Answer Man: Couple says they're worried about future of 1837 log cabin

Consider your minds at ease.

The cabin is being preserved — not destroyed and not moved.

It was purchased in July — along with the surrounding 27 acres of open field — by Jodi and Ryan Hamilton, who live nearby on East Royal Drive. Their backyard touches the property.

At the cabin site, there is a brown “Greene County Historic Site” sign. It has been temporarily placed on the ground at the back of the cabin during preservation work. The sign says the cabin was built in 1837. Elsewhere, I found an online source that simply said it was built by William Roberts.

The Hamiltons bought the cabin after the death of Floyd Dale Dryer, who had lived in a nearby residence. He passed away on Sept. 28, 2022. 

Dryer's house has been razed. The Hamiltons also removed two dilapidated outbuildings.

They bought cabin and acreage because they did not want it developed

The odd thing is, I don’t see the log cabin on the county’s list of historic places.

My best guess is the cabin was removed from the list because at some point in its history, an air conditioner was placed in one of the windows and a skylight was placed in the shake roof.

No, no one was living there when the Hamiltons bought the cabin; it was used for storage.

In case you didn’t know, the log cabin is owned privately, like many historic sites.

“We bought the property because we did not want it to be developed,” says Jodi Hamilton.

Ryan Hamilton, her husband, is vice president of Hamilton Properties. However, the purchase of the nearby acreage and the restoration of the log cabin are personal projects not related to the business.

The intent all along has been to preserve and restore the log cabin, Jodi Hamilton says.

The air conditioner has been removed and the sky light will go, too.

Her husband has worked to re-purpose and restore historic buildings in other parts of the state, she says.

For example, a former shoe factory was transformed into a senior living complex in Washington.

They have lived in their East Royal home for several years.

Their home — and the log cabin — are not far from Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church.

It is an area of stunning homes with in-ground pools and water features.

We take shortcut through backyard

Jodi Hamilton asks if I want to go to the log cabin site, which is where I had started and where two workers informed me someone in the neighborhood (the Hamiltons) had bought the acreage and were restoring the log cabin.

To my surprise, we take a shortcut.

I climb into her Kawasaki MULE and she exits past the backyard tennis court, through her unfenced backyard and across the large field.

She shows me where the house once stood and where a pond will be created.

This green and flat field, I tell her, would make a fantastic cross country running course.

She tells me she is a runner and a junior high cross country coach at Springfield Catholic. She says she told the same thing to her husband.

But again, their plans for the field is to keep it a field.

She shows me where the front porch of the log cabin is sagging and where other parts of the cabin need shoring up.

We go inside. They have removed most of the wooden floor. It was falling apart, Hamilton tells me. It will be replaced with wood. The fireplace remains.

A small, tight stairway goes to the upstairs loft.

No one has to come to the cabin's rescue

1837, I think.

Andrew Jackson was president and was succeeded by Martin Van Buren on March 4 of that year.

It was the year Chicago became a city. Springfield would join the ranks the next year.

No one had to save this piece of history. If the Hamiltons had wanted to knock down the cabin, I’m sure there would have been pushback and maybe a news story or two.

And then in a few years, in my opinion, no one would remember the ruckus or that the log cabin was ever there.

In this instance, no one has to call the preservation cavalry. They've already arrived.

This is Answer Man column No. 56.