Main Cabin

Welcome to the Main Cabin. Feel free to walk around the building as I point out several important features. As I said previously, neither this cabin, nor the smaller kitchen house structure are original to the property. These cabins were relocated to the historic site in the 1960s, from elsewhere in Mecklenburg County. They have been reconstructed based on documentation and a drawing by former North Carolina governor David Swain.

Following Polk’s death in 1849, David Swain visited the Polk homestead (which had been abandoned). Swain felt strongly that a presidential birthplace should be documented and preserved. He meticulously wrote down details and drew a rough sketch of the crumbling structures in his diary and additionally in a correspondence with historian Benson Lossing. It is from Swain’s description, that we have reconstructed the cabins into their present appearance.

The Polks were of mid to upper middle class. We can tell this by looking at key features of the building. Take a moment to walk around the building and see if you can spot signs of wealth.

The first detail that stand out to you is the glass windows. Glass was extremely expensive in the 18th century. There were no glass factories like there are today, and instead the glass had to be imported. The windows are for decorative display only and are not functional. Samuel Polk, in an attempt to show off his wealth, placed the glass windows facing what is now Lancaster Highway, which in Polk’s time was an Native trading route and oft-used wagon road. The glass windows would have been visible to all passing by Samuel’s house.

Another sign of wealth is the house’s size. This is a large house for the time period with two stories and an addition. Another detail is that the house sits above the ground on large boulders, which would have provided circulation under the house to prevent wood rot as well as provide a place for chickens to roost and likely refuge for children to get out of the blistering Pineville sun. Most houses in the area, would have been much smaller, one level and no flooring other than hard-packed dirt.

Both cabins are made white oak, a type of wood known for its pest resistant quality. The logs are squared off and joined with dovetail joints at the corners and in between the logs is clay daubing or chinking. The clay would have been gathered from the nearby Sugar Creek and reapplied on a fairly regular basis, as clay would have washed away in the rain. It would have been the children and the enslaved’s job to collect the clay from the river and re-chink the house.  Look closely and you will see small handprints and fingerprints on the chinking.

Next, we will walk over to the smaller of the structures, the kitchen house.