The new owner of a 200-year-old log cabin in Affton, Missouri, once owned by Joseph Sappington will give away the structure to the nearby city of Crestwood if it pays to move it to the Historic Thomas Sappington House Museum site there.
According to Call Newspapers, the new owner of the cabin, Jim Freund, has offered the two-story structure to the city on the condition it relocate it about four miles from Affton to the Historic Sappington House Museum in Crestwood. The cabin must be moved by Aug. 1.
Crestwood’s Parks and Recreation Board on Aug. 16 recommended the city perform the relocation, and the Board of Aldermen will discuss the matter Tuesday night.
The Sappington House Foundation supports the proposal, stating in a news release it is “committed to partner with the city to preserve another piece of St. Louis history before it is lost.”
Thomas’ brick house, almost a mansion in its day, contrasts with Joseph’s traditional log house in exceptional condition. The log cabin “would provide another setting where history can come to life, engaging school children and life-long learners alike. The log house fits into the comprehensive 15-year plan by providing extra educational, event and exhibit spaces, instead of constructing a modern structure as previously proposed,” the Sappington House said in the release. […]
To make its case for preserving the log cabin, the Sappington House quoted a longtime Daniel Boone Village interpreter, William Ray, who said, “Everyone who sees hand hewn logs has a transformative experience. They understand we are not just talking about history, but about people like themselves who built homes and lives for their families during trying times.”
The foundation has launched a GoFundMe.com campaign with a goal of $200,000 to pay for new foundation and any repairs needed after moving the cabin:
The National Register of Historic Places nominating form from 1980 for the Joseph Sappington cabin is here.
A perusal on Google Maps of the cabin’s location at 10734 Clearwater Drive in Affton reveals the lot is surrounded by trees and brush. Subdivisions have sprung up around the site over the decades.
The Historic Thomas Sappington House reputedly is the first brick home built in St. Louis County more than 200 years ago. The house sits at 1015 S. Sappington Road, just off Interstate 44 and a mile north of Watson Road (aka Route 66).
John Sappington served in the Revolutionary War as Gen. George Washington’s bodyguard at Valley Forge in 1778. Later, Daniel Boone encouraged him to go west to Missouri with wife Jemima, their 17 children and 40 families to settle the wilderness there.
In 1805, he purchased a Spanish land grant and other lands that measured three miles long and one mile wide of what now is in St. Louis County. Sappington’s extended family then began to build numerous houses in the area, several of which are on the National Register. Thomas was John’s son, and Joseph is believed to have been a cousin or nephew.
(Images of the Sappington cabin from the National Register of Historic Places nominating form; image of the Sappington House in Crestwood, Missouri, via the museum’s website)
The question I would ask is which is better: the house left where it was constructed, showing it as it was intended by Sappington; or made into yet another museum piece, artficially sitting amongst a lot of other museum pieces in a squeaky clean setting? Why turn a real home in its real setting into an “extra educational, event and exhibit space”?