Barnwood Builders to feature Clay Township cabin build
CLAY TWP — Once a fur trading post in Lancaster County, an 18th century cabin will become part of a home in the township.
Dan and Marne Kos spotted their dream cabin — a historic piece-en-piece build from the 1760s — watching an episode of documentary series Barnwood Builders, where the construction team took it apart to use for other projects.
After reaching out to the team during the pandemic, they were able to visit Barnwood Builders’ “boneyard” in West Virginia and pick out the cabin.
The last week of August, its assembly was filmed in Clay Township. The cabin will now be connected to the Kos’ house, which is still under construction.
On the day the family moves in, they will be owners of both the oldest and newest house in West Sunbury, Dan Kos said.
“It took us three years to get a house designed around (the cabin) and get a foundation under it and get them to come back and put it up,” he said.
As it was built sometime during the 1760s or 1770s, the cabin, made of white and red oak, could potentially trace its origins to an acorn that started growing in 1650, he said. He noted that the cabin would have been standing during the American Revolution, French and Indian War, War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Over the centuries, he said, the cabin morphed from a fur trading post and general store into two houses that at least six families lived in, until the land was purchased by the Cushion Peak Rod and Gun Club in Reinholds, Pa.
The piece-en-piece design was likely brought over by the French from Canada, Kos said.
“(The cabin) is a piece of history,” he said. “I think that’s the cool part that we’re after; it’s that we get to preserve it. (The cabin) made it 250 years and we get to try to (preserve) it for another 250.”
Living in a cabin nestled in the woods has always been a shared dream for the couple, Kos said.
“It’s just something that she and I have always wanted,” he said. “Just to get out, get away, be able to see the stars at night.”
The cabin, which the family plans to turn into two-and-a-half stories, boasts 14 windows. On one side, the view is lush with trees. Wildlife has been seen from across the building, he said.
“It’ll be very bright, very light, and it will certainly bring the outside in from an architectural standpoint,” Kos said.
People can learn from the handiwork and precision used to construct older buildings, like the cabin, he said.
“These weren’t house builders, these were pioneers,” he said. “These were just normal people. You know, it’s not like they went and grabbed their local general contractor and said, ‘Put up a house for me.’ They moved the site, found a neighbor and started whacking away, and voilà, here’s what we got.”
Marne Kos said she and her husband are “history buffs,” and try to pass on their love for history to their teenage sons, Wyatt and Tyler.
She shared that as young children, the boys wore Davy Crockett outfits with raccoon hats and would play in the woods for hours.
The teens, now 14 and 17, grew up with an appreciation of history and are in awe of the cabin build, their parents said.
“One of these days, we’re just gonna grab the camp chairs and sit there,” he said. “Just think about what all those logs saw. What have they know of history, and what can they tell us? It’s a shame they can’t speak, but it’d be pretty cool if they did.”
The Barnwood Builders episode featuring the cabin build has not yet aired. During filming, Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School instructor Ron Sankey brought students to help make wooden pegs for the build. The crew also filmed Zanella Milling, which built its historic mill in 1897.
“There’s a lot of history here in West Sunbury,” Dan Kos said.
