Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site

Varner-Hogg State Historic Site, operated by the Texas Historical Commission, tells the stories of the many families, both enslaved and not, who worked to build Texas. Over its 134-year history, the site hosted sugarcane production, cattle ranching, and oil drilling as it transitioned through the ownership of the Varners, the Pattons, and the Hoggs.

 

Varner-Hogg Plantation tells the stories of generations of Texas history, commerce, and entrepreneurship, where over 100 enslaved people worked on the plantation known as Patton Place. With bricks they made by hand, the enslaved people constructed the plantation house, smokehouse, sugar mill, and their own quarters. With their labor, Columbus Patton built a large successful sugarcane enterprise. His long, open relationship with an enslaved woman, Rachel, became a point of contention within the Patton family and in the community.