In the late 1800’s there was no money, no jobs, and no market for cotton. The South was still struggling to recover from the Civil War. John Thomas Atkins (a Confederate Veteran) moved into a pioneer cabin built on property belonging to his wife Rosa’s relatives in the year 1896. This was John Thomas Atkins’ second family after the Civil War. (His first wife had died and their children had grown up and moved off on their own.)

The white gown being worn by the baby in Rosa’s lap had been handed down from child-to-child. Each of the other children were also wearing hand-me-down clothes.

A full-grown live chicken could fly through the gaps between the boards in the original cabin on the left.

The boards on the roof on the house on the right were to keep the snow from sliding down before it melted.

The old fireplace in the pioneer cabin on the left was rarely used. The house on the right was heated by a cast-iron wood cook stove. In the winter time the little bit of heat from the stove would escape through the gaps in the walls between the boards. During the summer they moved the stove outside to cook on.