Preserving the Cabell Log House
There is much to discover and document concerning the history of the property. HSF believes the entire site will serve as an educational laboratory, revealing significant information about Staunton’s African American history and architectural traditions.
It is important that our community preserves and protects such significant resources that inform us about our past.
Historic Cabell Log House
Historic Staunton Foundation purchased the historic Cabell Log House located at 654 East Beverley Street. Built ca. 1869 by freedman Edmund Cabell and owned by his descendants for more than a century, it is the only remaining 19th Century exposed-log structure in the City of Staunton and a rare example of a post-Civil War home that we can definitively connect to a specific local African American family. HSF’s immediate goal is to secure and stabilize this rare historic resource. The project furthers HSF’s mission through advocating for this historic resource, documentation of the physical and cultural record, and demonstrating rehabilitation practices. It is imperative to record existing architectural elements, the surrounding historic landscape, and archaeological evidence to develop a sensitive treatment following the Secretary of Interior Standards. The project is organized to follow the National Park Service brief for creating a Historic Structures Reports. Furthering HSF’s partnerships within the community, we are engaging with area professional historians in combination with the broader community interested in local history. HSF has initiated an advisory committee engaging in a collective effort to uncover and present the underrepresented historical narrative of African Americans in Staunton Virginia.
Stabilization of the Cabell Log House and Property is supported in part through generous funding from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s Commonwealth History Fund, presented by Dominion Energy
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Cabell House – A Post-Emancipation, African American Occupation in the Shenandoah Valley
Findings of an Archaeological Survey
Cabell Cabin Property in Staunton, Virginia:
A Post-Emancipation, African American Occupation in the Shenandoah Valley
Prepared by:
Archaeology Research Laboratory Department of Sociology & Anthropology James Madison University
Prepared for:
The Historic Staunton Foundation
Notes from the Cabell Log House Blog
Archaeology of the Cabell Log House
On Thursday, February 19, 2026, James Madison University's Dr. Dennis Blanton, graduate Skylar Rogers, and senior Calvin Boulier gave a preservation talk, "Archaeology of the Cabell Log House." Dr. Dennis Blanton reviewed the archaeological shovel testing his students...
“How the Archaeological Evidence is Beginning to Speak to Us.” with Dr. Dennis Blanton
On Thursday, November 7, Dr. Dennis Blanton, Professor of Anthropology at James Madison University, presented “Conversing with Cabells: How the Archaeological Evidence is Beginning to Speak to Us.” Dr. Blanton’s presentation is the third in our new series of free...
Preserving Artifact and Architecture with 3D Cultural Heritage Informatics with Will Rourk, University of Virginia 3D Technologies Specialist
On Thursday, October 10, Will Rourk, University of Virginia 3D Technologies Specialist, presented “Preserving Artifact and Architecture with 3D Cultural Heritage Informatics,” the second in HSF’s new series of free educational talks related to the historic Cabell...
Constructed in 1869, the Cabell Log House is a single story, one room deep, log structure. The house is constructed in two sections with a central brick masonry chimney and gable roof. The logs are v-notched and exhibit a hewn surface. The roof is sheathed with corrugated tin and the gable ends are sheathed with wood clapboards. The arrangement of the two log pens with a central chimney relates to a “Saddlebag” log house plan.
