Haskell House

I love driving around the community of Clarksville to take in the historic homes and atmosphere. Clarksville is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District. Clarksville like other historic neighborhoods in Austin, are fighting to keep their historic community alive and the Haskell House is a statement to those efforts.
The Hezikiah Haskell House was built in a Cumberland style, single wall construction with double separated doors, enabling two families to easily live in the home. This is the style of house that early settlers to Clarksville built. The house sits on it’s original location and still has some of it’s original windows and square nails. The home had several owners, but the latest was Hezikiah Haskell, a Union soldier, Buffalo soldier, and member of the Black Calvary who boarded with the Smiths and married their daughter Catherine who had been a slave. Also, the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church used to hold services in this home.
Today, the Haskell House is preserved thanks to a collaboration between the Austin Parks department and the Clarksville Community Development Corporation. The home is used for community events, and the backyard serves as a community garden for Clarksville residents and has 23 plots. You can lease a plot for a small seasonal fee and agreement to provide regular volunteer ground maintenance work. You can contact the Garden Liaison if you are interested in signing up at
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Otherwise, you can curl up on the front lawn with a picnic, or rest on the swinging tree hammock and soak in the natural surroundings and wander back in time to imagine the lives of the people who lived there.