The 142-year-old Palmer-Epard cabin at Homestead National Monument of America is going up the same way it came down — one piece at a time — as a team of master craftsmen rebuild history.

The cabin is being restacked this week by preservation specialists from the National Parks Service Historic Preservation Society of Frederick, Md., at its new location behind the Heritage Center.

Mark Engler, superintendent at Homestead, said the project is quickly moving forward.

“They are working diligently and swiftly to get it back up and available to the public,” Engler said.

In the meantime, he said, anyone interested in seeing the reconstruction is welcome to visit the site and watch the building return to its original state.

Brown Trunslow, with NPSHPS, said his group  will have to replace six of the logs in the frame of the building and strengthen others by removing damaged portions of the logs.

During the dismantling of the cabin, the group of six restoration specialists found two colonies of carpenter ants and mouse nests burrowed into some of the wood. The pests were exterminated, the damaged areas were replaced and all pieces have been treated to prevent further infestation.

The new replacement logs are made to duplicate the tool markings and color of the original wood, as much as possible, Trunslow said.

Nate Ramsier and Mark Karpinen, preservation specialists, are using a chain saw, circular saw and reciprocating saw to trim down the wood being used. Once it is in the desired shape, they use an ax to carve it down and give it the same rough-hewn tool markings evident in the original logs. All the wood will be treated and the new wood will be stained to more closely match the original wood.

The logs are then placed back into their original locations, using small copper plaques as a sort of map guide.

Once the logs are in place, Chris Ash, Donnie Runion, and Jack Thompson use photos taken before the cabin was dismantled, then shim the logs into their original position.

Since the stone floor has not been laid, the workers are reassembling the cabin about 24-inches off the ground. Once the mason crew lays the flooring, it will be lowered into place.

Once the cabin is completed, the area surrounding it will be replanted with native tall grass, said Park Ranger Susan Cook.

The move came as a result of the park’s general management plan developed in 1999, Engler said and discussions on the move began about a year ago between the park, the National Park regional office, the Center for Historical Places and the Nebraska State Historical Preservation Society.

The decision to move the cabin was based on three major concerns for the park.

First, the cabin was beginning to show some deterioration, and needed to be repaired before further damage was done.

Second, the cabin’s former location caused some confusion for visitors, since it was located on the Daniel Freeman homestead.

Finally, Engler said, the landscape around the cabin was not historically correct.

The moving project, which began in early September, will be the third move for the historic cabin since its arrival at Homestead National Monument in 1950.

The cabin was built in the fall of 1867 by George W. Palmer. Palmer was originally from Ohio, and served as a private in the Union Army. After being discharged from the army, at the prompting of his wife and family, he made preparations to claim some of the free land being offered in Nebraska.

After leaving his wife and family with relatives in Ohio, in 1865, he moved to Gage County and staked his claim. During his first two winters in Nebraska, he lived in a dugout on the west bank of Bear Creek. He planted his first crop of corn and pumpkins in the spring of 1866.

The next fall, he built the 9-by-12 foot cabin from mixed wood he found on his homestead, including white and red oak, hackberry, ash, locust, walnut and elm.

He moved his family to Nebraska in the spring of 1868. On May 26, 1868, he filed application for a 160-acre homestead, and paid the $14 filing fee. He paid his final patent fee of $4 on March 5, 1875.

The family lived in the cabin until 1895, when it was sold to Palmer’s nephews, Eugene Mumford and William Foreman. The farm was sold to Lawrence and Ida Mae (Mumford) Epard a few years later. The Epards made improvements to the home and lived in it for nearly 40 years. 

Upon their death, the farm was passed on to J.B. Epard in 1936. Epard used the cabin as a corn crib, until he donated it to  Homestead National Monument in 1950.

Upon its arrival at Homestead National Monument in 1950, the cabin was placed just west of Cub Creek and south of the monument boundary. Due to the realignment of U.S. Highway 4 in 1954, the cabin was moved to an area east of the utility building. It moved to the third location, behind the education center, in the summer of 1965.