A significant piece of rural history is in jeopardy, as volunteers struggle to raise funds to preserve a 125-year-old log home in the Suring area.
The log home, located in the town of How at the corner of state Highway 32 and Willow Road, is about two miles north of Suring.
The plan to restore the home began about five years ago when Linda Miller Gerndt, a descendant of the original owner, and a friend, Melody Wardecke, were chatting one day on a street in Suring. To begin to achieve their dream, they formed the Suring Area Historical Society in 2007.
The home was gifted to the SAHS for a three-year period, ending in January 2015.
To complicate matters, the farm on which the home is located is for sale, with interested parties considering a purchase. If the farm sells, the fate of the log house is unknown.
“The job is not quite as easy as we thought it would be,” Wardecke said.
The society is finding it difficult to raise enough money to complete the project, estimated to cost $30,000.
The 16- by 27-foot log cabin was built in 1888. According to Miller Gerndt, Herman Dieck built it for his bride, Eva May Dowen, from the town of Breed. They raised five children in the log home and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on the same farm. Although the family was German, it is believed that the cabin was built in the Norwegian loft-house style.
Miller Gerndt said the couple started with the bare necessities, using handmade furniture. Herman supplemented his farming income by logging in the Townsend area during the winter, and Eva May mainly stayed home with the children in the log house. Sometimes in the winter, the animals would join them in the main cabin for warmth and safety.
The restoration will be a complex project. The complete log structure would be moved, or taken apart, or a combination of both. Every piece must be numbered and cleaned. Decayed logs would be replaced with hewn barn or cabin logs to match the originals. The cabin floors, walls and loft would be reassembled, including the roof with the original rafters. The structure would be re-chinked with metal lathe and mortar.
Estimated cost of the project is $30,000, which includes some volunteer labor. Jeff Miller, of Arrowhead Builders of Bowler, has been asked to assist with the project.
“We had checked all over the area, but restoration experts are few and far between, and we were well-satisfied with Miller’s proposal,” said Dora Behling, of the historical society. The estimate includes the cost of taking the log structure apart, restoring the structure and moving it.
Several sites in the village of Suring are being considered for the home’s new location. SAHS plans to use the log home as starting point for a historic display to showcase the farming and logging history of the area. The society has already gathered items to be displayed with the home when it is completed.
Miller said the log home is in good condition and worth preserving.
“It is good to see that people in the area care about our history and have the ambition to preserve it,” he said.
“It’s a piece of local history, and we don’t want to lose it,” Behling said. “It’s the oldest building we know of in the area, and we know it is authentic because we have the history of the building and the family.”
SAHS has raised about a quarter of the funds it needs. The society has pursued grants, but many of these possibilities have been exhausted, so members continue to do fundraisers and look for donors.
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