If Walls Could Talk ... Historic cabin sits hidden in plain si

Would you believe someone if they told you one of Owingsville and Bath County’s earliest homes sits in plain sight, but hidden behind the walls of another? Folks drive by it every day, and the location is well known, but the small home reportedly built by Thomas Deye Owings sits secured and remarkably preserved within a home that is a time capsule of its own.

The house at 122 East Main Street owned by Betty Butcher Bailey spans the length of adjacent Henry Street (now called North Court Street) and appears to be of normal construction that has been added onto over the years. The structure you see now was built in the mid-late 1800s, but as you look down the side facing the Citizen’s Bank, one can see the layers of time within the architecture.

Last winter, I was invited by Mrs. Bailey to visit her home on Main Street. She had told me that it was an interesting place and housed a late 1700s era log cabin; yes, the house contains an entire cabin. Jason York and I met with Mrs. Bailey one evening to tour the property with eager anticipation. We were given a quick run-down of the home’s time line as we walked in; Thomas Deye Owings erected the original structure, the cabin, in the 1790’s. The other parts of the house were built between 1820-1835 from back to front.

As we walked into the first room, Mrs. Bailey’s lifelong love of antiquity was apparent. Relics and artifacts dating many generations back were stored in the room, and then, the cabin. The log cabin is a small square shaped structure made of roughly hewn timber that was abundant during Owingsville’s earliest days. It is a two-story house that sits entirely inside one room of the structure you see today. The large stone fireplace is still intact and the ancient wooden shingles look as though they were placed on there just yesterday. The dimensions of the cabin are 19 feet by 22 feet, with logs measuring 18 inches in diameter and as long as 32 inches, according to historical paperwork Mrs. Bailey has given me exclusive access to. The rough wooden door still has the original iron hinges on it, and the windows have very old glass in the sills. Inside the cabin will take you back in time; the original wooden floor is intact, as well as the fireplace hearth. Inside the hearth is an iron hook dating from he 16th Century that once held pots and kettles over the fire. At the time the cabin was finished, it was covered with hand beaded weatherboarding and porches upstairs and downstairs.

Around 1810, the cabin was improved when it was covered with horsehair and feather plaster and a decorative, hand-carved mantle was added to the hearth. Originally, the cabin faced the present day bank location, staying untouched until around 1826, when the home was sold to settle an account against Thomas Deye Owings’ estate. It was around this time that the cabin was expanded toward Main Street. Roughly hewn logs were used again and a cellar was dug underneath. The cellar is a rock-lined enclosure that is pretty atypical until you look upward into the rafters. The support rafters are tree trunks with the bark still present even today. Mrs. Bailey told me that when she had some work done outside the cellar in the early 1980’s, the contractor located an arched entryway that was buried, and only accessible from outside. Where that led is still a mystery, as the archway was covered back over.

The original logs are still present inside the house, stacked 9 high. At the junction of each log, Roman numerals are carved into them as a kind of marking system when the cabin was built. There are few modern nails in the structure; as a matter of fact, there are places where the structure is held together with wooden pins driven into bore holes. Above the 1820’s addition is an attic loft with massive hand hewn timbers in remarkable condition.

More additions were made to expand the house further toward Main Street in the 1830s. James Johnson, a local hat maker, lived there from 1831-1855, selling his hats from the residence. Mary J. Conner operated a millinery business during the time she lived in the home from 1858-1905. Mrs. Conner’s husband, George, was a captain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and served with distinction. Conner was elected as a Senator for Bath, Bourbon, Clark and Montgomery Counties from 1869-1873. In 1905, Senator Conner’s son, Dr. George W. Conner established a dental profession in the front part of the house, operating it until 1938.

After Dr. Conner moved from the home in 1938, Reverend R.L. Bailey lived there until 1951, when it was sold to Mrs. Bailey’s father, Bryan Butcher. Butcher operated a successful business in the home, selling furs, ginseng, herbs, roots, hams, and antiques until 1982.

In 1978, the Owingsville Commercial District was added into the National Register of Historic Places. The entire block of downtown was included, except Mrs. Bailey’s house. An application to add the home was submitted, and was accepted into the National Register of Historic Places May 14, 1985. The nomination states “this house has been very much a part of the business and commercial activity of Owingsville”.

While the house and original cabin have sustained remarkably well over the 227-year span, some close calls have threatened the structures. There were two significant fires in Owingsville; the most severe was in September 1893. John Richards wrote in An Illustrated History of Bath County that the fire threatened the house and people used buckets of water to extinguish fires on the roof. Today, you can still see scorch marks in the old boards of the attic. Another fire threatened the original cabin, but did very little damage that was repaired.

Mrs. Bailey is quite proud of the history her house has, and rightfully so. The cabin alone stands out as a significant part of Owingsville’s story simply because of the era in which it was built and the fact Thomas Deye Owings was the original owner. Among the relics and artifacts Mrs. Bailey has found over the years, a bag of medical instruments belonging to an early Bath County physician, Dr. Berry and a saddle are among the best finds; of which, have been placed safely elsewhere. The house still has a brass and copper sink and a dental chair used by Dr. Conner when the home was used as his dental office. A child’s shoe with a copper toe plate was found in the attic, along with the remains of a woman’s corset. It’s these kind of relics that round out the story of what lies behind the walls.

It is my hope that one day, Mrs. Bailey’s house will again be a centerpiece of the town as an historical structure and others may be able to see and appreciate the time capsule on the corner. For now, the home is very much a private dwelling and I was humbled to have been invited to tour it. Mrs. Bailey tells me she has much more documentation about the families and other activities of her house, and I eagerly await to view them. With her permission, I look forward to sharing the stories left to tell.