Dial-Williamson House

Built as a double log, dog-trot cabin between 1841-44 and enlarged to a Greek Revival house in the mid-19th century, the Dial-Williamson House is an excellent example of a mid-19th century Greek Revival plantation house built in Harrison County. Although simple in ornamentation, the house displays some notable architectural features such as the refinement of details in the molded columns and the classically molded entablatures above the south (front) door and windows, as well as the perpendicularly bisecting cross hall variation on the standard Greek Revival central hall plan.

The Dial-Williamson House derives its name from two prominent 19th-century owners, G. C. Dial, a wealthy and influential planter in the mid-19th century, and J. B. Williamson, a powerful local politician in the years following the Civil War. The two original log rooms were probably built by the first landowner, Henry Morgan, who had been awarded a land grant by the Republic of Texas. G. C. Dial acquired the property in 1844 and lived in the house until 1869.

He enlarged the house from the early Texas log structure into a refined four-room Greek Revival residence. Dial was one of Harri- son County's significant early landowners and cotton farmers. When he was courting Anna Raguet of Marshall, Sam Houston was a frequent visitor in Dial's home. J. B. Williamson, a Republican politician and county judge during Reconstruction, bought the Dial House in 1869. Williamson was the first and only Republican county judge of Harrison County until the 1970s. After Williamson's death in 1883, the house was occupied until the 1940s by his descendants. In 1962 the current owners, Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Gregg, bought the property and restored the house to use as their retirement home.