The Lodge was built around the turn of the century and was moved to the ranch from Bleiberville in 1999. It had been previously moved prior to that time from another location in the Bleiberville area. Shortly after the house was moved, an elderly gentleman from Brenham by the name of Bruno Gorzycki stopped by. He had lived in the Armstrong Plantation house built on that site in the 1850’s by Dr. Armstrong, a colonel in the civil war. Bruno’s family had bought the ranch in 1919 and he had grown up there. His father had later sold the ranch and when Bruno returned home from World War II the old plantation house had been torn down.
The Lodge had the exact floor plan as the Armstrong Plantation house and had been moved to the same location. Bruno furnished us with drawings and a layout of the plantation buildings that were still there in the early 1900’s including the smokehouse, blacksmith shop, school, church, plantation store, slave cabins and cemeteries. The original stone cistern dating back to the 1850’s still remains behind the house. Bruno has furnished us a wealth of historical knowledge, pictures and stories of life on the ranch in the early 1900’s in addition to historical information about the descendants of the original settlers.
From pictures he furnished, we were able to duplicate the railing around the front porch to match that on the original plantation home.The house has a large center hall that runs its entire length with 12 foot ceilings. Beaded wainscot with heavy moldings line the hall and two rooms, now bedroom suites, open off of each side of the hall. The suites each have a sitting room with a daybed, a bedroom and a bath. The wood paneling in the hall and one suite was never covered with paint or wallpaper showcasing the beauty and richness of the longleaf pine paneling. The entire downstairs has beaded ceilings and longleaf pine flooring. A large great room was added to the back which houses the fully stocked kitchen and living area and is consistent with the floor plan of the Armstrong home. The original upstairs was never finished and now features a center hall with two large bedrooms, each with their own bath and pine flooring throughout.
 Furnishings in the Lodge included a heavily carved four poster bed dating back to the mid 1800’s, antique french beds, daybeds and twin beds, inlaid German dining table and chairs and an ornate wooden birdcage from the Imperial Palace in China. A wooden trunk dating back to the mid 1800’s from Eastern Europe is believed to be the trunk that V. V. Elick, John’s grandfather, immigrated to Galveston in as a 9 year old stowaway on the Bark Gessner in 1866. An antique fainting couch, stuffed with horsehair also belonged to V. V., who left home in Industry, Texas at age 13 to join the Chisholm Trail at Fayetteville, Texas. He later became a successful businessman, banker and civic leader and sponsor of other Czech immigrants in Granger, Texas.