Harmony Museum’s Washington 1753 Cabin ‘a really big deal’
HARMONY — Ann Carothers had no idea a part of her former childhood home would one day be turned into a historic landmark for the community where she grew up.
Carothers lived with her parents and six siblings in a renovated farm house that possessed the original framework of a log cabin that was built sometime between 1804 and 1818.
Rather than tearing the house down after it began to diminish in the 1990s, she and two of her siblings decided to donate the deconstructed cabin to the Harmony Museum.
More than two decades later, the cabin has been completely rejuvenated and renamed as Harmony Museum’s Washington 1753 Cabin. Wednesday marked the cabin’s official grand opening.
“I’m very pleased and we’re very proud of the fact the historical society has helped us to get it together and turn it into something like it is today,” said Carothers. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”
There were several key entities involved in the revitalization project. The remaining logs of the cabin sat in storage for years until 2015, when Harmony borough provided the site at 551 Main St., where the cabin stands now.
The nonprofit organization, Washington’s Trail 1753, worked closely with Harmony Museum and was instrumental in pushing the project forward.
The museum received three significant grants of varying amounts from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Rivers of Steel and Americana Corner. Along with the grants, a multitude of local volunteers and other smaller donations helped complete a project that spanned nearly a decade.
The one-room cabin has no electricity, but the solar panels on the roof help power several ceiling lights. The floor is lined with fresh hemlock planks that were donated by local businessman Thomas R. Murray Jr.
“I think it’s a really big deal that we have a permanent home for this,” said Rodney Gasch, a board member for Washington’s Trail 1753. “We’re just on the edge of people getting excited about America 250. It really shows the importance of making decisions incrementally. It was a good decision to save the cabin and then another good decision to complete the interior of the cabin so it can have more uses. This totally unrelated remodeling project expanded the exhibits so we can do more with this important bit of history.”
In 1753, an eager 21-year-old George Washington was tasked with informing the French they were not welcome in Western Pennsylvania and to cease building forts in the area.
The cabin, which contains artwork and other replica artifacts and clothing from that time, will now serve as a permanent tribute to the history of Butler County and the early life experiences of America’s first president.
“I think it really enhances the attraction of historic Harmony,” said Washington’s Trail 1753 chairman Martin O’Brien. “It puts a new dimension onto the history of Harmony, and it’s really a nice separate and different part of the history. I think it’s a really great addition and will be an attraction to people who have been down and gone through Harmony.”
