Grayson County TXGenWeb

GLEN EDEN

Sherman Democrat, 1939
June 2, 2014

Glen Eden was built in 1843 as an old time two-story southern mansion, the massive rock chimneys later covered with English ivy, with broad galleries and spacious rooms. The house fronted east on a large flower garden. In the yard still stand several catalpa trees the seed of which were brought to Sophia by Albert Sidney Johnston from California in return for her hospitality. Most of the catalpas in Grayson County came from these trees.
The residence was built of log slabs and later covered with siding which kept it in good state of preservation. Many of the buildings of the estate, as well as the old brick mausoleum and slave quarters, are still intact. Sophia Coffee had a hobby of gathering curious rocks and her visitors contributed to it. Traces of her rock garden still may be seen. The first brick manufactured in Grayson County were burned in a kiln on the place and a wing was later added, made of brick.
For years Glen Eden was the mecca of notables and of other guests fortunate enough to be in the encompassing radius of the famous Coffee hospitality. The latchstring of the mansion was always out and numerous officers from the frontier forts, Fort Gibson, Fort Smith, Fort Arbuckle and Fort Washita, were attracted to the elaborate repasts, to the music, laughter and dancing of the parties which often lasted for days with the merrymakers dancing all night.
Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. U.S. Grant, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and many others were numbered among the guests at Glen Eden, as well as the leader and followers of a group of another quality, Quantrell and his band. Johnston, Fitzhugh, Lee and Grant commanded Fort Washita, about 25 miles away.
Whenever a party was planned, Negroes were sent out on swift horses to spread the invitations. The folks would come from all directions, some on horseback with their party clothes in their saddlebags. Glen Eden was the social center of the day in this part of the country and the guests were eager to see the famous personages who were to be present and to hear the news of the world.
Soldiers stood around the house for protection while the officers danced with the fair ladies to the music of the flute, violin and banjo. Gen. Sam Houston visited the Coffee home several times and when Sherman was made the county seat of Grayson County, he was one of the speakers of the occasion.
In the summer of 1846 Colonel was killed by a man named Galloway after an altercation at the old combination grocery store and saloon in Preston. Today a shaft of marble stands on the site of the old Coffee stockade, a few feet from the old trading post. The shaft was erected in hs honor by the state during the 1936 centennial celebration....The rambling old house has a huge chimney and six large fireplaces, a necessary convenience in the days when stoves were practically non-existent and firewood was plentiful.
In the smokehouse is an old cottonwood log hollowed out by hand that was used as a trough for preserving meat.