The Nutt House Hotel is located in Granbury Texas – “Where Texas History Lives”. The story of the hotel begins with the 3 Nutt brothers – two of whom, Jacob and Jesse Nutt, overcame challenges with blindness. When only six years old David Lee Nutt gave “eyesight” to his two older brothers Jacob and Jesse. Together, in 1866, they launched the Nutt family’s entrepreneurial spirit by starting a mercantile business in a wooden structure where the hotel is today.
In 1879, the idea of a “hotel” began by chance when David Lee and his wife Sudie hosted visiting businessmen in their nearby home, which is currently The Bridge Street History Center – a Texas Historic Landmark. They named their home, humorously, the “Nutt House Hotel”, which was the first “hotel” in Hood County.
It was in 1893 when Jesse, Jacob and David Lee Nutt built a limestone building with its grand opening in October of that year. The building located at 119 E. Bridge Street in Granbury Texas was also a general store. By 1910, the property began to transition into the Nutt House Hotel and beginning in 1916 until 2001 the Nutt family welcomed overnight guests to the second floor of the limestone building.
During some of these years the hotel fell into disrepair. However, it remained an important part of Granbury’s history, and in 1970 Mary Lou Watkins, a relative of the Nutt family, operated the Nutt House Hotel and helped revitalize the downtown square when some questioned its purpose. She was also instrumental in having the hotel and the buildings on the square listed on the National Register of Historic Places, giving Granbury the distinction of being the first town in Texas to be designated in this way. Until her death in 2001, Mary Lou, together with other preservationists and business people, also transformed the Historic Granbury Square into a popular tourist destination with the addition of antique stores and the revitalization of the Granbury Opera House. Refurbished guestrooms at the Nutt House Hotel were completed in 1979, 1985 and again in 1999. As part of her legendary local status, Mary Lou became famous for ringing the dinner bell on the square for her “Dinnertime at the Nutt House Hotel”, and her “good country cooking”, including her popular hot water cornbread. From 2001 until 2023 the hotel changed ownership a number of times but continued to welcome overnight guests upstairs. The downstairs functioned at different times as a bar, part-time restaurant, and as a clothing and candy store.
After a devastating fire in 2023, that consumed the top floor, the Nutt House Hotel was “saved” and acquired by a local ownership group. It has been extensively remodeled with a new look and new amenities while paying homage to its storied past. Historical nods include, among other things, a look-through in the floor to a well built in the1860’s and used by Granbury residents until the hotel was built. In addition, they were able to save 14 huge original cypress columns brought from East Texas by oxcart in 1892 and some of the original wooden floors that were meticulously restored.
The newly renovated hotel reopened to much fanfare in November 2024 with upscale guestrooms on the second floor and Christina’s American Table Restaurant on the first floor. Today, and into the future, the Nutt House Hotel remains a beloved landmark in Granbury Texas, attracting visitors not only for its accommodations but also for its charm and connection to its rich heritage and Historic Granbury Square. It is where history meets hospitality.
