What Secrets is This 1800’s House Holding?

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:18]Hey, this is Donna from Faded and Forgotten History and today we're in Abeville County and we're here to look at an old cabin that's on my nephew's land. You may recognize it from our profile picture if you follow us on Facebook, but we haven't been here in a few years and it looks like it's gotten um a lot more dilapidated than it was before. So, we're just going to take a look around. So, thanks for joining us.

[00:00:44]It's just a really beautiful old cabin, but it's right here on a a gravel road that actually Here's an old whale here, but up here on the hill, there's a lot of rocks in that pasture that's fenced in that we were told um used to be either a meal or a gin. But this wall is completely gone now.

[00:01:11]It was actually in existence before.

[00:01:14]>> There's a lot of cabin.

[00:01:16]>> Yeah. You can see the logs here where it was hun out.

[00:01:22]>> Yes. Your standard uh one bed, no bath, sleeps t.

[00:01:27]>> Yeah.

[00:01:28]Standard. Oh, here's a lizard. Look.

[00:01:32]Little lizard up there. An old window right here. It just disappeared in that little crevice up there.

[00:01:41]Not sure what's up in here. Let's take a look.

[00:01:46]>> Yeah.

[00:01:56]And then I know right here to my right is the chimney.

[00:02:03]I'm going to be careful.

[00:02:05]And it is actually arched. I do remember that from we were here before. It was very beautiful. You don't see them like this very much around here. It's arched over.

[00:02:18]And there's a dead bird in there. I do believe >> I think it was dead in there.

[00:02:25]>> It is.

[00:02:26]>> Yeah, >> I remember seeing one in there before.

[00:02:28]>> Yeah. Okay. We saw a dead buzzer. We're moving on.

[00:02:34]>> Yes. Huge. These are Look at that.

[00:02:40]Up pretty high.

[00:02:43]So, definitely some craftsmanship in there. You see where the brick's kind of pulling away from it on the interior.

[00:02:51]Looks like all that's holding this up is What is that? A turtle that goes on a car.

[00:02:59]>> Yeah. That's propped up on something >> that's holding that floor. Yeah. Or that ceiling.

[00:03:06]Yeah, I don't see any dates or anything on the chimney. Sometime you can see some etchings that'll help you know the age, but I don't see any.

[00:03:24]Nothing there.

[00:03:28]Hey, I just saw something here. I have no idea.

[00:03:37]I don't know.

[00:03:38]>> C E C I L.

[00:03:41]>> Yeah.

[00:03:42]>> Yeah.

[00:03:44]It's got a E on the end. I see a E.

[00:03:46]>> Okay.

[00:03:47]>> E down here. C E.

[00:03:51]This looks like C E C >> I E >> C.

[00:03:57]>> I would think that chinking was added much later.

[00:04:01]>> Yeah. than the actual fireplace.

[00:04:05]Now, unless that's a nine, 1968.

[00:04:12]>> They could have been when they put this extra stuff in to stabilize the chimney.

[00:04:18]>> But it's definitely a date. We found one.

[00:04:25]>> You chimney experts out there, let us know.

[00:04:29]>> Maybe maybe the picture or video will And you can see the >> look better.

[00:04:36]>> The top of there has that little ridging around it which I love.

[00:04:41]There's definitely something special about this old fireplace. And it is huge. We usually don't see them this big either. It's really wide.

[00:04:50]Yeah. See, when you're when you're standing out here looking at that date, >> it does.

[00:05:00]I don't know.

[00:05:03]>> 1948.

[00:05:04]>> Many mysteries in history. Many.

[00:05:09]But that's some of the fun of it.

[00:05:12]Back up here.

[00:05:15]Oh, okay. Hold on. That didn't go in your foot. I hope.

[00:05:20]That's terrible.

[00:05:23]Okay. Be careful where you step. Just went in your shoe.

[00:05:28]Okay.

[00:05:31]And then the old porch here.

[00:05:35]There's where that ceiling had fallen down there. Looks like a old swing used to hang here. Got the chains.

[00:05:45]>> Yeah, these are How wide would you think those were?

[00:06:03]Okay, maybe 20 in wide and the rest of the porch finally and then this tree has grown from underneath out and up.

[00:06:15]It's amazing how much it's >> gotten worse though since we were here before.

[00:06:22]>> Well, I think it's been a couple of years.

[00:06:29]Yeah, maybe from the back I'll be able to get a better view of that chim, that fireplace in there.

[00:06:43]So, this is a room down here on this end, the big room, the big part, right?

[00:06:50]probably the added on part because you can tell where the log part was over there >> on the main room. Yeah, this room was added on. That was the original log cabin.

[00:07:05]>> Yeah. All right. You take it over there.

[00:07:07]See?

[00:07:11]>> You see anything over there?

[00:07:17]So the bedroom area >> on the Yeah, the the chimneys on that other side.

[00:07:37]I mean, if you think look at this corner here, that huge foundation stone and then right here.

[00:07:55]>> Yeah, it's a huge bean.

[00:07:58]>> Yeah, you can see how they've been joined together right here.

[00:08:04]Yeah, >> I guess that's dove tailing.

[00:08:07]>> Mhm.

[00:08:09]Yeah.

[00:08:12]A lot of work went into this little cabin. You can see the logs go up to about right there.

[00:08:21]Looks like >> Yeah. So maybe maybe they added on that part down there and then that extra wing.

[00:08:33]Yeah. Where it goes all the way up right there and all the way up here.

[00:08:40]Yes. Look at this right here. So, we're starting down here at the foundation stone stacked up then this huge beam right here and then I guess what we say dovetailed into there. We're not cabin experts by far.

