1830s-era East Cobb Cabin Moved to Safety

Under threat from both development and dilapidation, the 1830s-era Power-Jackson Cabin, one of the oldest buildings in Cobb County, has been safely disassembled with plans to reassemble at its new home this fall.

The cabin came under threat after a housing development was proposed for its original location at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road in east Cobb. The property owner donated the cabin to Cobb Landmarks in July. Once the organization received word from experts that it could be saved, they went to work on a plan to move the cabin to the county run Hyde Farm Park, according to Cobb Landmarks Executive Director Trevor Beemon.

Beemon called the cabin’s relocation from its original site necessary but bittersweet.

“It was kind of a surreal moment, like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s actually finally happening,” Beemon said. “(but) it is sad ... when you don’t have the option of preserving them in place anymore. Taking a building down and moving it is the last thing we want to do as far as historic preservation.”

On April 9, the Cobb Board of Commissioners agreed to spend $321,000 to repair the cabin in Hyde Farm Park, using SPLOST funds. It will soon be reassembled near two other cabins that Power family members once lived in.

Beemon said the county hopes to start on the project this fall. A county representative told the MDJ another agenda item will likely be brought to the Board of Commissioners to detail a construction schedule and exact location for the project.

History of the Cabin & What’s Ahead

The Power-Jackson Cabin was constructed in the 1830s by Joseph Power, an early Cobb settler. The Power family operated several ferries across the Chattahoochee River. According to Beemon, multiple landmarks throughout the county with the name of “Powers Ferry” are named after the family.

Over the years, the Power-Jackson Cabin experienced major damage due to neglect. Some of the damages Beemon highlighted were a collapsed wall, a leaky roof and the front porch falling off.

“Over the years folks who have owned it have taken care of it to a varying degree and ... in the last five or six years it has taken a distressing turn,” he said. “When we initially ... started talking to the property owner, there was some questions (about) whether the cabin was salvageable anymore.”

Cobb Landmarks raised $70,000 to disassemble the cabin and move it to Hyde Farm.

On August 24, crews tagged each piece of wood in the building to label its position. From there, they created a diagram outlining where each piece was placed on the cabin. Once all pieces were documented, construction crews began a tedious deconstruction process by individually taking each piece of the property out for relocation.

Reconstructing the cabin in Hyde Farm Park is expected to be easier for the county thanks to the diagrams.

“It will basically be a LEGO set when they get it back,” Beemon said. “They’ll follow the instructions and put it back together.”

Beemon said it is important to preserve such cabins because of their rarity.

“It’s super rare to have log cabins in this area,” Beemon said. “The way that Cobb County was settled, (they) really went from wilderness to wood-frame houses very quickly. So, there really weren’t that many cabins built.”