Welcome to
The Creighton Cabin, LLC
Come in and make yourself at home! Like the weathered cabin in Appalachia Ohio where my great great grandparents raised three children in a close-knit farming community, this digital home holds the stories, artistry, and heart of family legacy.
Named in honor of that original homestead, The Creighton Cabin carries forward the tradition of gathering, creating, and preserving what matters most. Here, each "room" offers something different. Explore our "rooms" of local and family history or even admire the artwork that flows from creative hands in our family line.
Just as that first cabin witnessed countless stories unfold around its hearth, this space invites you to slow down, explore, and connect with the enduring power of place, memory, and the written word.
Pull up a chair. The stories are just beginning.
History of the Real
Creighton Cabin
The Creighton Cabin was built about 1874 in Belmont County, Ohio, as the home of James and Catharine (Simeral) Creighton's family. Here they raised three children and farmed the land.
James, a Civil War Veteran, and Catharine grew up as neighbors not far from the cabin. They married in October 1867. We know they bought the property on which the cabin sits in April 1874. from Lewis Thornberry and his wife, Sarah. We learned from a newspaper article that the cabin burned in November 1874. Evidence of that fire was found when removing the floor boards to replace the sill logs in 2026.
The steepled joints of the logs are also indicative of that time-period.
Catherine passed away in 1893. She was only 46. James remarried and eventually moved to town in the early 1900s. He had been shot in the hips during the war (Battle of Perrysville, Kentucky), so farming must have been difficult.
Based upon tax and census records, we have pieced together that he was likely the longest resident in this hand-hewn home.
The cabin is what they refer to as a "single-pen" log house. It was a common type on early, less well-to-do homesteads in the 1800s. We are told from an "architectural reconnaissance cultural resources survey" completed in 2002, that "few good examples survive" of this type of home.
In 2026, the owners replaced rotten sill logs, the floor, and other rotten logs in order to preserve the building for future generations. They also installed a new metal roof to protect it. We are forever thankful that they saw the importance of this piece of history and embraced this difficult challenge rather than letting the cabin further deteriorate.
These are the three children of James and Catharine Creighton who grew up in the cabin. (L-R) Mary Olive Creighton with her husband and daughter, Linell Creighton holding his son, and Anna Dean Creighton.
