PARK ADDITION

0

Log cabin nears completion; dedication May 1

PENDLETON — — Not every historical detail is known about a recently rebuilt log cabin in Falls Park, located near the North Entrance off North Pendleton Avenue.
But attention was paid to every detail during its multi-year relocation and reconstruction effort — and more was learned about the original structure — all leading up to a dedication ceremony set for May 1.
The event is organized by Cabin Fever, a 10-person committee that spearheaded the project, along with Historic Fall Creek, Pendleton Settlement in cooperation with Pendleton Parks Department.
What’s known about the cabin’s history is it was built in the early- to mid-1830s at a location a few miles west of Pendleton, said Jay Brown, who managed the project along with Steve Wills and Dave Hinchman.

Story continues below photos.


Brown and Wills are members of Cabin Fever, and Wills is also on Pendleton/Fall Creek Township Parks and Recreation Board.
The cabin, which Wills and his wife, Annie, bought and donated to the park, has an unusual L-shaped design; it measures about 20 by 22 feet, including a 4-foot bump-out along one wall.
Also, it’s thought the structure, which the group took down in 2018 and placed in temporary storage, was moved to the Mill Road site in the 1930s or 1940s, Brown said.
What wasn’t known until after the group started rebuilding the cabin in early 2019 in Falls Park, is that it wasn’t working with the pieces of just one cabin.
“It was actually a combination of a couple of cabins,” Brown said.
“When we started putting it back together, we noticed there was two distinct notches,” he said. “Typically, if a guy, a pioneer is building a log cabin, all the notches are going to be the same. It’s going to be a half dove, a full dove, whatever it might be. But there were two distinct different notches.”
Brown speculates the owner(s) had a cabin and wanted to add onto it, and used the material from a smaller cabin to do so.
“You know, they didn’t throw anything away back then,” Brown said.
Now, as the cabin becomes a Falls Park amenity, to be used for events such as weddings, family reunions and birthday parties, there are many more details that become part of the structure’s story.
Such as, the cabin now includes logs from additional sources. Some are from a dilapidated cabin purchased in Whiteland, Brown said. Others were purchased from a Blackford County man, who relinquished the goods after deciding he probably wasn’t going to ever get around to the project he’d been saving them for.
The cabin also includes boards cut from trees downed by the 2019 tornado in Pendleton.
“We got some beautiful poplar — old, old poplar — that came right out of Pendleton here,” Brown said, noting that Chris Byer of Dependable Tree Service would call when he found trees during tornado cleanup that he though could be useful.
That wood was used for the cabin’s rafters and roof decking, as well as for some gable work, Brown said.
The logs from Blackford County included a rare chestnut, black cherry and old-growth sycamore. Brown said the plan is to label the various wood types so visitors can see and learn about them.
Several components of the cabin came from out of state, including the shingles (Iowa), porch railing (Michigan) and windows (Virginia).
But, “we tried to use as much as we could from the actual town of Pendleton itself,” Brown said.
This included limestone from a quarry that used to be where the so-called duck pond is today, in Falls Park, where the lighthouse structure is located.
The parks department donated some limestone it knew originated from the quarry, and that was used on the fireplace inside, Brown said.
Sandi Butler, who lives near the park and is chairwoman of Cabin Fever, donated two limestone steps that came from the quarry that date back more than 150 years. They now form the steps off the porch on the south side of the cabin.
Butler, who is also vice president of Historic Fall Creek, Pendleton Settlement, said the cabin project will be the that group’s Legacy Project in honor of Pendleton’s bicentennial, which took place in 2020. Planned celebrations of the town milestone were derailed by COVID-19.
Butler said the cabin project wouldn’t have been possible without the many significant cash and in-kind donations from groups, businesses and individuals. Expenses so far are just short of the project’s $50,000 budget, she said. The cost to build the cabin without the donated labor and materials would be more than three times that amount, she said.
“We couldn’t have done this job without community involvement,” she said.
She said people she didn’t know would show up and work for hours on various tasks; a Sunday School class came out
one day and cleaned rocks for hours; several Pendleton Heights High School students have spent time chinking, or filling in the spaces between the logs.
“We have lots of people like that,” Butler said.
But even as the responsibility of stewardship passes to the parks department, people involved with the project will remain connected to it, through their membership in groups such as Friends of Falls Park and Historic Fall Creek, Pendleton Settlement, as well as by simply using the park and sharing stories with their friends and families.
Wills said he and his wife bought and donated the cabin out of a love for the park and a fear that if they didn’t act an opportunity would be lost.
Now, he said, he hopes the cabin will be “a real asset to that end of the park,” where there are other facilities, including a barn and restroom facilities.
“Hopefully it will become a source of revenue for the park,” he said.
Brown said the cabin is built to last 100 years with proper maintenance, which will ensure the cabin is around for a long time for people to use and enjoy.
The quality work also helps cement a legacy in place for those who worked on it, he said.
“I guess my satisfaction from it is that I’ve taken my grandchildren down there, and I’ve said, ‘Hey, I want you to see what Grandpa’s working on,’” Brown said.
“And someday, they can bring their children and their grandchildren down there and say, ‘Hey, your grandpa, your great-grandpa, your-great-great-grandpa (and friends) built this for the park.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Cabin Fever committee members (with other related affiliations mentioned)

Sandi Butler, chairwoman

Ron Barnhart, former Falls Park superintendent

Leigh Berline, resident

Jay Brown, resident

Letty Gray, member of Pendleton/Fall Creek Township Parks and Recreation Board

Jeanette Isbell, Friends of Falls Park member

Bob Jones, Pendleton town councilman

Bob Post, Historic Fall Creek, Pendleton Settlement member

Annie Wills, cabin co-donor

Steve Wills, member of Pendleton/Fall Creek Township Parks and Recreation Board, Friends of Falls Park and cabin co-donor

[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Pendleton Log Cabin Project Dedication

3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 1

Falls Park North Entrance

People can:

– come early for K-Burgers

– visit the park and trails

– tour the cabin

– see the pioneer wagon

– congratulate the team

– mark Pendleton’s bicentennial

[sc:pullout-text-end]

No posts to display