Cabin in the Woods
by Kathi Isserman
Title
Cabin in the Woods
Artist
Kathi Isserman
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
"The Thomas Harper Cabin
This log cabin came from a post-Civil War African American community, north of Poolesville, in western Montgomery County. The Harper family built it in 1870 in the community of Jonesville.
The property remained in the Harper family until 1935 when it was sold to Harry L. Willard, who rented it to tenants. His heirs donated the cabin to Montgomery County Department of Parks in 1976. The cabin was dismantled, moved, and reassembled at Brookside Nature Center as part of the US Bicentennial celebration. During reconstruction, the chimney, flooring, windows, and other aging parts of the original house were replaced.
The cabin looked very different when the Harpers lived here. It had a rear addition, was covered by clapboards which hid the logs, and was white- washed inside and outside. Behind the cabin were a hen house, smokehouse, hog pen, vegetable garden, privy, and orchard with apple, peach, plum, and crabapple trees. The cabin had no electricity or indoor plumbing.
The Harper Family
Thomas Harper, his brother John, and their father Alfred are listed in the 1870 census. Thomas (born around 1835) and Elizabeth (1848) Harper raised six children in the cabin: Thomas Jr., Richard, Mary, Ida, Annie, and Julia. Later, their son Richard and his wife Rachel raised fifteen children there, seven of whom are listed in the 1900 census: John, Elizabeth, William, Stanley, Geneva, Ashley, and Arnold.
Jonesville
Jonesville was typical of several dozen family-based communities formed by freed people in Montgomery County after the Civil War. Unlike freed black settlements in other states, Jonesville was on land actually owned by the residents. Slavery was a part of Montgomery County history, peaking at 7572 slaves in the county in 1810. Slavery ended in Maryland on November 1, 1864 with a new state constitution."
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July 28th, 2015
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