Discovered beneath the siding, drywall of an outbuilding
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This log cabin was discovered beneath the siding and drywall of an outbuilding in Negaunee on the property of Ben and Anna Noskey less than two decades ago. Its original owner was discovered to be Samuel Collins, an early settler of Negaunee, and the cabin can be seen in Jackson Park today. (Photo courtesy Virginia Paulson)
When homeowners Ben and Anna Noskey wanted to tear down the little house that sat in their backyard on Hungerford Avenue to make room for a garage, they didn't expect to find a piece of history.
The structure had been used as an apartment, and when they began to remove the siding and the drywall, they didn't anticipate what they would find.
Underneath the exterior was a log cabin, made of hand-hewn logs of red pine and cedar, with dovetail notches. The cabin was probably a hundred years old.
Not knowing what to do with the structure, the Noskeys contacted Anna's grandfather, Dave Dompierre, a board member of the Negaunee Historical Society and the Negaunee Lions Club. Knowing that they wanted to preserve this piece of history, a group of volunteers from the Lions Club dismantled it piece by piece so it could be stored until it could be reconstructed in Old Town.
This piece of history would tell of the people who came to live here.
The cabin's logs were in good condition because they were protected by the siding and drywall. There was a set of initials and the date "1914" carved into the logs before the siding was added. Drywall was screwed to the interior walls and there were three layers of siding on this structure, so there were no visible signs that this was a log cabin.
Other reminders of what life was like a century ago were found in the cabin. Strips of fabric, probably old clothing, potato sacks and some red long underwear with the buttons still attached were used to insulate the gaps between the logs. They were practical people, using what was available.
Dompierre knew that the building had been moved because each log was scored with a series of markers indicating the order they were to be reassembled in. The volunteers used a similar method when they disassembled it so that it would be put back together in the correct order.
The log cabin is available for people to look into, but not to physically go inside. The log cabin is named for its original owner, Samuel Collins, who is believed to be one of the early settlers of Negaunee and contributed a great deal to the growth of this city.
Research on this cabin shows its original location to be on the shores of Teal Lake. Family history says the Collins family lived in a log cabin when they first came here. Samuel Collins had a potato farm in that area and also a grazing field for his cattle.
He built the first wood-frame house in Cornishtown, then built a house on the west end of Iron Street where he had a butcher shop.
Thanks to those who work to preserve the history of our city.
Virginia Paulson has been a trustee with the Negaunee Historical Society for more than two decades, previously having been on the Negaunee Public Schools board of education for 23 years and MARESA board for 17 years.