Old Texas Home

Ever driven by an old house and your curiosity gets you. You wonder who, what, why and when someone lived in that house. You can tell by looking that quite possibly they were wealthy and most likely owned a large parcel of land. This house being off US 77/SH 36 just south of Cameron TX. Its a real full blown stone house. Most likely those stones were collected directly from the land in which the house was erected. Also the cedar railing was for sure off the land. You can tell at some point in this home's long history a chimney fell or was in disrepair and torn down. So that makes me wonder then did this house have electricity, gas and water? Maybe I study things too much but I just wonder those things above. I'd like a home that looks the way that house does.