History tour draws hundreds to Comfort landmark

Faltin House featured as part of ‘Old Places Matter’

COMFORT — Mary Jo Martin remembers Christmas in “The Big House,” the August F. Faltin House on Fourth Street.

“The parlor ... is where the Christmas tree was, behind all these doors,” Martin said. “On Christmas Day they’d tell the kids, ‘Don’t go in there or Santa will blow your eyes out.’” Martin was one of about 400 people taking part in the April 11 “Why Old Places Matter” walking tour of 10 homes, buildings, churches and even a bat roost built on the edge of town.

Myrna Shultz, a member of the Comfort Heritage Foundation, the tour sponsor, said turnout Saturday exceeded expectations.

“We had the bulk of people come right when we opened and it’s been a steady flow since,” Shultz said from the Comfort Heritage Foundation building at Seventh and High streets in the center of downtown.

The Faltin House was one of the tour highlights. It is being renovated by Dan and Carla Smalley, relatives of the original owners.

“This house was built in 1894 by my great-grandfather, August F. Faltin,” Carla Smalley said. “We always loved this house.”

Smalley said her grandparents, an aunt and uncle and their families, and her aunt all resided in the home.

“It was sold out of the family in 1982 for about 25 years until the Smalleys bought it back,” she said. “We had architectural plans drawn up by 2020, then COVID hit and the wheels kind of fell off. And then the cost of everything just skyrocketed.”

Completed are the entryway, parlor, living and dining rooms. The kitchen, which flooded while the previous owners occupied the house, still sports the original wood flooring from 1894.

A sunroom built off the kitchen in the 1940s also needs to be renovated.

“We (did) the foundation and the exterior cleaning, so we put it on pause for a while to get to the next step, which is plumbing, electrical and (heating, air conditioning and ventilation),” she said.

Comfort residents Lisa and Phil Jenkins said the house impressed them.

“It’s just beautiful, the craftsmanship is amazing,” Lisa Jenkins said. “I’m in awe of the work that was done so long ago.”

Her husband thanks family members for stepping in and rescuing the home from possible deterioration.

“I’m so grateful that they are preserving it,” Phil Jenkins said. “We’ve preserved like eight houses in this town, and we’re grateful that they are not tearing it down, they are preserving it and redoing it.”

“We always loved this house.”

— Carla Smalley