Ownership issue puts 1860s cabin in limbo

PRESCOTT — The Nevada County Depot and Museum made a Civil War-related historic find late last year, and its only obstacle in preserving it involves an unresolved property ownership legal matter.

In October, while demolishing a house on Greenlawn Street in Prescott, demolition crews uncovered a log cabin within the house, according to information supplied by Nevada County Depot and Museum Director Judy Duke.

Initially, the museum planned to disassemble the cabin and put it in storage. However, because of questions regarding ownership, the museum isn’t able to take custody of the structure.

Currently, the property on which the cabin sits is part of an estate that hasn’t been probated, Duke said in an interview.

The cabin, which is 18 feet long and 20 feet wide, had apparently “been added onto, and its exterior encapsulated with siding,” Duke wrote in an email. The cabin had also apparently been moved from its original location to the Greenlawn Street site sometime between 1953 and 1955.

Duke wrote that while conducting research on the structure, local historians and museum officials learned that the cabin had initially been built on Miller Hill in the Prescott area.

Also, in searching land documents, locals discovered that the cabin was originally built on land owned by John Vaughn. This would date the cabin to the 1850-1860 time frame.

Duke noted in her correspondence, that the cabin was made of hand-hewn timbers — which predates the 1870s’ extensive increase in timber being transported over the rails.

“There is great possibility that the cabin is likely a Civil War-time structure — if not antebellum,” she wrote.