Published: October 05, 2008 09:46 pm         

Bismarck kindergarteners learn alphabet

BISMARCK — The kindergarten classes at Bismarck–Henning Grade School recently took a short field trip in terms of distance.

The field trip consists of a walk a few blocks from the school to the property of Russell and Mary Potter in Bismarck.

On their property the Potters’ have a circa early 1800s authentic log cabin.

“I built this log cabin as a late in life crisis,” said Potter. “I always liked the looks of the little log cabins down at the Skinner Farm Museum and Village in Perrysville, Indiana.”

In 1998 the Potters’ had Boyd Crone of Tab, Ind., construct a 16-foot by 22-foot log cabin with the logs salvaged from an old barn in the Attica, Ind., area.

Crone is an area builder of log homes and has quite a bit of experience constructing traditionally built log homes, according to Potter.

“Crone put the logs together for the cabin and a 6-foot by 20-foot front porch,” Potter explained. “I put the cedar shake roof on myself.”

“I thought I could put it up for $3,000 but it ended up costing me $10,000,” added Potter.

Potter goes on to explain that he had originally wanted to put an authentic stone fireplace in the cabin but the $8,000 price tag was more than he wanted to spend. So he put in something he was more familiar with and was able to acquire. Potter, a retired railroad conductor, obtained an old railroad caboose stove.

“The stove was designed to burn coal to heat the caboose, but it works just as well burning wood,” Potter said. “It really heats the cabin very well.”

The cabin consists of one room and a sleeping loft.

“This type of cabin was very common in southern Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee,” explained Potter. “This is the type of cabin you would find in 1825 in that region.”

The cabin sits on a lot adjacent to Potter’s home in Bismarck.

“It is something I enjoy,” Potter explained. “I come out here every day to sit on the porch and get my brain back in neutral.”

The cabin is used for Thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties for his grandchildren and family wiener roasts.

The only modern conveniences are electricity and a telephone for emergencies.

According to Potter, every year since the cabin was built he has opened it up for the kindergarten classes to tour.

“We start the school year studying the alphabet,” said Carrie Farrell, kindergarten teacher. “When we get to the letter “L”, we use the word “log” and we tie that in to a visit to the Potters’ cabin.”

On this day, Farrell, along with fellow kindergarten teachers Cathy Collins and Jackie Hupfer, would bring 58 kindergarten students to the cabin for a tour.

The tour begins with Potter giving a short talk on the way cabins are built and showing the students a broadax that was used to shape the logs to be used in building log cabins.

Potter also gives the students a little geology lesson with his display of volcanic rock, petrified wood and a piece of sandstone dug up in Utah that is about 203 million years old.

On a trip through Utah, Potter said he stopped at a construction site where they had just unearthed the sandstone. Some larger pieces of the sandstone had actual dinosaur tracks in them. He was able to secure a small piece of sandstone for himself, which he proudly displays.

After Potter’s short talk to the students, Mary Potter takes the students, five at a time, into the cabin for a close-up look. She explains to the students what is was like to live in a cabin and even allows them to climb up into the sleeping loft. She points out the trundle bed and spinning wheel that are displayed inside of the cabin.

Potter has the exterior of the cabin decorated with many items that you would have found in similar cabins of that time. There are old stoneware crocks and cast iron kettles sitting on the porch along with two rocking chairs and a bench, an old wooden sled and rolls of rusted barbed wire hang on the side of the cabin, and an old pedal whetstone used for sharpening tools and knives sits in the corner.

Potter has even constructed a non-working outhouse to complete the scene and has a vegetable garden located behind the cabin.

As the students complete their tour of the cabin and make the short walk back to school, they turn and in unison thank Russell and Mary Potter for allowing them to tour their cabin.

So if you are ever passing through Bismarck and happen to notice a guy sitting on the porch of an old log cabin smiling, just wave and know that Russell Potter is enjoying his late in life crisis.