THIS OLE HOUSE - Post Civil War Carpenter Cabin, Where "The Sun Never Shined"

(10/03/2023)

1800s Carpenter log house in deep
woods taken in 1970s by Bob Weaver

By Bob Weaver

The 1800s Carpenter log house, now caved, is in a tight, narrow hollow off the left fork of Barnes Run, known locally as Buckhorn, a short distance off the Husk Ridge.

There was barely room to construct the cabin, the hollow so narrow it barely receives sunlight, with a trickle of a creek at the front door.

There was a spring and it's farming was likely done on steep nearby hillsides.

Cabin rested in narrow valley where sunlight briefly lit

The collapsed cabin in 2012

David Carpenter (born in 1816) likely built the long cabin before the Civil War. He and his wife Rebecca had at least eight children, including Alford.

Alford (1854-1934) and his wife Margaret Riggs Carpenter (1856-1936) lived in the cabin since they were married in 1876. Children living in the Alford Carpenter household in 1900, David, Rebecca, Alexander, Rosie Belle, Almira, and Lulie.

Alford's wife, Margaret Riggs Carpenter was the daughter of 1849 Calhoun comers, David and Kisare (Kessiah) Slider Riggs.

They are buried on the Husk Ridge in the Carpenter Cemetery.

Descendent Ralph Carpenter studied the tight
carved and etched logs that were used for the cabin