For five years from 1867 to 1872, this cabin was the home of Samuel Ealy Johnson and his wife Eliza. While Sam ran the family's cattle business, Eliza attended by hand to virtually every detail of running the ranch. She hauled water, spun wool, made clothes, cooked meals, and tended the animals. Self-sufficiency was essential because the nearest store was in Blanco, a day's ride away. The cabin is typical of the dogtrot cabins that were once common in Texas. The west wing was built first, in 1856, and Sam Johnson added the east wing about 1868. The shaded breezeway, through which a dog could easily trot, provided storage space and much-needed relief during the Hill Country's blistering summers.