KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Kevin and Robin Bannon recently completed restoring an 1899 log cabin they discovered during their drive through Carraway Florahome in Putnam County.

“We found it in the woods,” Kevin said, “So, we left a note in the mailbox that we found.”
After several weeks passed, the owner Ronald Cumbus, called about the cabin.
“He told us that his grandfather built it. His father grew up in it, and then he and his two sisters grew up in it,” Bannon said.

The Bannons were told they could keep the cabin if they could remove it from Cumbus’s property and restore it.

With a new project ahead of them, the Bannons started the demolition process. “My wife and I started demoing it inside. We got everything out inside and then started taking the logs down.”
Once the original logs were moved to their property, they got the necessary permits and started rebuilding. Laying the cabin’s foundation, chinking the walls, and adding a loft were some of the many tasks the couple completed. The majority of the original cabin’s wood was incorporated into the structure and interior of the rebuilt cabin.
“Anything that we took out that we could save, I tried to put back in here,” he said.

The project took six years to complete.

The Bannons hosted an open house to showcase their work.
“It’s my mom’s 90th birthday. So we figured we’d have an open house and birthday celebration because everybody I work with has been hearing about this for six years and wants to see it,” Bannon said.

The event went great as family and friends visited to see the restored cabin, celebrate, and enjoy a variety of appetizers. In addition, Cumbus’s siblings attended the open house and praised the restored cabin.
“He did an amazing job,” Mitchell Cumbus said.
As of now, the Bannons are pleased with the outcome and plan to use the cabin as a family room for the holidays.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Kevin said. “I’ve spent a lot of hours in here. But now that I’m sitting in here, this is a dream come true. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my wife Robin and my friend Chipper.”