Island's Hidden Historical Treasure in Annex
By Leslie Rott

Virginia Handy, co-founder of the Log Cabin Society of Michigan, has pinpointed the location of what she says is the oldest two-story log cabin in the state of Michigan on Mackinac Island. She visited the site June 25, the 20th Annual Log Cabin Day.

In the Annex, hidden behind large trees and situated on the property now owned by James Chambers, the Ambrose R. Davenport house is a site for few to behold.

"There was no knowledge of it," Ms. Handy said of her inquiries about the house to people living and working on the Island.

Ms. Handy searched for the house to update the Log Cabin Society of Michigan's book, "From the Little Log Cabin in the Lane." She knew if she found the house intact, it would replace the Murdock Log House in Berrien Springs as the oldest two-story log cabin in the state.

The state Register for Historic Sites, which has included the Davenport House since 1988, states that the house is architecturally significant because of its French-Canadian construction techniques. Ambrose Davenport is historically significant as a military defender at Fort Mackinac.

After several hours of searching Hubbard's Annex in the rain, she came across the Davenport House, now painted yellow and modernized inside.

"I thought it was quite a contrast," she said; "the 1805 log cabin and, on the other side of the lawn, there is a new house."

Although there is some question as to whether the house is actually two stories, Ms. Handy said that, from the outside, it appears taller than single-story log cabins she has seen. She was unable to view the inside of the house.

The Register for Historic Sites describes the house as "a two-story, gable roofed structure of horizontal notched logs, which is attached to a one-story gable roofed wing, and is flanked by a shed-roofed, one-story, rear addition."

Until Ms. Handy's discovery, the Murdock Log House in Berrien Springs was considered to be the oldest two-story log cabin in Michigan, however, based on the official Register, significant dates for the Berrien Springs Courthouse Complex, which is where the F.B. Murdock House is located, are 1826 to 1865. Dates for the Ambrose R. Davenport House are 1600 to 1825, placing the Davenport House earlier than the Murdock House. The state Register for Historic Sites also dates the construction of the Davenport House at 1805.

Ms. Handy's interest in log cabins began when she built her own cabin in 1981 and 1982. Michigan, she said, did not have much documentation on log cabins, and she and others felt it was an important, human interest side of history that deserved some recognition.

"The name Davenport should make a comeback. If something falls out of history, we should put it back in," she said, describing the Davenport house as a "lost segment of Mackinac Island history."

Ambrose R. Davenport lived from September 11, 1772, until March 13, 1858. In 1855, Gurdon Hubbard purchased a large portion of the Davenport farm for a subdivision he named Hubbard's Annex, now occupied by summer cottages.

The Yankee Rebel Tavern is named for Ambrose R. Davenport, who was tagged with that nickname during the War of 1812, when he warned civilians, but not American soldiers, of a British attack on Fort Mackinac.