This article has been submitted by the Logan County History Center:
By Mary E. Mortimer
The log cabin at the Helen Wonders Blue Park in Zanesfield was built in 1805 by Ebineezer Zane, son of Isaac and Myeerah Zane. Ebineezer’s family was among the earliest settlers in the Zanesfield area. The cabin served the Zane family well and was the site of the first Methodist Conference in November of 1819. The two-day conference was held by Rev. J.B. Finley and attended by over 300 people. That same year, Ebineezer Zane and his brother-in-law, Alexander Long, officially platted Zanestown and changed the name to Zanesfield. The original plat contained twenty-four lots on both sides of the single street settlement.
Over the years, additions were added to the cabin, and then it was moved to the back of the property, where it was used as a garage and for storage. No one thought too much about the old log structure until 1976, when the West Ohio Methodist Conference held its annual meeting in Zanesfield. Local historian Dick Rash knew of the significance of the cabin to the Methodist Church, so he asked Harold Jennings, the owner of the cabin, if he could make a sign for it. Dick hand-painted a sign that read “Site of first Methodist Conference 1819” and hung it on the cabin.
At the 1976 Methodist meeting, Rev. Marvin Bean, Conference Historian, asked that an offering be taken to restore the cabin. Over the next twenty years, Rev. Bean persisted in raising funds for the project. The cabin was in bad shape, and some said it wasn’t worth saving, “better to make firewood out of it.” However, around 1992, the owner of the cabin, Stephanie Conrad, believed it should be saved, so she donated it to the Zanesfield Chamber of Commerce. The cabin was then dismantled and stored in Chamber member John Horton’s barn.
In 1995, Rev. Bean met with members of the Zanesfield Methodist Church and reported he had accumulated over $7,000 for the Zane Cabin restoration. He recommended a committee be formed and paperwork filed with the Secretary of State and I.R.S. for incorporation and non-profit status. The Zane Cabin Restoration Committee consisted of Dick Rash, Chairman, Maurice Blue, Secretary-Treasurer, Mary Fraser, Vice Chairperson, and John Horton, Robert Brown, Ron Ricketts, Jim Rash, Marga Umbereit, and Dale Kauffman, committee members.
Next, the committee had to decide how and where they were going to reconstruct the 190-year-old cabin. The Helen Wonders Blue Park, located across the alley from the Zane Cabin, was the perfect spot. The property had been purchased by Bob Blue in 1989 and dedicated to the village of Zanesfield in 1990. The Blue family named the park in memory of their mother and grandmother, Helen Wonders Blue. Maurice Blue constructed a gazebo and benches for the park.
The Zane Cabin logs were hauled from John Horton’s barn to the lot behind the Zanesfield Methodist Church. There, Maurice Blue began sorting and determining which logs could be used. Many logs were deteriorated and had to be replaced. A couple of the original logs are thought to be chestnut, a rare type of wood. As needed, new logs were cut from walnut, poplar, and Osage orange trees. Merle Hostetler, of West Liberty, donated logs from a 100-year-old cabin he had. Ralph Folsom and George Wackerman also donated poplar logs.
Maurice Blue spent the winter of 1996 – 1997 building a model of what the original cabin looked like. He spent the summer of 1997 notching and fitting the logs for the raising that was planned for September. Blue worked alone in the heat of the summer and was the talk of the town. Everyone thought the 80-year-old was overdoing it. The donated logs and sheeting were sawed by Bill Hilterbrand and Rick Penhorwood. September 13, 1997, was set as the date for the cabin-raising.
On September 12, 1997, Maurice Blue, Dave Hanset, Homer Taylor, Jim Rash, and Dick Rash hauled the logs from the Methodist Church lot to the Helen Wonders Blue Park. The next morning, a large group of volunteers came to help raise the cabin, and many came to watch the historic event. Everything went exactly as planned. John DeWitt videotaped the cabin reconstruction throughout the day.
Jay Ricketts cooked a large pot of beans and ham over an open fire, and pans of cornbread were donated by those in attendance. Everyone joined together for the home-cooked meal, and it was decided that each year the Zane Cabin Committee would hold an annual Bean & Cornbread Dinner in honor of the Zane Cabin.
About a month after the raising, Maurice Blue, Ron Ricketts, and Dick Rash put cedar shake shingles on the roof of the cabin and batted the cracks in the gable ends. The next year, the finish work on the cabin continued with ash flooring being installed and the chinking completed. In the spring of 1998, Ron Branham built the stone fireplace and chimney. The Jim and Betty Small family donated a sign for the cabin, and Betty planted an herb and flower garden. Furnishings for the cabin and flowers for the gardens were donated by many Zanesfield area residents.
The Zane Cabin Committee still meets annually and holds the Bean & Cornbread Dinner on the second Saturday in September. The Jay and Kathleen Ricketts family continues to cook the ham and beans, and cornbread is donated.
Zane Cabin information written by Dick Rash for Reflections of Zanesfield, Volume I, by Mary E. Mortimer.
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.
Our history articles are also available on the History Center Blog page at www.loganhistory.org/blog.
