There are times that an act of nature assists historic preservation.  In 1999, there was a massive flood in Madison County.  As a result, FEMA bought out many homes that had been flooded.  As one home was being deconstructed, the contractor discovered beneath the siding that the house framing was log.  He contacted the City, who in turn contacted us, inquiring if we wanted this 1870 circa cabin.  Through the cooperation of the City and County, a lot was found where this cabin could be relocated.  This is the larger of the log cabins in the picture above.  By 2001, the Berryman Cabin had been relocated to its present site.  Members of the Big River Reenactors, a Civil War hobby group, manage and care for the cabin as well as the log school.  They have decorated the cabin as it would have been in the 1870s.     There was another house that had deteriorated to the point where it could not be saved.  The owner discovered that the frame of this house, on site in 1848, was all logs.  These logs were donated to the Foundation. 

In 2002, it was decided that there were enough logs to enable a one room log schoolhouse to be built and place this structure next to the Berryman Cabin.      Invitations have been extended to grade and middle schools in the lead belt area to tour these historic sites.  Over the past 5 years, thousands of students have had the opportunity to experience what is it like to sit on a bench in a one room school house, practice writing with a feather quill pen and write on a slate tablet, with nary a computer or I-Pod in sight.