DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, two hundred and fifty-six square feet doesn't sound like much, and friend, it isn't. But don't let the size fool you, because what happened inside those walls is a whole lot bigger than the walls themselves.
We're talking about a little log cabin out here in Wise County, believed to have been built in the early 1870s, and from the very start it was pulling double duty. Come Sunday morning, it was a place of worship for area Methodists. Come Monday, those same rough-hewn oak walls were a schoolhouse.
One room. A loft overhead. Half-notched logs fitted together with the kind of care that says somebody meant this thing to last.
And last it did. By 1883, Dr. J.
A. Siddons and his wife M. E.
Siddons had purchased the cabin and built other rooms right around it; enclosed it, like they were keeping a secret at the center of the house. And for a good long while, that's exactly what it was. The original cabin, tucked inside.
Then in 1918, J. D. Barnes and Rachel Perkins Barnes bought the property, and the place carried on.
It wasn't until the 1970s that those surrounding rooms were finally removed, and there she was again: the original log cabin, standing on its own just like it had in the beginning. Then in 1987, it was moved to this very site, and the fireplace stones were restored. Half-notched rough-hewn oak.
An interior loft. Two hundred and fifty-six square feet that once held a congregation, then a classroom, then a century of lives built around it. Small as a secret, and just about as hard to forget.
What the marker says
This log cabin, believed to have been built in the early 1870s, was the first place of worship for area Methodists and served as a schoolhouse. Dr. J. A. Siddons and his wife M. E. Siddons purchased the cabin in 1883 and enclosed it with other rooms. In 1918 J. D. Barnes and Rachel Perkins Barnes bought the property. The rooms surrounding the original log cabin were removed in the 1970s. It was moved to this site in 1987, and the fireplace stones were restored. The cabin features half-notched rough hewn oak logs, an interior loft, and measures 256 square feet. (1997)