Log Cabin History

I wanted to share what history I have been able to find out about the log cabin.  The cabin was built by “Pappy”, my husbands great-great grandfather.

According to my father in law, there were 7 generations of Wilkes up to him that had lived in America.  He said they descended from the John Wilkes that had gotten kicked out of Parliament in the 1700s. 

The first of his ancestors landed in North Carolina and migrated to Oak Park in Lyons Georgia.

Now this is what was told to him, there is no documentation about the fact that he is an ancestor of the John Wilkes that was expelled from Parliament, but he did know that Pappy himself came to Rockledge where the log cabin is located, from Oak Park in Lyons.

Since there is so little information available about Pappy’s parents and grandparents, I will start with Pappy.

First I talked with my father in law and found that Pappy was the man who built the log cabin.  Pappy purchased 1,000 acres at a nickel an acre, and cleared the land by sawing trees and using a mule, rope and barrels to pull up the stumps so that the land could be used for crops.

It is assumed that the better trees were used to build the cabin.  Pappy built the cabin when he was in his twenties, but my father in law did not know exact dates for when Pappy was born or when he died, so I took a trip to the Wilkes cemetery up the road to find out exactly when the log cabin was built.

This is the road to the cemetery.  It’s a small family cemetery that has graves dating back to the 1800s.

Here’s a photo of the cemetery up close. Sometimes the wind blows flowers over, so we like to visit the cemetery often to not only see the beautiful stones and memorials but also so we can set any blown flowers back upright.  This is our family buried here, and although we are not the official caretakers of the cemetery, we do like to do our part in keeping it looking nice.

And here lies Pappy.  Hitty Dot wanted to visit the grave of the man who built the cabin that her sisters are slowly emerging from.  She sits respectfully in place as I snap a photo of her sitting beside the grave of the man who made her sisters possible.

As we can see here, Pappy was born in 1828 and would have been in his twenties between 1848 and 1858.  This means that the cabin was built somewhere between these two dates.  If we say 1858 then the wood is at least 151 years old.

Now that we have established the age of the wood being used to make the Log Cabin Hittys, I would like to share a bit more information about Pappy.

When I first moved here, my husband warned me not to be afraid if doors started creaking or if walking was heard in the attic.  He said that it was “just Pappy” and nothing to be afraid of.

Now me, I’m not one to believe in ghosts but I am also one who can’t say that I don’t believe in them.  It is a family thing to cut up about odd sounds and doors swinging open to just simply blame it on Pappy.  My husband is used to it, so is my father in law.  They have both admitted that “Pappy” has been playing pranks since they were little kids.

Me, I will say that only one thing has happened since I have lived here, that has given me chills.  Noises and doors swinging can be explained away as just noise, and a door swinging.  But one night, I did hear the TV come on by itself.  Now me, I assumed it was one of the children trying to sneak in some TV time when they should have been in bed so I walked into the living room to admonish which lil child had sneaked out of bed, only to find the living room empty.

I just figured that whichever child it was had heard me coming and ran back off to bed, so I simply turned the TV off.

What happened next is what gave me chills.  The TV turned back on, by itself, with me standing right in front of it.  I looked around the room to see if anyone was playing with the remote control, only to find the room empty.  I turned the TV off again, it turned back on again.  I hunted for the remote and found it on the table where it usually sits.  I took the batteries out, thinking maybe it had a short in it and turned the TV off again only to have it turn back on.

By this time I was getting nervous, so I called my husband into the living room and showed him what was happening.  After turning the TV off, and having it turn back on by itself a few times, my husband just started laughing and said “Pappy sure wants to watch TV”.   I looked at my husband like he was crazy and replied “Well Pappy better learn to behave himself because the TV stays off at night in this house”.  When I said that, the TV turned itself off and stayed off!

After checking all the beds to be sure one more time that some child had not gotten up to play tricks, after finding them all sound asleep in bed, I can now say I do not know if I believe in ghosts or not but I do know something kept turning the TV on when I would turn it off, and when I said that Pappy had better behave, the TV turned off by itself.

Of course once I climbed into bed, the TV turned itself back on again.  My husband just laughed and said “Remember honey, this was Pappy’s place before we were even born, let him have his TV time”.

This what I know firsthand about “Pappy”.  Now, when odd things happen, I simply say “Pappy behave” and they sometimes stop, sometimes they don’t.  I just usually sigh and think “Well if it’s the ghost of Pappy, at least he’s kind even if just a wee bit too playful sometimes”.

Here is where Pappy died of a heart attack in 1916. We’re not sure of the exact spot, I just know that my father in law said it was close to the house near the Pecan tree.  The small tree in the back is a tiny cherry tree that my husband planted, this is thought to be the exact place where Pappy died but again we’re not sure.  We know it was in this general location, right beside the house.

The house we live in now stands on the exact same spot where the log cabin used to sit.

In 1961 my father in law had the log cabin dis-assembled and re-assembled in the back field so they could use it to store harvested tobacco and farm tools and so that they could begin building the home we now live in.

This is what I have found out about the history of the log cabin.

As for the wood that the cabin is made from, my father in law says he knows for sure that the round logs are Pine.  The beams he said could be Pine or Oak but he’s not sure.

After cutting the beams, I smelled “pine” but it was not a fresh pine scent, it is more of an earthy, richer pine scent.

So I know it’s not oak, but due to the richer scent and dark color, some have suggested it could be cedar.  I’m not sure it’s cedar either, but no matter what it is, pine, oak or cedar, it’s got a very nice grain, very rich scent and wondrously beautiful color.