Attracted by the spectacular views of Lake Buchanan and Inks Lake from Hoover Valley Road, Houstonian Carol Langford purchased a piece of property without realizing that she had become the owner of an historical treasure -- the original log cabin of Isaac Hoover, a Methodist preacher who founded “Hoover’s Valley.” The first priority was fixing up a newer house on the property, so it was quite some time before Carol (and her husband, Martin) turned their attention to the crumbling cabin.

“The question was, do we restore it or tear it down?” Carol recalls. After some research at the county courthouse, she discovered who the original owner had been, and they contacted some local Hoover relatives. John Hoover is a prominent businessman in Burnet, who says he’s a “fifth cousin” to the pioneer preacher; his first impulse was to move the cabin and rebuild it at Hoover Valley Cemetery (which sits on land donated by Isaac Hoover).

After discussing the cabin with historical experts, the Langfords decided to restore the cabin on its original location. They hired Dykes Construction, from Marble Falls, a company with years of log cabin experience. On May 18, they held an “open cabin” to show off the results.

Isaac Hoover was born in Tennessee, and came to Texas with his wife, Anna, in 1854. He was a traveling preacher, but settled down to raise a family (they had four children) on the Burnet County side of the Colorado River. He built a church and a school in his little community, and donated two acres for a cemetery. When the children were grown, he resumed his travels, preaching the Gospel for a total of more than fifty years.

Martin Langford is a musician and one of the top private saxophone teachers in Houston. He plans to split his workweek between Houston and Burnet as he and his wife “work our way into the community” here (so if you know anyone who needs saxophone lessons . . .) He was delighted to realize t ...

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