Not so very long ago, the walls of an 1843 log cabin stood weathering toward obscurity in Chicot County, Arkansas. The 172-year-old structure, with its mantle of poison ivy and brush, was unprepossessing, to say the least. To Cooper Callaway, however, the old place was worth resurrecting.
The Columbus orthodontist realized the relic had survived times of war, the devastating flood of 1927 and the Great Depression. Its thick cypress logs held tales of Civil War-era tunnels and a haunting or two. Most importantly, though, the cabin was once a part of his late grandmother’s home in Lake Village, Arkansas, the home where his dad, Don Callaway of Columbus, grew up — the home where Cooper spent part of his summers as a child.
“It’s a piece of history I can’t ever get back,” he said, when asked about the compelling inspiration to save and relocate the cabin from Lake Village to his homestead in south Lowndes County.
Out of sight
The cabin’s story is an unusual one. Its deed can be traced to Feb. 1, 1843. At some point in time, a larger house was actually constructed around it, the heavy 8-by-14-inch logs covered with sheetrock. That house eventually came into the Callaway family, purchased by Cooper’s grandmother, Marion Callaway, and his great-aunt.
“I lived there probably from 10 years old until I went off to college,” said Cooper’s father, Don. “My father died young and my mother and her sister, whose husband also died young, bought the place. We’d always heard there was a log cabin inside of it, but we really didn’t know.”
Through the course of time, the old cabin stood camouflaged — hidden — within the walls of the home last occupied by Don’s brother, Logan Callaway. When a couple purchased the property to build on and began tearing down the structure, the historical treasure was discovered. The oldest structure in Lake Village was donated to the Chicot County Museum, which moved the cabin in hopes of restoring it.
Enter Cooper Callaway, who visited the museum grounds about nine years ago while in Chicot County for Logan’s funeral.
“He just got this bee about that cabin,” laughed Cooper’s mother, Beth Callaway.
“He told us, ‘I’m gonna move that log cabin,'” Don said. “I told him he was crazy.”
Acquisition didn’t happen instantly. Several years passed while the museum still sought to restore the building, but funding never materialized.
Emily Anne Callaway, Cooper’s wife, said, “Cooper and I were dating when he first saw the cabin. For years, I heard him talk about it, but I just brushed it off. I had no idea that it was possible.”
Poison ivy and puzzles
At this juncture, it may or may not shed light on Cooper’s determination to reclaim the cabin to explain that he is, according to Don and the family tree, a direct descendant of Daniel Boone.
When the time was right, Cooper set about selecting the right team to effect the move from Arkansas to Mississippi. Jim Buck Vaughn of Golden Triangle Renovations, with Tommy Graham and Bruce Myers, handled the project. In November 2014, the cabin was disassembled and loaded into an 18-wheeler and trailer to make the near 200-mile trip to Columbus.
“The hardest part was that it was covered in poison ivy,” said Vaughn. “We made a couple of trips to spray it and numbered all the logs with metal tags. It came apart like a jigsaw puzzle.”
In the months since, the puzzle has been put back together, with a new roof and porch. Cedar porch posts were harvested from the Callaway’s Lowndes County property. Cooper and Emily Anne’s eldest son, Campbell, 6, even helped remove the bark. A few modern conveniences, like a bath and heating and cooling, have been added to the one-room cabin. Hardwood flooring went in Wednesday.
It’s been a challenge to get it to come back together like it needed to, said Vaughn. “A lot of hard work — but I’ve enjoyed it; it’s really unique.”
Passing it on
On a sun-bleached afternoon in mid-July, Cooper and Emily Anne surveyed the resurrected cabin that stands lakeside, a short stroll from the main house. Their three children, Campbell, Swayze and Sawyer, skittered up and down the porch steps of this rustic house they’ve watched grow from the ground up. One day they’ll comprehend the historical and family significance. For now, it’s a great place to romp.
“It feels nice to be able to transport something from Arkansas to Mississippi that a fourth-generation Callaway will be able to enjoy,” Cooper said. “Even against my dad’s better judgment, I thought he would enjoy seeing his grandkids in the cabin.”
As for Cooper’s father, “Now I’m glad he did it, although at first I thought he was crazy,” Don smiled. “When I walk in that cabin, the first thing I think about — because the cabin was really our living room — is that that’s where the old Christmas tree used to be, in the corner. It reminds me of when I was young. Yes, I’m glad that Cooper’s done it … his children will get to know a little about their great-grandmother.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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