By Josh Reinitz

The Ney Center cabin looks a bit different these days! If you visit the original Ney Homestead site, you will see the huge logs finally exposed, and some structural bracing acting as a temporary splint until the building is repaired.

These are some of the tasks accomplished by volunteers during two workdays this summer as the restoration project began. The rotted lean-to on the north end was removed, exposing some massive logs on that side. The lean-to is not original to the structure, and lately had been allowing water to leak onto the logs.

We also removed siding on the southeast corner so some timber bracing could take place in preparation for raising the corner to its original height. A steel cable was tensioned across the building upstairs to tie the top three courses together. This will prevent the roof from spreading out any further during the restoration process.

Some of the logs are in tough shape, especially the ones near the bottom. Not to worry, though, it can all be repaired, either with structural epoxy, log patches, or replacement logs. We’re hoping to find matching material from another cabin to replace rotted logs, or hew our own from the Ney Center’s woods. The latter would be accomplished by responsibly harvesting dead or diseased trees for replacement logs and using traditional tools to harvest and hew down.

The finished project will boast the restored log structure, wood shakes on the roof, a sleeping loft and plank staircase, a fieldstone foundation, mortar chinking on the outside and mud daubing on the inside. We will also keep the original plastering where possible.

This building will serve as a historic replica of a homesteader cabin, and additional classroom space for Ney Center programming. If you wish to contribute financially to this project, please send donations to the Ney Nature Center in care of the log cabin restoration.