This old southern plantation house is the  Hewitt House (movie prop) used in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 & 2006 movies and its located in Granger, Texas. But there’s more to this old house. It has a real history that needs be shared.

The Hewitt House – Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 & 2006 Plantation House

Originally this beautiful old house was built in Austin, Texas in the 1850’s and was located where the University of Texas was built.  The house is 6,000 square feet with six bedrooms and is of a southern plantation design. The family who is part of “Old Austin” moved the house by train in the 1930’s.  It was rebuilt brick by brick and now sits, in Granger, Texas.

The Condition of the House as of 2014

Its in rough shape and at the time these images were taken the house looked to be abandoned. But I they live on the property and the family works the land.

I compared old pictures of the house to the pictures I took and I noticed the owners look to be making repairs and might even be restoring the place. As of February 4th, 2016 a comment on Road Trippers from a family member confirmed the house is under total restoration!

Originally I had this article posted on my personal blog and family member of the farm contacted me and said the family is working on the house and offered to contact another family member to see if I could tour the house. Unfortunately I never heard back. At some point, I hope to learn more about the house.

The Location

Hewitt House

Due to the popularity of the house, the owners do not tolerate trespassing and from the signs posting on and along the property line they will prosecute trespassers or worse! Here’s a comment from the family that I copied directly from Road Trippers. You have been warned…

I am a member of the family that owns this house. For those that have been to the road outside the drive, I am the one who wrote the flyer. So what I am saying here you can take as gospel.

  • 1) The house is private. No exceptions. You can take photos from the road of course
  • 2) The house is on a working farm. And people DO live there. The house is undergoing total restoration as some of you might have seen
  • 3) The family is part of “Old Austin”. Some have asked why have the house in the movie and not expect day trippers? The reason is simple. As part of “Old Austin” we wanted to encourage film production in and around the city. Early on there was little or no activity at the house. Hence the reason to allow for part 2 to be filmed
  • 4) Remember….TCM is NOT real. This is simply a prop from a movie. Nothing more.
  • 5) The house used to be where UT stands today. It deserves respect. Hence the current restoration.

Finally, please remember, yet again, the house is on private property. Respect that fact and the house itself, and feel free to take photo’s from the road. Thank you

If you plan on visiting the house for exterior pictures from the road, bring a telephoto lens to have close up shots of the house. Its to far away for a standard point-n-shoot. Unless it’s a larger optical zoom feature. Take a look at the experiences of others that have visited the house over at Road Trippers.

My Visit to the Hewitt House

Hewitt House

Just looking at the house, you can see why Hollywood chose to use this beautiful old house as the new Hewitt House. In the right conditions, this beautiful old house could be a creepy house.

When I was there, the owners had parked their truck in front of the house and a mobile watering trailer. So the pictures loose just a little of the creep factor I was hoping for when I shot the house.

I ended up shooting the exterior from the road and I think this house deserves a revisit on nasty overcast day when the crops are almost ready for harvest. I think the creep factor would be multiplied. But even just shooting the house in its current harvest season, it gives off a creepy vibe.

In the time that I was there (almost 20 mins), I counted at least 10 or so people that stopped by and took pictures or selfies.  As I was leaving several other cars were turning onto the access road.

Please Note: This article was originally posted on my personal blog on Novembers 23, 2014 and the pictures were taken in October 2014. That article will not be updated. As new information and images is found this article will be updated.

I still have some research on the house’s history and I know that it will take some time. If you have any knowledge about this old house, know its current status, or even a way to contact owners, please contact us. We want to know more about this old house.

About the Images

The Hewitt House images were shot by hand along the road/property line with my Sony Nex-3N and a Sony SEL55210mm 4.5-6.3 OSS Lens. I then edited them in Adobe Lightroom. Next, I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, bright the images, and bring out the details in the images. Then I removed the dust spots. Finally, I used  Topaz DeNoise to remove the noise from the images.