Bassett Farms: Home Place, Blum Place and Hirschfield Place Cultural Landscape Report

Prepared by: Evan Thompson, Preservation Texas and Laurie Matthews, Robert Z. Melnick, Eleanor Cox, and Tucker McPhaul, MIG, Inc.

Preservation Texas

Bassett Farms Conservancy Kosse, Texas www.bassettfarms.org

MIG, Inc. Portland, Oregon www.migcom.com

Publication Credits: Information in this report may be copied and used with the condition that credit is given to authors and other contributors. The primary authors meet the criteria set by The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties for qualified professionals, as outlined in Appendix A of the Guide to Cultural Landscape Reports: Contents, Process and Techniques. Appropriate citations and bibliographic credits should be made for each use. Photographs and graphics may not be reproduced without the permission of the sources noted in the captions.

Acknowledgements: This project was generously supported through grants from The Still Water Foundation and the Texas Historical Commission.

The authors would like to thank Julie McGilvray, a Historical Landscape Architect with the National Park Service, who was instrumental in getting this project initiated, and the Preservation Texas Bassett Farms Conservancy Committee members (noted below) who provided valuable guidance.

In addition, the authors are grateful for input received during an October 2021 workshop from Tony Crosby, former chair of the Bassett Farms Committee and former NPS preservation architect; Dixie Hoover, Bassett Farms Committee; Kate Johnson, Chair, Bassett Farms Committee; Laura Lehmons, Kosse Heritage Society; Sarah McReynolds, Site Manager, Old Fort Parker; Karen Partin, President, Kosse Heritage Society; Tim Partin, Rancher, Bassett Farms ranching tenant; Alysha Richardson, Site Manager, Sam Bell Maxey House; Andrea Roberts, Professor, Texas A&M and founder of Texas Freedom Colony project; Ron Siebler, Preservation Texas board member; Mary Strickland, Bassett Farms Committee; Evan Thompson, Preservation Texas Executive Director; Brooks Valls, Mayor of Kosse, Texas; and Linda Valls, Kosse resident.

Cover: Looking southeast at the recently restored Bassett House at Home Place (Preservation Texas 2022)