06/10/2013
Log cabin will move to Clyde
By Mary Ann Enloe | Jun 04, 2013
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Photo by: Donated The center portion of this cabin is considered the oldest building in the county. This is how it looked in the mid-1970s when it was first moved to Waynesville and used as a general store.
One of the oldest houses in the county was saved from demolition Saturday when the Haywood County Historical and Genealogical Society voted unanimously to allocate up to $15,000 to move it to a permanent home on the Shook Museum property in Clyde.
"We have room for it on the Clyde property in a couple of places," said noted local historian Bruce Briggs. "We'll have to build a pad to set it on, but it needs to be there. We can use it for storage of other historical items for the time being."
Some contend the structure is the original cabin built by early historical figure Jacob Shook. It was purchased by Alan Ritsema and moved to Waynesville in mid-1970s, where is most recently housed the well-known seafood restaurant, Maggie's Galley.
HCHGS member Bette Hannah Sprecher, former Waynesville alderman and long-time advocate of preservation, seconded Briggs' motion.
"We should be saving every historical thing we can," she said. Sprecher still has bittersweet feelings about her Hannah family's home which was sacrificed to make way for the current post office.
The society's timetable is short for the removal of the cabin as it has to be off the property by the end of June. Ritsema, offered to give the cabin to the society when it was determined a state road widening project would take it.
Briggs said one business had indicated an interest in doing the removal and setup, and he expected at least one other to submit a he Historical and Genealogical Society has funds in its treasury to cover the move.
