The Benson cabin is showing its age. Thought to be one of Galveston County’s oldest existing structures at over 170 years old, the dogtrot cabin’s wood is peeling off in places, and unruly green shrubbery is overtaking its base. Inside, a decrepit stovetop lies on the floor near a brick fireplace.
The cabin was built in 1844 by Herman Benson, a German immigrant who bought 484 acres along Dickinson Bayou, according to the Bay Area Genealogical Society Journal. Though the cabin, still on private land, has fallen into disrepair, members of the Emancipation Historic Trail Association hope to preserve the site as part of their effort to create the Emancipation National Historic Trail. The proposed 51-mile trail would honor the migration of freed slaves and other African Americans from Galveston to Houston after the Civil War.
Studying 19th-century maps to piece together a possible route, volunteers Brady Mora and Naomi Carrier noted places
