Cabin In the Woods

 

I had to run an errand one morning and on the way back home, the sun peaked out and it was such a nice fall day I pulled into a park that I have driven by thousands of times over the years and even visited a handful of times. I had no real plan other than to enjoy the day for a little bit when I happened to notice a cabin down over the hill. Had there always been a cabin there? I'm pretty sure I've looked down into the area where it was located during previous visits but I have never "seen" it before. So I walked down there to check it out. 

There were a four picnic tables out front (removed with AI photo editor) along with a chained up trashcan. On the backside I looked into a window and saw that the interior was bare except for several more picnic tables. Our parks rent out the various shelters for get togethers and I suspected that this cabin had been turned into a rental as well. It had a name on a placard so when I got home, I looked up the history of it.

I only found a bit of history written by someone on a Facebook page who said it had been built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) during the 1930's using native stone and wood. That may be true still but it seemed odd to me that the CCC would build something that looks like a cabin that someone used for a home. All their works I have seen are much larger and meant to be enjoyed by the public. So I searched our local newspapers and did find mention of it being donated to the city after the owner died in 1943. The article mentions an old cabin belonging to the family on their property that is about a mile away closer to the river as part of that gift to the city. I could find no other mention of the cabin or the move to this park but I'm pretty sure it is the same one. On the back side of this are modern concrete piers built to hold the cabin level on the slope of the park grounds so it definitely wasn't built on site. 

So it could be possible the CCC had built it a decade early on a prominent family's private property but I highly doubt it. I think it had been built on the family property decades earlier than that, maybe late 1800's and was moved sometime after the city was gifted it in 1943. I find mention of it in the local newspapers in the 1990's being used to celebrate occasions so I'm guessing it was moved in the late 1980's or early 1990's. No matter when it was moved, I have lived nearby for 15 years now and should have seen it sooner.