Archive: News

Phase one of the construction of the 1791 North Log Cabin was completed Wednesday.  Workers finished the roof, boarded up the windows and doors, and removed machinery from the site.  Highway Superintendent Jack French says the grounds around the cabin will be leveled within the next week or so, and grass replanted next Spring.  The last piece to go up before winter will be a small kiosk that will display a sign explaining what the cabin is and a bit about its history.

Community Council President Ed LaVigne says he wants to raise another five to seven thousand dollars to pay for a few overages, and for materials for chinking, a plaster-like treatment that fills the spaces between the logs, and perhaps period-style doors and windows.  The chinking will be done next spring as well, letting the air circulate through the cabin throughout the winter to help dry out the logs.  Information about donating, detailed history of the cabin, and a picture gallery of the construction in Myers Park is posted on www.NorthLogCabin.com .


Carpenter Dan Newton says that more of the original hemlock logs were usable than he originally thought.  That allowed workmen to use many of the replacement logs they thought they would need for other purposes like rafters for the roof.  That saved money, as did volunteer labor on various tasks including helping when the replacement logs were milled, or dipping the cedar shake shingles in stain.

Newton says he agreed with people who doubted the log pile near the Highway Department barn would ever be a cabin again.  At least at first.  But as he and fellow carpenter Ed Roy and Contractor Al Roy got farther into the project it turned out the logs had fared better than anyone thought.

Lansing Park Superintendent Steve Colt applied for a 'Liberty Tree' grant for Myers Park last year, and it has been granted to the town.  The award includes a metal plaque to be mounted in the park near an elm tree that is also provided.  Colt says that he would like to see the tree planted near the cabin, forming a 'history' portion of the park.  Because of the grading and replanting that will need to be done he is hoping to hold off planting the tree until the Spring.


In addition to money for the chinking, doors, and windows, future stages could include work on the interior of the cabin, furnishing it with authentic 18th century fittings.   In the Spring LaVigne says he will need volunteers to help apply the chinking.  Boy Scout Martin Keefe is designing and constructing the kiosk, and the Lansing Star is donating a sign to be mounted on it, showing a time line of the cabin's history.

As LaVigne met with Town Councilman Bud Shattuck last spring to plan the cabin's reassembly the goal was to get it standing on a concrete slab and with a new roof to protect the logs from deteriorating.  After over two years piled on the ground town officials were concerned that the cabin would be lost if it were not reassembled soon.  That goal has been achieved, and it means that this 218 year old piece of Lansing history will stand for many years to come.

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