[00:08:56]>> Well, we watch uh >> cabin masters.

[00:09:00]>> No, not cabin master. Barnwood Builders.

[00:09:02]>> Barnwood Builders. Yeah, that's it.

[00:09:06]We'll watch both of those sometime.

[00:09:07]>> Johnny.

[00:09:08]>> That's right. Look at the old window.

[00:09:10]The pain's all gone.

[00:09:13]If we look through here.

[00:09:17]>> Yeah. No way to see that chimney.

[00:09:21]>> Just blocked.

[00:09:26]>> And then I guess this part was added on.

[00:09:32]back up.

[00:09:34]>> Yeah, you know, inside here you can get a better look.

[00:09:41]>> Oh, we got a wasp after us. Okay.

[00:09:46]>> He comes flying toward me. He's after me.

[00:09:53]So, here's the beans going up for the logs. old plow in there or cedar.

[00:10:03]>> There's a plow.

[00:10:04]>> Wow.

[00:10:08]>> Look at these huge foundation stones.

[00:10:10]Wow, are massive.

[00:10:19]And the door that went into the other room. So, a back bedroom, I suppose.

[00:10:28]some pointed red.

[00:10:30]>> Yeah, some point painted red.

[00:10:39]>> Yeah, >> it's so beautiful out here.

[00:10:43]Yeah, walnut trees.

[00:10:48]And then we've got this huge foundation stone here. And that massive beam runs down through here.

[00:11:03]Look at the old door knob.

[00:11:08]Wish we could get inside. It's just a little bit unsafe. What is it?

[00:11:14]>> Oh, I know. That's what I was looking at.

[00:11:19]Huge.

[00:11:24]Huge.

[00:11:26]I wonder what the original front of the cabin was. It could have even been that door right here. And this would have been the front of the cabin.

[00:11:37]>> So, walk in that door and have that one big room and maybe the loft because it sure is tall.

[00:11:45]covered up.

[00:11:46]>> Yeah, this over here. It was It was a window.

[00:11:54]Let's go around to the back again.

[00:11:58]Oh, yeah.

[00:12:00]Yeah. Notched out right there.

[00:12:08]I love the craftsmanship. This would have been a beautiful place.

[00:12:13]And it's prime.

[00:12:17]Here's a Here's a peg.

[00:12:20]Yeah, this was put together with pegs right here. Here. Look.

[00:12:26]See right here?

[00:12:28]>> Yeah.

[00:12:28]>> Look at that.

[00:12:33]>> This side definitely added later.

[00:12:36]>> Yeah.

[00:12:36]>> I think brown nail. But that's a square nail right there.

[00:12:41]Right there.

[00:12:43]Yeah.

[00:12:43]>> Right here.

[00:12:48]>> Yeah. Inside that part holding these logs.

[00:12:52]>> Those are square nails.

[00:12:55]Somebody had a hard time with their nails right here.

[00:12:58]>> Evidently, this the sign was put on later with it. Probably was just this log on.

[00:13:04]>> Yeah, just the log showing.

[00:13:09]>> Oh, wow.

[00:13:11]I think those are hand off.

[00:13:15]>> Look at the front of it over here.

[00:13:18]>> Get it. See how >> Yeah.

[00:13:20]>> square.

[00:13:22]>> Oh, here's a old hinge. This is the window shutter. It's the window shutter laying here. See, it's not very big.

[00:13:30]>> I would assume with this being on here, it would want to one of the windows out here.

[00:13:39]Every house has a story to tell. We just have to try and figure it out.

[00:13:45]>> Yeah, this looks like a big door.

[00:13:47]>> Yeah, this might have just been the outside >> storage of some sort.

[00:13:51]>> So, one, two, then the big room, right?

[00:13:58]>> This is one, two, three for the big room. Yeah, five rooms. Five rooms total. Let's look at the old uh whale.

[00:14:07]Looks like Wonder what this is.

[00:14:13]>> Yeah, brick.

[00:14:24]>> Uh, yeah. I can't tell.

[00:14:28]Try dropping a rock in there.

[00:14:38]No water.

[00:14:40]>> Yeah. Must be dried up on this hill. The road used to wrap around this direction from what I believe my nephew told me.

[00:14:52]Don't want to touch the electric fence if it is electric.

[00:14:58]>> Yeah. So, looking back to the cabin. Just such a beautiful picturesque little spot. And here's the old road right here.

[00:15:12]Walk down this way. Okay.

[00:15:15]It says one lane bridge. Axle weight limit three tons. But I think the bridge has been gone for years.

[00:15:24]I guess it would have went on down through here.

[00:15:27]And this is where they blocked off the bridge or blocked off the passage.

[00:15:32]>> I guess the bridge probably either got old or flooded at one time.

[00:15:38]>> You go first.

[00:15:41]>> Okay.

[00:15:46]>> Yeah.

[00:15:48]I like rocks.

[00:15:51]Hear it.

[00:15:57]So the bridge would have crossed right in here.

[00:16:02]>> Yeah. Over there.

[00:16:08]>> Bridge.

[00:16:09]>> Yeah.

[00:16:12]So the road would have come across up here and crossed over to up here.

[00:16:23]But you could find some arrowheads and things down in here.

[00:16:36]Big flat rocks.

[00:16:47]Tree up there.

[00:16:53]on the old maps, 1870s maps, it does show a land owner in the section. I'll have to look that up. I'll post it below, but it doesn't mention um a meal or a gin. But somebody did do the history of this land. And I think the owner of the land before my nephew bought this land had done historical study of this farm in the land and I believe he told me that there was definitely a gin and