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FARR WEST — A developer in Farr West was tearing down an old house when he discovered a pioneer-era log cabin still standing inside the walls. What he learned next was even more surprising.
Now, what started as a demolition has become his personal mission to preserve history.
At first the old house didn't mean much. Randy Chambers, the owner and developer, said, "We needed some property to put our equipment on."
But as contractors started ripping out the walls, they found a log cabin built in the late 1860s underneath. Chambers began to wonder who built the cabin and exactly when.
I just wish the walls could talk so we could learn a little bit more about what happened.
–Randy Chambers
Farr West historian Brian Taylor said, "That's the only log cabin I know of in existence in this town."
He believes it was built around 1868. But he says what he found next was remarkable. "It's a miracle," Taylor said. "There is just a series of miracles here."
The original owner, Leonidas Alfred Pritchett, just happens to be Randy Chambers' great-great-great-grandfather.
"I just wish the walls could talk," Chambers said, "so we could learn a little bit more about what happened."
In the early 1900s the new owners of the cabin decided it wasn't big enough, so they used sheet rock to build a home right over the top of it.
Chambers said it's probably not a good idea to build a home over a cabin, but he's glad they did. He has now changed his plans for the cabin and will try to restore it. He says it won't be cheap but feels it's just something he has to do to keep the relic in the family.
"There are just way too many coincidences," he said.
