Steelville, Mo., couple restores 1830s log cabin after recent fire

STEELVILLE, Mo. -- Woodworkers Jeff and Sherry Owen are protecting a piece of Franklin County history on their 47-acre property in Steelville.

Nearly three years ago the couple began dismantling an 1830s log cabin at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit to relocate and restore on their land.

They succeeded and were living in the cabin while Sherry operated their custom woodworking business out of a temporary shop on the property and Jeff worked building them a new home just up the hill. Then a flue fire a couple of weeks ago nearly destroyed everything.

Now the cabin is charred and damaged -- all that's left inside is the twisted wire that once was their mattress -- but the Owens haven't written off the historic structure.

"He's not giving up on those," said Sherry Owen, pointing to a stack of old logs that had been part of the original cabin. They had rebuilt only a portion of the cabin on their property, so now Jeff plans to use the remaining logs to repair the damage.

Now they want to save the cabin again.

"We feel so connected to the people who first built it," Sherry remarked. "We called ourselves Mr. and Mrs. Pioneer while we were taking it down."

Jeff Owen first spied the cabin a few years ago when he was scouting out property at Shaw Nature Reserve as a possible location for an event for a historical re-enactment group he belongs to, the American Mountain Men. The cabin was on property south of the Meramec River on a part of the Reserve that is not open to the public, said John Behrer, of Shaw Nature Reserve.

"In the 1980s the cabin was used by the Reserve for overnight education programs mainly for schoolchildren," he said.

"The site had poor access for emergency vehicles and was not in the core area of the Reserve that contains the system of service roads and trails along with the restored natural communities that are so valuable for education activities.

"The decision was made in the 1990 master plan to develop an overnight education center on the north side of the river that provided good access to all of the above mentioned items. The Dana Brown Center was created and opened in 2003."

Although the Dana Brown Center is made up of historic log and timber frame structures, the reserve decided not to use this cabin for the new project because it didn't "fit the bill" for what was needed for Dana Brown, said Behrer.

The Owens began dismantling the cabin Jan. 1, 2005. What they discovered was that the cabin had been added on to several times over the course of a century. The original cabin was simple and small, Sherry noted, just a corner of what it looked like before they took it down.

Some time after the cabin went up in the 1830s, the main floor was doubled, a second floor was added, and in the 1950s, smaller additions were put on the front and back of the structure.

"It would have been considered a mansion at the turn of the century," said Sherry.

Once the Owens restore the cabin again, they plan to live in it until their home up the hill is finished next fall. After that they will use the cabin as a guest house when their children and grandchildren visit.

They are committed to saving the cabin because they feel a connection to it, said Sherry. From the time the Owens began dismantling the cabin at its original location in Gray Summit, a number of coincidences have convinced her they were meant to save it.

"When we were taking down one of the additions on Feb. 5, 2005, we saw on one of the boards the date Feb. 5, 1955," she said. "They had been there 50 years earlier putting that up, and we were there on that same day taking it down. It was really special."

The couple also came across a piece of newspaper that had been used as insulation for the house. The paper was from 1920 and featured an ad for a trip to Florida for $100. Again, they noticed a coincidence.

"The travel agent's name was Detgen, which was Jeff's mom's maiden name," said Sherry. "We called her to tell her his name and she said, 'Are you kidding? That was my uncle!'

"It breaks our hearts that the cabin burned, that we lost some of that history, but I'm not worried that things aren't going to work out, because I know they will."

The Owens make their living as woodworkers. They run their own business, Homestead Woodworking, off their property in Steelville. Before going into business for themselves, the couple worked for high-end companies like Gravois Planing Mill in St. Louis, Kirkwood Stair Company and Sawyer and Son Woodworking in Hazelwood, where they met in 1995.

Sherry had gotten into woodworking as a way to support her three children after her first husband left her. A friend's father in Salem taught her how to use his woodworking tools and she began to fool around making things.

"I made these shelves that I called my 'ugly shelves' and I took them to a flea market to sell," said Sherry.

Then one day a customer ordered a coffee table from her and after she delivered it, he came back for 10 more. Before long, Sherry was in business with her friend's father making 350 tables each week.

After three years in Salem, Sherry moved back to St. Louis, where she had grown up, and took a job at Sawyer and Son, where she learned the art of cabinetmaking. That's also where she met Jeff.

Over the years, the couple has built up a prestigious portfolio. Their work includes making doors for the State Capitol, the cabinets and doors for Joe Buck's office, a rounded bar featuring carved panels that "tell the story of winemaking," a 30-foot tall cross for a church in Kirkwood and the counter and design area for a Deck the Walls framing store.

The Owens moved to their property in Steelville about a year and a half ago. "From the day I met Jeff he was talking about living in the country," Sherry recalled.

Jeff grew up in Arnold, which was considered the country when he was a child. As urban sprawl encroached on the area, he began looking for a more rural place to call home. His uncle, who owned some acreage in Steelville, offered to sell him a piece of the property.

After the couple were married, they began their plans for building a new house on the property -- Sherry was running the woodworking business while Jeff built the house.

"We were working nonstop," said Sherry. "We were working our eight-hour job, plus overtime. We were also remodeling our home in St. Louis so we could sell it and on the weekends, we were taking the cabin apart and transporting it down to the property."

By August 2006, the Owens were ready to take the plunge. They quit their jobs and began a life of self-sufficiency.

"We started our own woodworking business in January, and we haven't had to do much advertising," said Sherry. "And all the calls we've gotten for jobs are from word-of-mouth (advertising)."

They have had jobs all over the area and as far away as Belleville, Ill. They craft the pieces on their property in a temporary workshop they've built and then transport them to the customer's location.