Peter Navarre (1785–1874) was a prominent early settler of the Maumee valley. He was said to be the grandson of a French army officer, who visited this section in 1745. Navarre was born at Detroit in 1785, where his father before him was born. In 1807, with his brother Robert, he erected a cabin near the mouth of the Maumee River (east side), which continued to be his residence for the remainder of his life.-
Peter Navarre
News article about the first move:
Toledo Blade, Saturday, September 9, 1922, P28:7
PARK WILL GET
NAVARRE CABIN
Historic Dwelling to Be Presented to City Saturday.
The memory of Peter Navarre, pioneer, Indian fighter, and hero of the War of 1812, will be fittingly celebrated in ceremonies in Navarre park Saturday [September 9, 1922] when in the presence of Mayor Brough, public officials and representatives of military societies, the historic Navarre cabin will be presented to the city.
The cabin, which for more than three score years stood on its Mominee site out Consaul street, recently was moved to Navarre park. The presentation speech will be delivered by Mrs. Flora Young, representing the Ladies of the G. A. R. Mayor Brough will formally accept the cabin on behalf of the city. Other speakers are Nevin O. Winter, historian; Judge Aaron Cohn and Mrs. Robert C. Morris of the Service Star legion.
Descendents of Peter Navarre will be present at the ceremonies which are scheduled to begin at 2. P. M. Included among these are Ruth and Gladys Navarre, granddaughters of the pioneer famous in the early history of Northwestern Ohio.-
Source
And then a Toledo Blade article from the 1970's discusses the last two moves. First to the Toledo Zoo then on to what has become the Toledo Botanical Gardens.
AT LAST, the log cabin attributed to Peter Navarre seems to have found a home and, perhaps, even a vocation.
The cabin was moved last fall from Toledo Zoological Park to George P. Crosby Gardens, where it will become the focal point of a pioneer homestead and the site of numerous demonstrations.
Not surprising that Navarre, one of the famous scouts of the War of 1812, and a trapper, was a wanderer -- but it might surprise the Indian-fighter to learn how much wandering his former home has done.
It was built in Mominee Town, east of Toledo. Originally, it was believed that Navarre and his brother, Robert, built the structure in about 1807, but later studies showed that the cabin probably was constructed by Peter Navarre, Jr., sometime toward the end of his father's life. The senior Navarre died in 1874.
In 1922, when Toledoans still observed a Peter Navarre day in September [September 9], the cabin was moved to Navarre Park. There it fell into disrepair and almost was slated to be torn down before local patriots rescued it and moved it to the zoo in 1957.
In the zoo it remained until Crosby Gardens board members asked if they might have the cabin as a focal point for an 1837 pioneer homestead. The date was chosen not because of the age of the cabin, but because it was in that year that Toledo became a city.
Because Navarre probably traveled light and furnished his home with few comforts, the Crosby board has decided against furnishing the cabin in the Navarre style. They feel that it would have more interest if furnished as it might have been for a frontier family. Similar cabins were in use as family homesteads in the Ohio area.
The Trilby-West Toledo Rotary Club initiated the move to Crosby Park, and, through the help of contributions from local builders, settled the cabin in under a sweet apple tree -- one of a few of its kind remaining -- the main parking lot.
The Rotarians built a rail fence around the area and are planting grapes typical of the era along the fence. The Men's Garden Club and Maumee Valley Herb Society members will landscape the enclosed cabin yard with fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs common to the garden of
the Ohio homestead. A fireplace will be added to the cabin by the Onized Club of the Owens--Illinois Technical Center.
To get fullest use out of the cabin, it became obvious that the building would have to be open -- so committees were set up to furnish the small building and to maintain it, to plan craft demonstrations in and around it, and to publicize the activities.
The furnishings committee, headed by Mrs. Roy Rike and Susan LeCron, assisted by Wayne Siddens and Mrs. C. Justus Brown, already is at work, looking for gifts of items to fill the cabin.
Committee workers would like to get period pieces -- not fine antiques, but pieces typical of pioneer homesteads of the era. Among the items they are hoping Toledoans will be able to provide are a low cannonball-type rope bedstead, which will be fitted with a cornhusk mattress; a small table, perhaps a hutch-style; tableware including iron and wooden pieces and pewter chargers; candle molds; spinning and weaving supplies including a carding machine and small loom; iron pots, warming pans, and candleholders; a chest or corner cupboard of a somewhat finer style -- the one prize piece the housewife would have insisted on bringing with her in the wagon -- and Windsor-type chairs with splint bottoms.
Many demonstrations are being planned to take place inside the cabin before the new fireplace, while others will be over an open fire outdoors in a summer kitchen, still to be constructed.
Target date for furnishing the cabin is April 10, when the demonstrations, arranged by a committee headed by Marilyn McCormick, begin. The first scheduled event is a demonstration of sheep shearing and spinning. It will be followed on succeeding weekends by demonstrations of making willow whistles, pottery, weaving, black-pot cooking, printing, tin craft, coppering, etc. At each demonstration, a sheet of information will be handed out, prepared by a committee under the guidance of Judy Robinson.
Vernon Wiersma, landscape architect[,] who is directing landscaping of the cabin (and also shearing sheep, doing coppering, etc.), explained that as it becomes possible, the surroundings of the cabin will become increasingly authentic. For example, instead of only planting roses typical of the period, the Crosby Gardens board hopes to locate remnants of roses actually growing in the area at the time, as documented by local records, and plant shoots of those roses near the cabin.
Official dedication of the 1837 pioneer homestead will be May 22, the date of the annual Crosby Gardens May Festival.
Persons who have materials to contribute to furnishing the homestead may contact Crosby Gardens, Elmer Drive, or Members of the furnishings committee.