Historic log home to be moved to Sappington House museum in Crestwood

A log home more than 200 years old in Affton, Missouri, soon will be disassembled, moved and reassembled at the Historic Thomas Sappington House Museum in nearby Crestwood, Missouri.

The two-story Joseph Sappington house in Affton, Missouri.

Moving the log house, once owned by Joseph Sappington, to the museum grounds at 1015 Sapplingtor Road was greenlighted by the City of Crestwood after months of talks, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

More details:

The city agreed to pay $100,000 for the move and $25,000 for utility relocations. The Historic Sappington House Foundation will raise the rest of the money needed to have the home transported to the grounds of the city-owned Thomas Sappington House museum park. They will then update it with restrooms, a catering kitchen and a porch for performances, and hope to open it to the public by November 2023. […]
If reassembly is not completed by November 2022, the foundation will have to return the money to the city.
The foundation has raised about $70,000 so far, and now that the city has approved the project, hopes to have an easier time raising the rest of the money to finish it. That amount is expected to exceed $100,000. […]
Sappington House officials plan to use the home as a gift shop, ticketing area, gathering spot, performance space and unique historic opportunity to tell the story of one family whose members built two vastly different homes in the same period.

The owner of the log house, Jim Freund, earlier this year offered the two-story structure to Crestwood on the condition it relocate it to the museum.

The Historic Thomas Sappington House reputedly is the first brick home built in St. Louis County more than 200 years ago. The house sits just off Interstate 44 and a mile north of Watson Road (aka Route 66).

The Historic Thomas Sappington House in Crestwood, Missouri.

The museum will host a concert with rock musician Pat Liston from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 9 to raise money for the move.

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 his wife Jemima, their 17 children and 40 families to settle the wilderness there.

In 1805, Joseph 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 began to build houses in the area, several of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Thomas Sappington was John’s son, and Joseph Sappington is believed to have been a cousin or nephew.

(Image 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)

One thought on “Historic log home to be moved to Sappington House museum in Crestwood

  1. Well, I’m glad it’s being saved but I sure will miss seeing it there. Sure to be a good night of music with Pat Liston if you can make it!

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