Discovery Opens Window to the Past

Log cabin found inside another home

A North Texas house is giving us a glimpse of what life was like more than a century ago. A log cabin, built in 1869, is on display after construction crews found it buried inside another home.

"For the kids, with their Facebook and iPods, and electricity and refrigerators, it seems almost unimaginable," said Lisa Cole, the education coordinator at The Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area.

The Minor-Porter log cabin was built more than 140 years ago. Cole said the 2,000 acre nature preserve has not always been home to the time capsule. The log cabin was once a buried treasure. It was uncovered in Highland Village when developers started building a shopping center.

"As the developers were beginning to clear the lot and take down this house that was on the property, they began to find log walls that were on the inside of the house," Cole said.

The log cabin was still in tact, but another home had been built around it, hiding the history within its walls.

"Families grew, and as money and time became available, they might add a room to it, and then another room," Cole said. "It probably would not have weathered the elements as good as it did if it wasn't in that old house."

Its doors are now open to anyone who wants to take a peek back in time.

The Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area hosts an open house for the Minor-Porter House on the third Saturday of every month. It is open from noon to 3 p.m., and admission to the park is $5.

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