Loghurst Cabin, Canfield, Ohio

Title

Loghurst Cabin, Canfield, Ohio

Artist

Janice Pariza

Medium

Photograph - Photography Art

Description

I captured this image of The Loghurst Cabin on a sun filled day in mid October.
There is quite the history behind this lovely Landmark!
Records of Conrad Näf’s arrival in Canfield Township, Trumbull County of the Western Reserve in
the new state of Ohio are sketchy, but deeds were filed showing his purchase from Timothy Chittenden, an
earlier Connecticut settler, of 142 acres in the eastern part of the township, along the main “road” (more of a
dirt track through the trees at this time) used by settlers and travelers moving from Pittsburgh to Akron.
Mahoning Dispatch, Fri, 1898 Apr 8 - Article No. 62 by Dr. Jackson Truesdale
Excerpt:
“We have already said in previous articles that Conrad Neff and family formed a part of the first
company of emigrants from eastern Pennsylvania that mostly settled in Canfield in the fall of 1804. -----
Conrad, first settled in Austintown, and after remaining there a year or two, settled on a farm on the East
Street, more recently know as the Barnes place. This place, I imagine, had at the time of his purchase of it,
some improvements upon it in the form of a cabin and stable and some ground more or less cleared and
fenced. I am led to this belief from the fact that C. Neff paid for the farm fronting on the street $8 per acre, a
price above at the time of the purchase price of wholly unimproved land. He also purchased at the same
time or soon after, land adjoining, but wild and further from the street, at $2.50 per acre, in all about 280
acres. These prices will give us some idea of value of partially improved and wholly forest land prevailing
about 1806. THE RESIDENCE OF MR. NEFF was at first in a common log cabin that stood between the
present residence of Martin Neff and the Barnes place. At a date not known, but at an early period, he built
the residence long afterwards occupied by the Barnes family. This residence all passers-by would take to
be a two-story frame building, while in fact it is built of hewed logs sided without and ceiled within – a double
portico in front in keeping with ancient style and near to the line of the street.
Back of the residence at a proper distance, is a barn which from the street would also be taken for
a frame building, but is found upon closer inspection to be built of logs. Both of these buildings are in a good
state of preservation and to all appearance will be good for use for generations to come.”

Conrad Neff was a mason by trade and he did a large part of masonry work for his neighbors as
well as for himself. All bricks were handmade and dried in the sun. Logs of black walnut and poplar were
also used in construction. The logs are still visible in the garret. The exterior clapboard was made with a tool
called a froe. The house was sided shortly after being built. A froe, which was used by the Naffs when
shaving shingles for the roof, was displayed in the “new” pantry of Loghurst museum.
Comment on the difference between a log cabin and a hewed log house:
Mahoning Dispatch, Fri, 16 Feb 1900 - Article No. 91 by Dr. Jackson Truesdale
“The difference between a log cabin and a hewed log house is that the first is made of round logs roughly
‘thrown up’ and often of only one room below; the latter are made of logs hewn on two sides, laid up with
care and neatness, and divided into two or more rooms below and above, and for a roof shingles took the
place of the old clapboards. The different rooms were usually ceiled and with cased doors and windows
made quite comfortable dwellings and less penetrable to cold than frame buildings. In 1900 Truesdale wrote
that most of these structures are places have almost ceased to exist. He then alluded to the dwelling, east of
town, occupied by Mrs. Blackburn as being one of the last hewed log homes. He described it as a wellappearing hewed log house.”
Conrad built his house in German fashion; an “I’” design, and made it entirely of logs and chinking.
The exposed log and chinking of the house’s original southern wall can be seen today. The main structure
is two stories high, with a small attic. He also constructed a full cellar of local fieldstone, with an exterior
entrance in the side of the hill, a typical German addition that allowed for proper drainage. The house had
several windows, probably covered in oilcloth until glass became affordable; a back and front door;
clapboard siding; and two fireplaces, back to back, located in the center of the first floor main rooms.
A story is told in connection with the building of this house. Up to this time log houses were built
with chimneys on the outside, but inside chimneys were just coming into vogue. Mrs. Neff, being up to date
3
wanted an inside chimney but her husband wanted to follow the old style and proceeded to have such a one
built. What he had built up in the daytime Mrs. Neff had torn down at night. They compromised on an inside
chimney.
The family slept in the second floor “common area”, a large area at the top of a steep, winding flight
of stairs with no connecting walls. The smaller children shared beds and therefore body heat during the cold
Ohio winters. On the ground floor, the west room was used for the family kitchen; an old cooking crane was
found in that fireplace during renovation in the 1980s. The east half was used as sitting room, work room
and gathering place.
Visitors today will not see this early settlement lifestyle, as it has been restored to its turn of the 19th
century appearance, but some indicators of the Neff occupation remain. In the attic, the cross beams used
to raise the roof still bear the Roman numeral marks made on them at ground level to insure proper
construction. Architectural changes are evident, some adding weight to the fireplace legend. Joints for an
early landing on the second floor, abandoned when the interior structure changed, are visible, as is a
boarded window on the south wall, which was covered when the staircase was moved.

Uploaded

November 30th, 2020

Statistics

Viewed 304 Times  -  Last Visitor from Wilmington, DE on 04/19/2024 at 5:53 PM

Colors

Embed

Sales Sheet