"Cameron’s historic Dallie Rose Inn sold" by Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

Cameron’s historic Dallie Rose Inn sold

Jeanne Williams - Temple Daily Telegram

March 18, 2012

CAMERON - For Cameron businesswoman Rosalind Brinkley the sale of the 1865 McIver and

Young house - she bought, cleaned, restored, decorated and operated it as a bed-and-

breakfast/wedding/specialoccasion venue - is bitter-sweet.

The Dallie Rose Inn, once part of her Cameron Country Inns fleet of four beautiful,

historical homes that beckoned patrons to experience 19th century ambiance, was the

culmination of a dream of her husband, Gary Brinkley.

Gary Brinkley was a kind and thoughtful man who pampered his wife and talked about one

day owning the McIver-Young house for a bed-and-breakfast inn the couple would operate.

Brinkley died in an auto crash that also took the lives of the Brinkley’s two tiny

granddaughters, more than a decade ago. Rosalind, who served as a Cameron journalism

teacher, suffered severe, life threatening burns that covered nearly 50 percent of her

body. Recovery has been a tedious regimen of surgeries, treatments and therapies that

lasted for years. Through the haze of pain and hospital stays, Rosalind never gave up

on her husband’s desire to open the bed-and-breakfast inn.

The demands of the business became too much in recent year , forcing Brinkley to retire

as hostess/innkeeper/ restaurateur. She plans to travel, enjoy family and friends,

entertain and renovate another antique Cameron architectural treasure that is her home.

The Magnolia House also sold several months ago to a couple wanting to live in the

landmark house.

Similarly, the Dallie Rose Inn was bought by cousins who plan to use the house as a

family gathering place for relatives scattered across the Lone Star State, Brinkley

said.

As Brinkley, a former journalist and television reporter in Austin, closes the door on

her latest career, she said it is difficult, but necessary to part with these landmark

houses that are so rich in history.

The Dallie Rose was more than an “old house, it is living history,” Brinkley said.

“Three families make up that history: The McIvers, Youngs and the Dalyrumples, from

which the name ‘Dallie’ came.”

One of the Dallie women called Brinkley in 2001 asking her to buy the family home

because it was considered an eye-sore and was unsafe for children and curious

onlookers. Though vacant after the last occupant died 20 years earlier, the house was

filled with thousands of dollars of antique furnishings, papers, books and fine art.

This dainty house was situated in a commercial district.

When Brinkley bought the house, it was a time capsule filled with photos, clothing,

dishes, correspondence, furniture, art and stories of these families who lived in this

home for three generations.

The first generation of owners was very wealthy and had some of the finest wares in

town.

Original furnishings adorned the house originally built by a physician. She named the

bed-and-breakfast with “Dallie” taken from the numerous women with that name, and

“Rose” from her own name.

The McIver-Young house not only showcased one of Cameron’s prominent families, it was

the setting of a duel on July 30, 1919.

According to accounts, a family squabble erupted over a basket of peaches picked at a

relative’s homestead. The feud became so intense that two men shot it out in front of

the house in a tragic, fatal gunfight that killed both duelists as the rest of the clan

watched in horror.

When Brinkley bought the house she found an unusual family keepsake, a vase on which

one of the handles had been blasted off by a stray bullet that came through the window.

Curiously, no members of the McIver-Young family wanted to buy or even accept the deed

as a gift when Brinkley decided to retire from the bed-and-breakfast business.

New owner Joan Sheehan of Tomball said the Dallie Rose property soon will be filled

with family, one group living in the backyard carriage house, the others living in the

main house.

“We are really looking forward to getting the house in shape and getting a family in

there,” Sheehan said. “People need houses; houses need people.

“I think that house deserves to have a young, happy family in it.”

Sheehan said her daughter has lived in Cameron for several years. The family wanted to

join her in Cameron and was looking for a house that would accommodate Sheehan, her

younger daughter and husband, and older daughter, husband and baby. They realized they

had found a home when they spotted the Dallie Rose while driving around the city.

“We are very happy about it,” Sheehan said.

The old house will need some repairs before they move in, but the carriage house will

be occupied soon.

Realtor Michael Watkins of Cameron, who found buyers for the Dallie Rose and Magnolia

House, said these aged, architectural treasures were “slower to sell, but I had plenty

of interest.

“Everyone likes historic homes, but they are often labors of love and require unique

individuals to purchase and maintain them. Repairs are the most difficult consideration

(because) if a home is historic to maintain the designation certain requirements must

be kept,” Watkins said.

jwilliams@tdtnews.com

All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram

Photo by Jeanne Williams

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