Canal Village

Canal Village. Life On the Wabash and Erie Canal. , Creating a Life in the Wilderness , The Canal Village is comprised of buildings constructed during the canal era. The water in back of you is the only remaining accessible and recreational watered segment of the Wabash and Erie Canal in Indiana. The ingenuity, skill and dogged determination of the first European settlers to this region made possible the solid cabins and structures that housed their families and possessions. These 1830s and 1840s buildings are typical of those that formed the villages and towns along the entire 468 mile length of the Wabash and Erie Canal between Toledo, Ohio and Evansville, Indiana.

The first settlers used indigenous materials such as local timber, field stones, mud, clay, plant fibers and animal skins to build their cabins, out-buildings and fences. The Bowen Log House, Kuns Family Log Cabin and the One Room Log School House were built of logs cut locally and hand hewn with broad axe and adz tools, After the logs were interlocked to form the walls of the cabins they were chinked with mud or clay to form an air tight bond against the winter winds. The cabins were heated with fireplaces made of field stone held together with locally produced lime. The fireplaces were also used for cooking, drying clothes and curing wood for tools.

From Logs to Milled Lumber , Many of the early log cabins had dirt floors and tables made from split logs with saplings for legs. By the 1840s saw mills were constructed on local streams providing power for milling lumber and processing grains for flour. Finished boards for floors, shelves, furniture and trim for the interior of their cabins became available. Excess. water from the Canal was also used to power mills. Later almost all new homes as well as some barns were built using milled lumber. The 1844 Reed Case House is a fine example of a Federal Style house using milled lumber throughout the interior.