Photo Provided The 1806 log house owned by Don and Angela Feenerty has been lovingly restored. It will be open to the public during the Mount Pleasant Historical Society’s Annual Home Tour on Aug. 3-4.

MOUNT PLEASANT — In 1806, there were only seven houses in Mount Pleasant — and all of them were made of logs, according to local historians.

Three of these historic log houses are still intact and standing on their original foundations. One is a private residence. Another, the Harris Bone Store, is owned by the local historical society. A third, the 1806 Humphreville cabin, is owned by Mount Pleasant residents Don and Angela Feenerty.

The community was founded in 1803, the same year Ohio became a state. A small group of men met near the historic Seceder Cemetery off of Union Street to draw lots to determine who would have the right to bid on the first parcels of land made available for sale in the Northwest Territory. Robert Caruthers won the draw and purchased what is now Mount Pleasant.

The log cabin known as the Harris Bone Store has a sign stating it was built in 1803, though local historians have reason to believe it was built quite a bit earlier. Archives refer to a “squatter’s cabin,” and some believe this is the building Enoch Harris chose to use to house his general store in 1803.

The 1806 Humphreville cabin is a two-story log house made from six different types of wood. Trees would have been girdled and left to dry on the stump before being felled, hewed and dragged into place to build the house.

The structure sits atop a fully dug basement with a foundation made of field sandstone. The log house gets its name from Humphreville, who was part of the Humphreville family, known for the furniture they made in Mount Pleasant. The log house was used for years as a furniture store and undertaker’s shop.

In 2016, the Feenertys embarked on a “remarkable” journey, purchasing the 1806 log house and initiating a multi-year restoration process.

“We repaired as much as we could using historically correct methods, and what we couldn’t repair, we replaced as authentically as we could,” Angela Feenerty said.

Her husband, Don, added, “Growing up in America in the 1960s, what kid didn’t dream of cowboys and log cabins? When we got the chance to buy our own log house, we jumped in with little thought as to how much time and money a total restoration would require.”

Their dedication was further fueled by the expert advice and experience of restoration specialists. The Feenertys enlisted teams of restoration experts, including Jon Smith, Sarel Venter, Kevin Jones and Chad Hall.

According to Angela Feenerty, “Jon gave us advice and hope, Sarel realigned and secured the building, Kevin did the chinking and pointing, and Chad did most of the rest.”

The Feenertys say they try not to think about how long the restoration took or cost, claiming that they give more thought to the satisfaction and enjoyment the project has provided.

The 1806 Log House and the 1803 Harris Bone Store will both be open during the Mount Pleasant Historical Society’s Annual Home Tour on Aug. 3-4. The Bone Store will require visitors to purchase a tour pass, whereas the Feenertys will open their log house to the public free of charge. The Feenertys log house is home to a gift store, Lost Arts Studios, and the Printing Press of Mt. Pleasant, a private publishing company publishing books for local authors.