After joining us for coffee at the breakfast table, [B&B owners] John and Sharlene told us that the stone foundation of CB's original log house, about 14x20 ft, could be seen out their back window! John walked us over to the adjacent lot, also owned by CB at the time, so we could see the rock foundation and hand-dug cellar, now under a little house which, much later, had been built over it. After we took some pictures, he said "Would you like to see the original log house that had been there?" At first I didn't understand what he was saying, and I replied "What do you mean?!" He said that years ago the Knox house was moved off the foundation, stripped of some modern siding, restored, and put on display in the town's park! So Grandma and I walked 3-4 blocks down the lakeside road to the park, and there, with the town's blue swimming pool, playground, and RV area, was my great-grandfather's log house! A tattered red sign on it said "First House Lake Park 1869. C.B. Knox". I walked up and put my hand on the logs, realizing that few people get the chance to touch something made by their forebearers 140 years ago. No one in my family had told me, or even knew, that this cabin and its foundation still existed in Lake Park [Iowa].
Thursday, February 16, 2017
A Descendant of Group 1 DNA Cousin Charles B. Knox goes to Iowa
After joining us for coffee at the breakfast table, [B&B owners] John and Sharlene told us that the stone foundation of CB's original log house, about 14x20 ft, could be seen out their back window! John walked us over to the adjacent lot, also owned by CB at the time, so we could see the rock foundation and hand-dug cellar, now under a little house which, much later, had been built over it. After we took some pictures, he said "Would you like to see the original log house that had been there?" At first I didn't understand what he was saying, and I replied "What do you mean?!" He said that years ago the Knox house was moved off the foundation, stripped of some modern siding, restored, and put on display in the town's park! So Grandma and I walked 3-4 blocks down the lakeside road to the park, and there, with the town's blue swimming pool, playground, and RV area, was my great-grandfather's log house! A tattered red sign on it said "First House Lake Park 1869. C.B. Knox". I walked up and put my hand on the logs, realizing that few people get the chance to touch something made by their forebearers 140 years ago. No one in my family had told me, or even knew, that this cabin and its foundation still existed in Lake Park [Iowa].
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