Friends of the log cabins

Did you know we have a historical site right in our back yard along the Mississippi River? Quinissippi Island, located across from Quincy Park District off of the Quincy bay, has over the years been the location for many attractions. This Island has been the home for an animal zoo, a steam locomotive, a Ferris Wheel, and even a cable car that would take you over the Quincy Bay. Today, Quinissippi Island is the home of a marina for boat enthusiasts, and a playground and picnic area for family get togethers. What you may not know is that Quinissippi Island is home to a local setting, a Lincoln-era village complete with log cabins and other historical buildings.   
 
The Lincoln-era village is located in the middle of Quinsippi Island near the playground. This cabin village consists of three log cabins with another one waiting to be reassembled, an herb garden, a stone smoke house, a log corn crib, and a log church.  Built in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, this village was designed to give the people of today a glimpse of what life was like in the time of Lincoln.

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Most of the structures located in the village had been donated from around the local area.  The D.D. Hull Log Cabin was donated by the Vanis Call family and moved to Quinsippi Island by the Quincy Rotary Club in 1968.  The William Herleman Log Cabin was originally built in 1850 and was used as a house on a homestead. In 1968 it was donated by the Mr. W.C. Lubbert and moved to Quinsippi Island by the Quincy Noon Kiwanis Club.  The Fraser (Frazier) Log Cabin was built in 1928 was a halfway house near Alton, IL.  Originally used as a stagecoach stop, travelers would use the loft of this structure to rest after a long day of traveling.  Eventually this structure was moved from Alton, IL to Warsaw, IL before finally finding a home on Quinissippi Island, where it was replicated to look like what a schoolhouse might look like in Lincoln’s time.  Currently this structure is disassembled awaiting repairs.  Another cabin is the Clat Adams Cabin that was built in 1850 was donated and erected by Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Michel in memory of Clat Adams.   In 2013, this cabin had to be disassembled due to advanced deterioration and rebuilt in 2015.  The last major structure is the Lord’s Log Cabin.  It was built in 1977 by the Knights of Columbus Council 583.  This building is a functioning structure that can be used for weddings, meeting, and other ceremonies.
 
This log cabin village might have gone the way of the cable cars if not for the efforts of Friends of the Log Cabin that was created in 2007.  Friends of the Log Cabins Association, a nonprofit partner organization of Arts Quincy, was formed to restore, preserve, and utilize these structures. The Friends of the Log Cabin hosts fundraisers, special events and conducts tours of the site, to educate school children and raise public awareness about the village. The village holds two open houses each year, the first on Dogwood weekend in May and the annual Frontier Settlement Day on the second Saturday in September. This year however, the May tour has been canceled.
 
On Tuesday, April 28, 2020 Arts Quincy will feature Quincy's own Log Cabin Village during its weekly historic site tour on Facebook Live. This Lincoln-era village, located on Quinissippi Island, sits on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi and features historic structures from the 1800s including log cabins, a corn crib, a stone smokehouse, and a log church.

Normally open from dawn to dusk, this public park allows visitors to see the outside of the buildings and have access to the shelter and playground nearby. Arts Quincy’s tour will let you see inside these historic tam, Quincy Art Center will give a tutorial on how to create a perspective drawing on its Facebook page.
 
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Friends of the Log Cabin has created a web page for visitors of the village to download a self-guided tour guide. Visitors can either print the booklet before visiting or they may view it on their mobile device while they are on site. Learn more or make a donation at http://www.logcabinvillagequincyil.com. ​

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