A Serendipitous Weekend

 Have you ever been faced with what you perceive as a boring weekend?  That was what I thought as John and I packed for a weekend in Farmington, Mo.  His sister Carolyn lives there, and our main reason for going to that town was to visit with her.  Farmington is John's childhood home, and we have visited that town many times over the years- that was where his parents lived until they passed; his sister and some of her family currently live there.  Needless to say, we have seen all there is to see in that small town.  

On Saturday, after we had arrived, his sister informed us that she had recorded a television show which she thought John would be interested in.  After the program started I quickly became engrossed with it.  It was a story about Clint Harp, a woodworker from Texas, who is featured on the show "Restoration Road" (found on the Magnolia Network).  His interest is in restoring old buildings, and he was informed about an old granary, built pre-Civil War, located in Uniontown, Mo.  That town is in southeastern Perry County, Missouri.  The history of the building was that it was built by a German Saxon immigrant.  Uniontown was settled in 1839 by people from Thurigia, Germany.  By the way, the town was originally called Paitzdorf until the Civil War when the Union army had an encampment there.  Hence the name of Uniontown.

Apparently there was some interest in dismantling the granary, moving it to St. Genevieve,Mo., and  building a  cabin out of the logs.  Below is the final result.

No, that was not how the granary looked, it does have a similar shape- the logs were numbered so they could be easily reassembled.  However, a couple of the top beams had to be discarded because they had rotted, and new pine wood logs had to be cut and hand hewn.  Windows and a porch were added.  Also new chinking was needed between the logs- back in the day clay, dirt, silt sand and lime were used.  Today it is made with an acrylic elastic compound.  The door of the granary had a special marking on it, carved there by the immigrant farmer.  Historians call it a hex, s symbol placed there by farmers to protect the grain.  It could have had a religious meaning or perhaps was part of some black magic.  That door was saved in the restoration and used as the door to the bathroom in the log cabin.  An antique door was found for the front door, and surprisingly, the new proprietor had a key in her pocket which fitted neatly into the lock!  It all just came together very well for the new building, even its current location. The porch of the log cabin is pictured below.  The television show did display the interior of the cabin- quite a cozy place!

 Sunday, of what I thought was going to be our boring weekend, we drove south from Farmington for a drive through the countryside.  At our lunch stop in Perryville I suggested that we drive further south to Ste. Genevieve and look for the log cabin.  Fortunately the Welcome Center was open and we received directions to the cabin.  We found the cabin, the sign outside of it indicates it is the Sassafras Creek Cabin ( is a bed and breakfast facility).  This little adventure taught us something else.  We have been to St.Genevieve before, knew that it is the oldest European settlement in Missouri, settled by the French in 1850.  It is an interesting town to walk in, as it has kept many of the older homes.  What we learned this time is that the town now has Saint Genevieve National Historic Park, located near the Sassafras Creek Cabin.  Clint Harp mentioned in the television show that the French built their homes vertically, and he showed the Green Tree Tavern as an example of that architecture.  Within walking distance of the cabin we saw that building.  According to the national park brochure it has been dated to 1790 using dendrochronology.  The Janis family built it and used it as both their home and a tavern and an inn.  It is pictured below.  What an interesting weekend we had!  There are other older buildings, which have been moved to this national park, unfortunately nothing opened for viewing the day we were there.  We hope to return!