemade dishes, with family-style meals costing 35 cents. For several years, the cabin served as Salado's restaurant. In the 1980s, it was used as the Stagecoach Inn gift shop, and over the years it also served as a coffee shop, barber shop, beauty shop, home decor shop, and later as the office of Stagecoach Inn owner Dion Van Bibber.

Salado, Texas · United States