The charming and cozy Craig log cabin is the last standing example of a typical home during the first settlement in Bloomfield. Early pioneers, who arrived in the “wilds of Michigan,” used the materials at hand to quickly and simply build a shelter.
The cabin measures 18-by-24 feet and is constructed of round logs with square notching. Spaces between the logs are filled (or chinked) with small limbs and twigs and then covered over (or daubed) with a plaster-like mixture of lime, sand and horsehair. The original shake roof was steeply pitched because of the area’s heavy snowfalls.
1835-1845
Abraham and Betsy Sodon, early Bloomfield pioneers, brought their family from New York to the rolling hillside property they had received as a government land patent. Their 40 acre parcel is on what would become Lone Pine Road, just east of the road to Franklin.
1845-1897
William Craig purchased the Sodon's land for $200. Early records don’t tell us if the cabin was included in the sale or if Craig himself built it. In 1851 William married Sarah Barden, and they raised 11 children in the small cabin.
1897-2008
2008-today
Over the next 110 years the cabin was continuously occupied and changed hands nearly a dozen times. As “civilization” surrounded the cabin, a lean-to with a kitchen, bedroom, and plumbing were added. By the 1980s, a rather contemporary house had been added on.
The cabin was donated to Preservation Bloomfield and moved from its original site on Lone Pine Road, to the Bloomfield Hills Schools Charles L. Bowers Farm. Restoration continues thanks to the hard work and dedication of a small group of volunteers.
