If These Walls Could Talk...

The Captain's Castle, also called the Rogers-McCasland home, was named for Captain Thomas J. Rogers, a Confederate officer and local banker.

Captain Thomas Jefferson Rogers was born on February 15, 1832. On April 12, 1862, Rogers enlisted to fight in the Civil War. He joined as a 2nd Lt. in John Cocke’s Company D of the 18th Regiment of Texas Infantry Army of the Confederate States of America in Gen. W. G. Ochiltree's Regiment at Jefferson for three years. At the Battle of Mansfield, Capt. John King Cocke was slain, and Rogers was promoted to Captain.

After serving in the Civil War, he returned to Jefferson, and in 1868 established a mercantile business and then went on to open a bank in the store in 1896. Eight years later, the private bank received a Federal charter as the Rogers National Bank.

In the late 1870s, Rogers combined two houses to create the existing building. The original house at the site, built in 1850, forms the back part of the structure. Another house, in the Tennessee Planters architectural style, was moved from the riverfront across town on cypress log' rollers and forms the two-story front portion of the building.

Over the years his stately home has undergone several owners and transformations. It was first restored by Judge Joe McCasland, a prominent local attorney, and his wife, Caroline, in 1948.

Now, some 175 years later, it is back in the family with Captain Roger’s 5th cousin, Sandi Jones and her husband Mike Jones, as the new owners. The two have been working on remodeling the historic home and although there are still places inside waiting for their touch, the Captain’s Castle is open for visitors.