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McNamara’s 150-year-old Bosqueville home faces demolition (wacotrib.com)


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McNamara’s Reconstruction-era home to be demolished, despite daughter’s salvage effort

WATCH: 150-year-old McNamara home in Bosqueville soon to be demolished

A Reconstruction-era house where McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara raised his two daughters is set to be demolished and burned Wednesday, despite some last-minute salvaging efforts by one of the women who grew up there.

Parnell McNamara said he lived in the 150-year-old house for 32 years and still owns it. However, it has been more than 20 years since anyone has lived in the structure his great-grandparents built, and it has become uninhabitable, he said.

Amanda McNamara, one of the daughters who grew up in the home, used to work in preservation as a curator at the Texas State Cemetery visitor center in Austin. She said she was shocked to hear about her childhood home’s planned demolition. She said she wishes more time was given to extract some of the longleaf pine in the house, as she found out around June 10 about the demolition plan her father and stepmother are pursuing.

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Amanda McNamara, right, and her son, Jayden, look at her childhood home, which is set to be demolished and burned on Wednesday.Rod Aydelotte photos, Tribune-Herald

“This longleaf pine, it’s extinct and valuable,” Amanda McNamara said. “We don’t need a return on it. I want it preserved, and that’s my passion.”

Despite negotiations throughout the week, the demolition and torching are still set for Wednesday morning, she said.

Amanda McNamara stands with her son near her old bedroom, which she said brings back heartwarming memories. The home where she grew up is set to be demolished and burned Wednesday.Rod Aydelotte, Tribune-Herald

Amanda McNamara earned her undergraduate degree in museum studies at Baylor University, and she said preservation tactics like salvaging bygone materials are important to her and why she went to school with that focus.

The home itself looks “post-Civil War,” and unsalvageable, said John Kamenec, a retired surveyor who serves on the McLennan County Historical Commission. Kamenec said parts of the roof and floor have been taken out by Terry Cunningham, a Hillsboro contractor who is known for recycling area homes and buildings.

Amanda McNamara said she brought Cunningham out to the property to do some preservation work and see what was worth salvaging. Cunningham said the home would yield “quite a bit of lumber” and that it would be popular among consumers due to its rustic appearance.

Hillsboro contractor Terry Cunningham estimated the old home has between $45,000 and $50,000 worth of lumber, but added it is tough to tell and would be costly to salvage.Rod Aydelotte, Tribune-Herald

“This material, I think in my opinion, is superior to what you can buy today,” Cunningham said. “But it’s expensive to reclaim it and expensive to remill it. It’s a lot of labor, but you just can’t reproduce the look of this material.”

Cunningham estimated there is at least $45,000 to $50,000 worth of lumber in the house, but cautioned it is tough to tell. He also said labor costs to extract the wood would put a major dent in any effort to seek a profit.

Parnell McNamara said Monday that his plan is to extract as much of the “historic wood” as possible and that “we’re going to build another house in place of it.”

Amanda McNamara has visited the home several times over the last week and said the sentiment has been the exact opposite when discussing the process with on-site crews and family members.

She said she plans on fighting to preserve as much as possible until she sees the house burn with her own eyes.

“It’s really, really disheartening to see it burn on Wednesday,” Amanda McNamara said. “There’s just no need for that.”

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