By: Mary E. Mortimer
In the fall of 1974, a small house owned by Rally Jones at 328 Clagg Street in Bellefontaine was condemned by the city as a fire hazard.
As workers began removing the siding, they discovered a remarkably intact log cabin. Jones contacted Safety Service Director Lewis Ratleff about the cabin.
Ratleff confirmed it had once been the home of his great-grandfather, Samuel Moss, who came to Bellefontaine from Lynchburg, Virginia, around 1855.
According to a Daily Examiner article from April 24, 1905, Samuel Moss, one of Bellefontaine’s oldest citizens, had lived at the cabin for fifty years prior to his death at age 94.
Ratleff speculated that Moss, who was a blacksmith, sided the exterior of the cabin to preserve it from the elements.
The Riverside High School senior class of 1974 heard about the cabin and the owner’s wish for it to be saved for historical purposes.
They met with faculty members who agreed the cabin needed to be saved.
Bob Smithers and his Environmental Education students took on the task of purchasing the cabin and moving it to the Riverside School Farm.
On Thanksgiving weekend, thirty-five Riverside High School students from the Art and Vo-Ag classes and faculty began the process of dismantling the log cabin.
It was disassembled piece by piece, numbered by sections, and sketched to create a makeshift blueprint.
Area farmers used a crane to load the logs onto a semi-trailer donated by Mid-States Container Corp. of DeGraff to transport them to the school farm.
A footer was dug, and a concrete pad was poured.
The cabin did not come with rafters, so the students with the Environmental Action class worked out an exchange agreement with Ernest “Poncho” Hemleben of Jefferson Township.
The students thinned enough maple trees from his woods for the rafters and returned in the spring and planted eight hundred seedlings.
By April 1975, the cabin was well on its way to being reconstructed.
The cabin did not have a roof, so the Industrial Arts students made white oak shake shingles.
A local farmer donated a 14-foot-long oak log, forty-two inches in diameter, for the roof support.
It took the students three years to finish the cabin restoration.
The cabin was used for various school and community events, including Thanksgiving dinners for senior citizens and living history programs.
For DeGraff’s 1977 Pioneer Days, sheep shearing and wool carding, spinning, washing, dyeing, and weaving were demonstrated at the cabin.
The log cabin was also the center for crocheting, rug braiding, candle dipping, soap making, crosscut log sawing, and log cabin furniture making.
Round-trip transportation to the log cabin was provided by teams of horses and wagons.
In 2000, the cabin was moved to the DeGraff Village Park to make room for the new Riverside School Project.
Merkle Heavy Duty Movers was hired to move the cabin in one piece.
The cabin replaced the park’s old shelter house, which was torn down due to its poor condition.
The relocation of the cabin was made possible by a grant from the Columbus Foundation/Mary Eleanor Morris Fund and contributions from the Riverside Parent Teacher Organization, community groups, and area businesses.
Once the cabin was set, a new fireplace, windows, and doors were installed.
Renovations to the cabin were made in 2004 in memory of Riverside teacher Bob Smithers.
He spearheaded the cabin project and was very dedicated to the school and community. Members of the Riverside classes that participated in the initial project and other community supporters removed the old wood shingles and put on a new metal roof.
Numerous groups and organizations donated time, money, and materials for the renovation of the cabin.
Today, the estimated 170-year-old log cabin still stands in the DeGraff Village Park, and it continues to serve the area for many school and community activities.
Visit the Logan County History Center at 521 E. Columbus Ave., Bellefontaine, Ohio 43311, to learn more interesting aspects of Logan County History.
The History Center is open for tours Wednesday – Sunday from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Admission is free.
