Log cabin found during demolition
A group of contractors discovered a well-disguised piece of history last month nestled between new residential developments in a growing community along Route 16.
When Michael Grove of Shippensburg purchased property from Waste Management to the north of Route 16, he had no idea what he inherited. Grove hired Earl Miller Contractors to demolish the final standing home on the tract and they found something unusual.
Covered by layers of dilapidated drywall and brick was a log cabin constructed in the late 1700s.
“No one realized this was a log cabin until we started to tear it down,” Grove said.
Markers on the old home show portions of it date to the 1820s and Grove found rose-set nails known for their design in the 1780s. The home was likely built more than 200 years ago in a heavily forested area shortly after the founding of Mercersburg, Grove noted.
Stories of the log cabin's unique character and history filtered down to retired history teacher Tom Thorpe of Virginia. He has since dismantled and labeled each section of the cabin and will eventually repair it for reuse.
Hidden history
Born and raised in Mercersburg, PA Grove has kept his eye on the 100-acre piece of property just east of the Village of Upton. Although Grove moved to Shippensburg in 1990, he owned acreage along Rabbit Road adjacent to the vacant farmland.
When the house and property were up for public sale several years ago, Grove threw his hat in the ring but was outbid by Waste Management. He jumped on the chance to purchase the land when Waste Management put it back on the market.
Grove hoped to rehabilitate the home. However, thieves had stolen its copper piping and the structure was quickly deteriorating. So Grove hired Miller to tear it down.
“Earl was working on it when he saw it had been a log cabin,” Grove said.
Numerous layers of siding and brick covered the original log-linked structure. It may not be common to discover a hidden log cabin during demolition, but Grove said it's not the first time.
“That's what happened with the log cabin on Main Street in Mercersburg,” he said. “No one realized that was a log cabin either, until they started to take it down after a fire.”
Word of the recovered cabin moved quickly. Glenn, Jeff and James Blackstone of Blackstone Brothers got involved dismantling the log cabin, and Thorpe decided to purchase it.
The structure
Homeowners often covered up log cabins because the original homes did not provide a strong insulation system or foundation, Grove said.
“They don't put it on a very good foundation and (the house) starts to sink. Kids can ride wagons down the inside of the house,” he said.
This particular home was like two log cabins in one. The eastern section of the home was likely constructed first and the western section, with a second door, was added later.
When it was built, wood for logs was plentiful, Grove said. The oak and pine were cut into square sections, piled and secured with mud.
According to Glenn Blackstone, chinking in the logs dated the addition to someone with the name Talhelm in the 1820s. The use of rose-set nails pushed the date of the original home back to the late 1700s.
Blackstone said the original log cabin had both brick and log additions as time progressed. The house had three fireplaces - one in the original home, one in the addition and one in the basement.
A piece of history
According to local historian Bonnie Shockey, the home was in Antrim Township at the time of its construction. Antrim, Peters and Montgomery township lines have changed over the years.
Antrim Township was 40 years old and Greencastle Borough was just being established. The area consisted mostly of farms, grist mills and saw mills, Shockey said.
Route 16 did exist in the same location at the time, but was a dirt road. Grove said it was about 10 miles, or a day's walk, from Greencastle to Mercersburg.
Neither the five-arch bridge nor Martin's Mill Bridge existed when the home was built, so Shockey is not sure how residents crossed the Conococheague. It wasn't until the 1830s that Route 16 became the Waynesboro, Greencastle, Mercersburg turnpike and began to collect tolls, she added.
Shockey is not sure how the Talhelms may have been involved in the building, but she noted the name was prevalent in the area then.
Grove suspects three generations lived in the home. Most recently, a couple by the name of Carbaugh lived and farmed there, he said.
New life
Blackstone and Thorpe are excited to give the old structure some new life. The two worked together to dismantle and catalog each piece of the log cabin.
“We take it down piece by piece,” Blackstone said. “The logs are stacked like Lincoln logs.”
Most of the log cabin remained in good shape. He said it took about three weeks to tear down and label each piece bottom to top and left to right.
Some parts and pieces of wood must be replaced, but for the most part, the log cabin survived 200 years of wear and tear and is ready for new life. Blackstone said using insulation, covering the interior with drywall and replacing logs that have deteriorated can make the house like new.
“It can be tedious at times,” he added.
Thorpe said it's essentially a recycled home. Thorpe and his wife Liz purchase old homes, restore them and reconstruct them.
“Not a lot of people look for these,” he said. “By the time you take them down and replace them, it's hard to get it back to what it was.”
Grove said Blackstone and Thorpe covered the more than $5,000 price tag to tear down and catalog the building.
Thorpe plans to keep the log cabin in storage until they can replace the faulty pieces.
“You've got houses all over Franklin County like this,” he said. “I like to look back into the history.”
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