History
The Manlove Chambers House is an authentic Georgian home, modeled in the popular Neo Greek style of the Antebellum South. It was built, circa 1835, for Colonel Bartholomew and Averilla Manlove. Manlove was a Kentucky Horse Breeder and farmer who became first Mayor of Bastrop. The house was built on Mexican soil – The Texas Revolutionary War was not won until 1836. Two of Bartholomew’s daughters, Mary Ann and Margaret Jane, were married in the house – in 1837 and 1843, respectively.
In the 1850’s, the home became the residence of the pioneer and Indian fighter, Margaret (nee Barker) Wilbarger Chambers. She was a tiny woman but her immeasurable courage has become legendary. Margaret was the widow of Josiah Wilbarger, the famous Bastrop pioneer who survived an Indian scalping and lived to tell the tale. After Josiah’s death, Margaret married Colonel T. Chambers, a hero of the Texas Revolution. They reared their family in the home and used its parlor to welcome friends and settlers to the community.
The Manlove Chambers House has had several owners over the years but the tradition of extending hospitality is as important today as it has been throughout its 175 years of history.
Bird’s Eye View of Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas 1887
Lithograph, 16.6 x 22.9 in. Lithographer unknown
Reproduced with kind permission of
Bastrop County Historical Society