Denton Log Cabin Being Restored to Offer Window into 19th Century Origins - Denton, TX - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Should this article go offline, a copy is available from me upon request. The Taylor Cabin is one of several area historical buildings now at home in the Denton County Historical Park, viewable 24/7, but as always, please respect any signs advising that you stay off the grass or keep your distance from a work in progress. The article reads:

By Rebekah Schulte For the Denton Record-Chronicle Mar 22, 2020

To preserve history, the Denton County Office of History and Culture is restoring a log cabin known as the Taylor Cabin outside of the Bayless-Selby House at 317 W. Mulberry St.

The Taylor Cabin is part of the Denton County Historical Park and, at 150 years old, is one of the few structures in Denton County left from its time period. The cabin's wood logs date back to 1867 and 1868, according to an article on the Office of History and Culture's blog.

"We did extensive oral histories with Foy Taylor, whose family ... were the last owners of the cabin," said Peggy Riddle, director of the Office of History and Culture. "And they donated a lot of the artifacts, the furnishing for the interior, and we've had those restored, refurbished. And so we're interpreting the cabin from the period that the Taylor family would have moved into it," which would have been around 1900.

"And [in tours], we're going to talk a lot about how we had people living in log cabins up through the Depression," Riddle said.

Funding for the restoration of the log cabin was provided by a grant from the city of Denton through the Hotel Occupancy Tax Program, Riddle said. However, Riddle found the museum short of the funds needed to complete the project.

So, the Office of History and Culture had a meeting with Denton County Judge Andy Eads on Feb. 25 to explain that the museum had found other funding to restore the cabin, Riddle said. The office received approval to use money received for the Woods House restoration, a Quakertown house that’s part of the museum, to finish the Taylor Cabin. Riddle said once the cabin is finished, the museum will start fundraising for the Woods House restoration.

Still short, Riddle said another plan to find the remainder of the money will be decided in court, where there will be a vote in a couple of weeks on whether the museum should receive the money.

With the appropriate funding secured, Riddle said the project's contractors with Gene's Construction anticipate finishing the restoration in May. However, after the cabin is restored, there will have to be some site cleanup before the cabin will be available for tours, Riddle said.

There will be an announced public opening for the completed cabin once the museum gets more of an idea as to when the project will be finalized, Riddle said.

"So, we want to do a public opening that we would have [contractor and premier log cabin restorer] Bill Marquis come out and talk about what he did and talk about the old craftsman techniques he used on repairing the logs and then putting it back in the forest order and chinking that goes in between the logs," Riddle said. "So it will be a fun educational day when we get all that together."

Marquis, 73, is restoring the Taylor Cabin and has been restoring log cabins for almost all his life, after first becoming interested at 9 years old, he said.

"Log cabins, they'll have a story to tell if you know how to listen to them,” Marquis said. "All those holes that were drilled and different things, you can figure out by what they did what's left so you can put it back, back to the way it was. … I've been messing with [the Taylor Cabin] for about 28 years. And finally, we're getting it restored and saving it. It came close to being destroyed … but we're going to try to save it."

Marquis has had to travel to East Texas, where tall, straight trees are accessible, to get the materials needed to properly restore the cabin. He will be using original Denton clay between the logs as well, so the log cabin will be as close to the original as it can be.

However, finding the time to restore the cabin when the weather permits, Marquis said, has been a challenge and has caused several delays. If it's raining, Marquis is unable to work on the cabin due to the wet, muddy conditions, which also keep him from traveling and collecting wood from East Texas.

"I'm having a heck of a time with the rain," Marquis said. "Everything is fighting me … but I'm just enjoying [the renovation]. And I feel lucky that they're just leaving me alone and letting me do it right; the old way, instead of using modern materials."

Even with the delays in reconstruction due to lack of funding and combative weather, Riddle and Marquis said they hope the renovated cabin can reveal to the public the preserved history the Taylor Cabin has to offer Denton County.

"Helping develop the local heritage narrative helps create a community identity that allows us to establish an understanding of how the community came together in the past and how it can develop in the future," said Shane Edwards, 63, who works with his own local museum, the Canada of the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum. "Communities with a strong community identity are often more resilient and, as a result, healthier."

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 03/22/2020 Publication: Denton Record-Chronicle Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Arts/Culture

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