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H oustonians Katherine and Bill Phelps have lived in seven houses around the country since they were married — most of them built before the 1940s. "We absolutely love the creative process of moving and decorating, and we love old houses," Katherine says. "We definitely have the bug." Wanderlust is in their DNA, but their farm, located 90 miles northwest of Houston, has kept the Phelps family rooted in Texas for generations. "We have two high schoolers, and it's been a constant in their lives since they were born," she says. "The farm is our permanent home." The farm's story began in the early 1970s when Bill's grandmother, Marie Lee Phelps, bought 100 acres of undeveloped woodland in Independence, near Brenham. Marie was civic-minded — in the early half of the 20th century, she helped found the Houston Zoo and St. John's School — but she was also an avid preservationist. Along with Ima Hogg and others, Marie rescued the 1847 Kellum-Noble House from demolition, co-founding what is now The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park. Not long after buying land in Independence, Marie fell in love with a charming 19th-century train depot near Lyons, TX and had it moved to the property, along with a farmhouse from the same era. The land and its old structures have stayed in the family ever since. Bill and his two brothers grew up visiting the farm regularly, often playing in an old caboose they turned into a fort. (Continued) eritage BY REBECCA SHERMAN. PHOTOGRAPHY PÄR BENGTSSON. ART DIRECTION MICHELLE AVIÑA. INTERIOR DESIGN CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER, J. RANDALL POWERS INTERIOR DESIGN. RESTORATION RYAN D. GORDON. KATHERINE AND BILL PHELPS' HISTORIC FAMILY COMPOUND IN INDEPENDENCE, TEXAS, BEGAN WITH A CHARMING 19TH- CENTURY TRAIN DEPOT. Opposite page: Katherine Phelps in her farmhouse hallway papered in Brunschwig & Fils, door and trim painted in a red by Farrow & Ball. 29