Morgan Cabin

Morgan Cabin. . William Bloomfield “Bloom” Rumfelt and his wife, Louise, raised 10 children in this log house, built during the 1880s on a 40-acre farm near present-day U.S. 221 and Mud Cut Road, south of Marion, NC., When the Rumfelts later moved to Shelby, NC, they gave their home to one of their daughters and her husband. The government eventually seized the property for back taxes, and John L. Mosteller bought it for $500., One of the Mostellers' daughters, Alma, married James Daniel Morgan, and they raised two children in the house, which by then had been significantly enlarged., Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center acquired the house from the Morgan family (hence the cabin's name) in the late 1970s, when the original log part was disassembled, moved piecemeal, and reconstructed on this spot., The pine logs in this 19-by-26-foot cabin were joined with half-dovetail notches, typical of German construction, and arranged in a “Lucky 13” configuration – 13 logs, 13 beams, and 13 joists, reflecting an Appalachian belief this would bring good luck., [Captions (counterclockwise from top left)] , . A rear wing had been added onto the Morgan cabin by the time this photo of it was taken in the 1940s. , . Pictured left: Paralyzed below the waist after falling off a horse, James “Jim” Morgan rests in his bed inside the Morgan cabin, ca 1950 , . Pictured right: Alma Mosteller Morgan holds her Christmas presents, ca 1957. , . Accustomed to building with wood in their homeland, 18th-century German immigrants in New England passed on their construction techniques to Scots-Irish and English settlers, who later moved to western North Carolina. , . Workers added a new roof to the Morgan cabin after the structure was moved to Mountain Gateway Museum's grounds ca 1978.