Welcome
Where 200 years of Appalachia family history meets 21st Century ponderings and doings.
The Creighton Cabin is an actual place. So much has grown from the real Creighton Cabin and its neighbors that we thought it would be a great place for us to gather, metaphorically, to share art, writing, other creations, questions, and thoughts in the quiet stillness of nature.
Crystal Lorimor and Carla Allgeier, the first in our network, are distant cousins connected by the actual Creighton Cabin. Geographically speaking, the two are a state apart, but connected by this special place and the internet. Here you can read some of Crystal's writings and see some of Carla's artwork.
So pull up a chair and stay awhile. As one of our grandfathers would have said, "There's no need to hurry off."
History of the Real Creighton Cabin
The Creighton Cabin was built about 1874 in Belmont County, Ohio, as the home of James and Catharine (Simeral) Creighton's family. Here they raised three children and farmed the land.
James, a Civil War Veteran, and Catharine grew up as neighbors not far from the cabin. Catherine passed away in 1893. She was only 46. James remarried and eventually moved to town in the early 1900s. He had been shot in the hips during the war, so farming must have been difficult. Based upon tax and census records, we know that he was likely the longest resident in this hand-hewn home.
The cabin is what they refer to as a "single-pen" log house. It was a common type on early, less well-to-do homesteads in the 1800s. We are told from an "architectural reconnaissance cultural resources survey" completed in 2002, that "few good examples survive" of this type of home.
The cabin is currently being restored by the owners and volunteers.
If you see the value and would like to support the continuation of this website and the writings, please consider a one-time donation. This will help us not only keep local Appalachian and family history alive but also help us connect it to the present in new, thoughtful ways through writing and research.
"I want to change the narrative of Appalachia. Instead of allowing others to define us, I want to tell our story: about resilience, perseverance, making and growing what we need, and family." - Crystal
Life in the 1800s
While in the woods near the cabin, it's fun to imagine what life must have been like back in the 1800s. We know from a diary written in 1876 by Elijah Perkins, that there were several animals in the area that are no longer here. Elijah came to the area with his family when he was a child, in 1798. (He happens to also be Crystal's great-great-great Grandfather.)
In the diary, he recounts there being bears, wolves, beavers, otters, squirrels (black, red, and gray, about equally divided), elk, gray fox, deer, wild cats, painters, rattlesnakes, eagles, and "Boo-owls."
For fun, we thought we'd show you some of the current wildlife recently captured on camera in Belmont County (but not at the Cabin).
