Log Cabin

Dear Editor, I moved to the Danville area from Maine back in July and have been impressed with the way Kentuckians preserve their history. Maine's history, at least the European settlement, goes back 150 years before Kentucky's, yet in Maine we seldom preserved many of our historic sites, and thus lost them forever. City officials in Portland, Maine, razed the birthplace of the great Maine poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, for a parking lot. Other historic structures were replaced by filling stations and pizza joints.

Though nothing official has been ironed out, it is looking more likely that the log cabin on Third Street will be preserved. Boyle Judge-Executive Tony Wilder said during Tuesday's Fiscal Court meeting a new quote of $9,500 to catalog and disassemble the cabin has been received. A previous bid put the cost of dismantling the cabin at $19,000. "We're on track in our mission to preserve it," Wilder said. "I'd say we'll get this rolling in the next couple of weeks. I hope we have the city on board at that price.

Despite the community's growing fascination with an historic cabin on Third Street, Danville City Commissioners on Monday declined to pony up any money to preserve the structure. "My biggest concern is that we don't jump on the bandwagon and purchase these logs ...," Commissioner Terry Crowley said. "We don't have the money in our budget. " Carolyn Crabtree of the Danville-Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau hoped to entice the commission to kick in some of the estimated $20,000 it will take to dismantle the cabin, number its pieces and remove them to storage.

FORKLAND ? A pioneer log cabin on the grounds of Forkland Community Center will have a new look for the 2009 Forkland Heritage Festival planned for Oct. 9-10. Mike McKenna and Cam Williams, both of Forkland, have been working since last fall to refurbish the cabin and add porches on the front and back of the cabin that was dismantled and moved to the grounds in the early 1970s. They partially dismantled the cabin, made repairs and replaced some logs, and rechinked. A time capsule also has been placed in the cabin.

There is still time to view "Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky's Abraham Lincoln," at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort. The exhibition, which serves as the commonwealth's signature exhibition for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, will close at the Center for Kentucky History on June 6. The exhibition will re-open on June 28 at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville and will remain at the Speed until Sept. 6. It will make its final appearance at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center in Ashland on Oct. 2, and remain on display there until Feb. 19. Beyond the Log Cabin illuminates Lincoln's connections with Kentucky, the perspective his Kentucky friends and acquaintances provided his life and actions, and the inspiration his legacy continues to contribute to American ideals.

The log cabin on Third Street that generated headlines in the fall will be preserved. "While we are still short on funds to complete the project, we have enough to proceed forward with the removal of the logs and at least get them protected," said Julie Wagner, executive director for The Heart of Danville, which has been accepting donations on behalf of the project. Area historians have concluded that the structure, owned by Pat and Ed Hays, is situated on what was known as the 400-acre Settlement Grant of John Crow dating back to 1775.

When the siding was removed from a two-story log house on North Third Street, it caused some concern among local historians who worked quickly to save the logs estimated to date back to the late 1700s. Carolyn Crabtree, a local historian, with the help of Boyle County Fiscal Court, began gathering funds with the hope that one day the cabin will be reconstructed on Constitution Square State Historic Site as an educational tool for students. The Heart of Danville also helped raise funds.

When Adam Johnson began Thursday's "save the cabin" meeting, he said its purpose was "to see what the level of interest is with the public and what we can do to move forward. " An hour later, no concrete answers emerged, but Johnson, director of the Danville-Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau, concluded that "it's going to take a community effort to get this done. " About 30 people crammed into a small meeting room on the second floor of the Community Arts Center to learn about an historic cabin on Third Street and the efforts to preserve it. Judge-Executive Tony Wilder, who has already pledged financial support for the project, was there.

Log cabin fund established Progress is being made in securing funds to save the log cabin on North Third Street. A grant is being written for emergency preservation funds, but a match is needed. Anyone wishing to donate toward the preservation of the Third Street log structure should send donations to: Save the Log Structure c/o Heart of Danville, 304 S. Fourth St., Danville, KY 40422. All contributions are tax deductible. Tickets for debate available Tickets for the Oct. 28 gubernatorial debate between Steve Beshear and Ernie Fletcher, hosted by Centre College in cooperation with WKYT-27 Lexington, are still available at the Norton Center Box Office on the Centre College campus.

Ken Davis, Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation Department acting director, continues the chore of sawing up a large tree that came crashing down next to the log cabin at College Park and smashed the the toilet. The tree was one of many in the park that fell during the ice storm of the last week of January. Davis was working to clear trees and limbs that were blocking the walking trail. Other parks that sustained heavy tree damage were Lykins Park, Wiseman Park and Harmon Park.

