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Originally known as "Big Hill" and Later "Barbers Hill," Mont Belvieu was first settled by Amos Barber (1814-1885). Born in Louisiana, he came to Texas as a youth and in 1848 married Susan Ann Hodges Fitzgerald (1827-1910). In 1849 he hauled logs on a sled drawn by oxen to this site, where he erected a two-story dog trot cabin. Nearby stood an orchard of peach and fig trees, and surrounding plantation land was stocked with horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and an assortment of poultry. On the main road from Huntsville to Lynchburg, the Barber cabin was frequented by travelers and friends, including Sam Houston and Ashbel Smith. Barber, a real estate broker and cattleman, enlarged the dwelling over the years to accommodate his family of ten children. He and his wife are buried south of their original homestead in the family cemetery, which is still used and maintained by their descendants. About 1923 the home was dismantled, leaving only a well as evidence of its existence. A rooming house built on the site was later bought by the Woodmen of the World for a lodge hall. Mont Belvieu Church of Christ, given adjacent land by Barber's eldest daughter Amanda Melissa (1850-1933) and her husband Marion Williams (1851-1934), acquired this property in 1974. |
