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We are Kenny and Ginny. We call Northeast Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula home during the summer months. Together, we enjoy recreational boating on the Oconto River and the Bay of Green Bay and camping in the cooler northern states. When the boating season is over, we become snowbirds and head south for the winter with our luxury DRV Moble Suites 5th-wheel trailer that we call Château de Sallé.

I bought the Château de Sallé in July 2018 with my late wife Nancy after our Monaco Windsor motorhome, OWFISH, was totaled in an accident.

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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Log Cabin Village, Forth Worth, Texas

Today we went on a day trip with our friends Linda & Larry Muncy to the Log Cabin Village in Forth Worth. The Log Cabin Village is a living history museum that preserves and interprets the aspects and culture of everyday life in nineteenth century North Texas. The log structures display different architectural styles as well as craftsmanship. They were all built between 1845 and 1860 in North and Central Texas.

The Foster Home
The Foster home was considered one of the "finest log houses tn Texas." It belonged to wealthy cotton plantation owners, Harry and Martha Foster. Slaves built the cabin in the early 1850s from massive oak and cedar trees. After the Civil War, in which the Foster sons fought for the Confederacy, many of the freed slaves stayed on as share croppers. Today, the parlor contains artifacts and portraits belonging to the Foster family.

The Pickard Cabin
In 1856, Malissa and William Pickard, a young married couple from Tennessee, headed for Texas with William's family and slaves. In 1863, after serving for the Confederacy, William purchased this story-and-a-half log home and ninety acres from the Patilo family who built it in the 1850s. The continued to add rooms to their home, where they raised their eight children. The cabin displays a children's loft as well as some artifacts that date back to the 1700s.

The Seela Cabin
There is a family tale of how Isaac Seela chose the site for this cabin. In the 1850s, an old Indian, known as "Caddo Tom," warned the Seelas not to build close to the creek which had been known to flood during times of heavy rain. Isaac paid no heed to this warning. That cabin was washed away by a spring flood. Therefore, Seela had to build this, his second cabin.

The Parker Cabin
The Parker cabin consists of two rooms separated by a "dogtrot," or breezeway. This cabin, built in 1848, is the oldest building built in Tarrant County. Isaac Parker, the owner, had a neighboring county named after him. Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas, visited the Parkers often at this house. Cynthia Ann Parker, Isaac's niece, was returned to this cabin by Texas Rangers after being taken from her Comanche family.

The Howard Cabin
The Howard cabin is a two story log house built in 1858. Its owner, Hartsford Howard, was a professional land surveyor who invested heavily in Texas land. His homestead was a site for many confrontations with Native Americans, who saw their ancestral lands being taken and sold to investors like Howard.

The Marine SchoolhouseThe Marine schoolhouse is the oldest schoolhouse in Fort Worth. This board and batten structure was originally located in North Fort Worth where it served as a one-room schoolhouse beginning in 1872. Throughout the late 1800s and early 20th century, it served as a school, a church, and a community center. It then served as a house from 1906 to the late 1980s. In 2003, it was moved to Log Cabin Village for restoration.

The Blacksmith Shop

The blacksmith shop was built at the village in the 1980s. It contains many of the original tools that were used in the nineteenth century. Coal was burned in the foege to heat the iron. Once the iron was literally "red hot," it was placed on the anvil and bent and shaped with a hammer and other tools.

The Shaw Gristmill
The Shaw gristmill is one of the best constructed log structures at the Village. Master builder, Thomas Shaw, built it as his family home. He helped many of his neighbors with theirs as well. This cabin was turned into a gristmill at Log Cabin Village. It contains 1860s milling equipment which is still used to grind corn into fresh cornmeal, a very important staple for noneteeth century Texans.

The Tompkins Cabin
The Tompkins cabin is a one room cabin with a hidden loft. The simple house setting displays artifacts that would have been found in the 1850s, the same decade that this cabin was built. John and Sarah Tompkins raised nine children in this cabin, to which they added pens (rooms) as their familty grew.

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