RSS Feed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Many families have ties to Mathews log cabin dedicated Sunday
The weather cleared somewhat after the ceremony and allowed family members, area residents and other visitors to visit the cabin site and a reception held in the Helms House. The 1830s cabin was purchased by the society in 2005, said Walter Davis, who chaired the restoration committee. Owner Lucy Dortch consented for the cabin to be moved to the museum site in 2006 from a location off Mathews Cemetery Road south of Grove Hill. The cabin was damaged during the move, and "basically what we had…was a pile of rotted logs," Davis said.
Davis applauded the work of contractor Lou Como of Brewton in the restoration, which began on May 14, 2007. "We started out with no blueprints, no plans, accept what was in Mr. Como's head….He was on the ball and knew what he was doing. "…Donations were the key to the success of this restoration," Davis said. "We relied on donations of logs, lumber, every possible type of material you can think of. It came from a lot of different places." Money and volunteer labor was also donated. "The restoration has its own history," Mathews, former president of the University of Alabama and a member of President Gerald Ford's cabinet, said.
"…We're not dedicating the third life for an old building. We're recognizing a new chapter in the history of our county." Thirteen children were raised in the cabin, Mathews said. He had no idea how they housed 13 children and two slaves in the tiny two-room structure. Also, "13 familes came out of that house - immediately. In addition to the Mathews and the Martins, there were the Greens, Hickses, Harrisons, the Stewarts, the Summerses, the Robinsons, the Morgans and then on to the Chapmans, McLeods, Pughs....It's more than a house of one family."
"We remember them today for more than their history," Mathews said of his ancestors who came to Clarke County from South Carolina. "We remember them for the values they brought with them. These were incredibly tough, self-sufficient, reliant, persistent, tough-as-nails, take care of yourself and your own folks. "At the same time, provided you weren't on the wrong side of a war or a feud, they were compassionate. They were friendly. They were helpful. They had all the qualities that we want to remember and pass on to generations.
"That is what the house does," he said. "The house allows you to recall those virtues."
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)
)
)
)