The owners of Happy Stop, a convenience store in Springfield, plan to open a second store in Danville this summer. According to the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership, the store has received a business license to open Happy Stop II at 234 E. Main St. The location features a log cabin that used to be a Shell station on the corner of East Main Street and Stanford Avenue. Heart of Danville Director Bethany Rogers said the business will be a positive change to what has been a dead spot for several years.

Dulcimer players from Danville and Berea Thursday will perform the second of three concerts at The Great American Dollhouse Museum. The third concert will be Aug. 12. Gail Howe, a Danville member of the dulcimers assemblage, said the group started about 5 years ago by Rodi and George Jackson, who now both are deceased. “They taught us, as they had taught many in the past in other places where they lived, to play the mountain dulcimer — one of the many musical instruments they shared a love for,” Howe explained.

Sept. 29 1984 Clark County topped the first goal of its United Way of the Bluegrass fundraising campaign by more than $7,000. The first of four campaign meetings was held at noon Friday at the Marriott Inn, Lexington, and Clark County chairman Butch Govoni announced that the county has raised $27,814, significantly higher than the first meeting goal of $20,327. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Sam Bowie says he's no Bill Walton, but he hopes he can fill an intimidating role as center for the Portland Trail Blazers.

FORKLAND ? A pioneer log cabin on the grounds of Forkland Community Center will have a new look for the 2009 Forkland Heritage Festival planned for Oct. 9-10. Mike McKenna and Cam Williams, both of Forkland, have been working since last fall to refurbish the cabin and add porches on the front and back of the cabin that was dismantled and moved to the grounds in the early 1970s. They partially dismantled the cabin, made repairs and replaced some logs, and rechinked. A time capsule also has been placed in the cabin.

There is still time to view "Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky's Abraham Lincoln," at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort. The exhibition, which serves as the commonwealth's signature exhibition for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, will close at the Center for Kentucky History on June 6. The exhibition will re-open on June 28 at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville and will remain at the Speed until Sept. 6. It will make its final appearance at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center in Ashland on Oct. 2, and remain on display there until Feb. 19. Beyond the Log Cabin illuminates Lincoln's connections with Kentucky, the perspective his Kentucky friends and acquaintances provided his life and actions, and the inspiration his legacy continues to contribute to American ideals.

Ken Davis, Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation Department acting director, continues the chore of sawing up a large tree that came crashing down next to the log cabin at College Park and smashed the the toilet. The tree was one of many in the park that fell during the ice storm of the last week of January. Davis was working to clear trees and limbs that were blocking the walking trail. Other parks that sustained heavy tree damage were Lykins Park, Wiseman Park and Harmon Park.

The historic log cabin, where Abraham Lincoln was said to be born in Larue County almost 200 years ago, was taken to several cities including Chicago, Ill.; Nashville, Tenn., and Brooklyn, N.Y. It was advertised as the original birthplace cabin. However, the cabin was not the same one Lincoln's father built on the Sinking Spring Farm in Larue County, where the president was born Feb. 12, 1809, according to the National Park Service. "The cabin in the Memorial Building is not the cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born," said Sandy Brue, chief of interpretation and resource management for the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville.

By Michael Broihier Brigadier General Jesse "Sonny" Hocker's Air Force career took him a world away from Kentucky, but the Stanford native was inducted into his home state's Aviation Hall of Fame at a Nov. 1 ceremony in Lexington. The late Gen. Hocker was born in Stanford in 1932 and graduated from Stanford High School in 1950. He was a member of the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps and graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1954. Shortly after graduation, he married his high school sweetheart, a Stanford girl named Georgia Lee Cox, known locally as "Weedie.

When the siding was removed from a two-story log house on North Third Street, it caused some concern among local historians who worked quickly to save the logs estimated to date back to the late 1700s. Carolyn Crabtree, a local historian, with the help of Boyle County Fiscal Court, began gathering funds with the hope that one day the cabin will be reconstructed on Constitution Square State Historic Site as an educational tool for students. The Heart of Danville also helped raise funds.

Andy Mills thinks it's a good thing to save the North Third Street log cabin although it may not be the first house built on the site where Danville was first established. As work on the two-story log structure progresses, Mills, owner of American Antique Cabin Co., says the interest has been amazing. "We've had a lot of interest after the logs have been exposed," he said. "A man from Cincinnati said he'd never seen anything like this house. " The project of taking down and cataloguing the logs is in its final phase.