Photo: Pioneer Florida Museum and Village, Douglas R. Clifford
“[The log cabin] was built by hand with local trees from when logging was the primary industry in Dade City.
The Pioneer Florida Museum & Village likes to collect old things, from tiny handheld folding fans to a two-story, 156-year-old house built by one of Pasco County’s first settlers.
It is all located on the 16-acre wooded Dade City campus that teaches Florida’s pioneer history.
A dental office exhibit in the main museum educates visitors on early medical practices, and Lacoochee’s former one-room schoolhouse provides a glimpse into the educational system of the 1930s.
Last month, the museum welcomed an addition: a donated L-shaped log cabin built in the Pasco wilderness more than 100 years ago…
The log cabin, currently in two pieces awaiting connection, illustrates how handmade pioneer homes lasted despite barely using nails, adhesives and other items found in modern construction.
‘I have never seen a better example of Florida Cracker-style architecture,’ said Steve Melton, the museum volunteer who led the effort to move the cabin to the campus. ‘As the saying goes, They don’t make ‘em like they used to.’…
It’s like the Lincoln Logs that kids use to build miniature cabins, ‘but the real thing that was built to stand for over 100 years,’ Melton said…
Melton said he so fell in love with the cabin that he was inspired to write a poem about it.
The final refrain reads, ‘If only this log home could talk. Stories on the front porch, underneath her shade. This ol’ girl has a new home and life. Think of the memories that will be made.'”
— Paul Guzzo, Tampa Bay Times