Old cabins given new life

BY RICHARD AMRHINE

LEON

--When you consider all of the historic places in Virginia, Leon might not come immediately to mind. But maybe it should.

Leon is a crossroads, sort of, bisected by U.S. 29, about eight miles south of Culpeper, just across the Madison County line. According to a historical marker, State Route 631 at Leon, called Kirtley Road, was established in 1632 by the House of Burgesses as Virginia's first official road.

Once called James City, Leon was the site of the Battle of James City, an October 1863 engagement that pitted Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart against Union Gen. Judson Kilpatrick and began the Bristoe Station Campaign.

James City was founded by Daniel James, whose descendents included the notorious Jesse and Frank James.

Nearby, all of 26 years old, is the Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery.

Leon is also the home of Heartland Restoration, a cabin preservation and restoration business run by Timothy Robinson. And if there is anything Robinson is interested in more than log and timber frame structures, it's the American history and personalities they represent.

Robinson has made a career of rescuing, deconstructing and reassembling cabins and old houses that would otherwise be lost to a bulldozer or the ravages of time.

CURRENT PROJECT

These days, he is reassembling a cabin for a Fredericksburg-area client who wants to add an interesting guesthouse to his property. The large timbers are of pre-blight American chestnut, which, according to Robinson, means they had to have been harvested before the 1920s in Virginia.

"There aren't many of these around anymore, and the question becomes: How bad do you want it?" said Robinson. "It's pretty labor-intensive."

This cabin measures 20 feet by 26 feet, which recalls a time when such huge, straight timbers were available. Robinson and his team will assemble the cabin at his Leon property, stacking the timbers to 1 stories, then building trusses for a timber roof system. As work progresses, the client will come by and, with Robinson, will determine the location of the door and windows.

Once the cabin is assembled and everything fits precisely together, it's time to take it apart. Robinson will label and color code each piece so the puzzle will fit back together once it arrives at its permanent site. He uses cattle tags of different colors for that purpose.

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Timothy Robinson says he is currently working on his final two private cabin reconstruction projects, and intends to turn his focus to historical restoration work such as the James Monroe Birthplace cabin has been commissioned to build.

He will also stay busy establishing the James City Building Museum at his Heartland Restoration property in Leon.

There are already structures on site, including:

Heartland's headquarters building. It was built as a private home, Robinson explained, by a Capt. McWelch shortly after the Civil War. The Confederate officer, he learned, had met a young local girl. Prior to the surrender, he promised her that after he walked to Appomattox and back, he would marry her and build her a new home, all of which he did. Robinson restored the home, and has the captain's well-worn boots on display.

The former James City (Leon) post office, which was closed in 2008 despite Robinson's efforts to keep it open.

A cabin that belonged to a son of Patrick Henry, retrieved from Southside Virginia.

Awaiting reconstruction is the cabin once owned by Jeremiah Moore, recovered from his property in Vienna. The Virginia-born Moore was a 18th-century evangelist who fought for freedom of religion, a pursuit that landed him in Colonial jails on several occasions. His lawyer, kept busy with Moore's court battles with the crown, was Patrick Henry, Robinson said.

--Richard Amrhine

Date published: 11/13/2009

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