The garden cabin's history involves the Ferguson family and its move in the 1990s from Doans, IN, near Scotland, IN in Greene County. In the 1800s, a dye shop was located where the cabin is now, supplying dye for cloth woven in the loom shop behind the mill office. The Fergusons raised 13 children in the 18x18 log cabin. This summary is based on documents about the garden cabin's history. Link to Garden cabin files.

• Doans was originally called Snake Hollow.

• It was renamed in 1898 after Jack Dickey, Granville Martindale, and Ed Hostetler began proceedings to get the village named Dawson.

• There was already a town named Dawson in Indiana, so they changed the name to Doans.

• One of the first settlers was Jack Dickey, who cleared land for a farm and built a two-room log house, a blacksmith shop in 1863, a sawmill, and a gristmill in 1870.

• In the late 1870s, Granville Martindale moved to the area.

• Martindale built a blacksmith shop and a general store.

• His daughter Julia and his youngest son Noah ran a peddler wagon for a few years.

• Several businesses operated in Doans, including:

• Elsa Dickey's hat factory

• Runnell's pottery shop

• Bill Bennet's Rose Hill Nursery

• Doans went downhill when the Monon Railroad was built through Koleen.

• White Oak School was located northeast of Doans.

• The school was a one-room building.

• Tyler Martindale's first teacher at the school was Ed Hostetler, followed by Ann Haywood.

• Dick Martindale taught at the school after one year of college.

• Doans Creek was named for Isaac Doan, the first settler.

• Doan was known as a hunter and lived at the Hattabaugh place.

• Bogard Creek was named for Cornelius Bogard.

• Other landmarks include:

• Alum Cave

• Bob's Lick, named for Bob Anderson

• Snake Hollow, where an Englishman was bitten by a rattlesnake

• The Saltpeter Cave, located on Woodson Hamilton's farm

• An 18 x 18 one-room cabin from Doans was donated by Michael Ferguson and his family to Spring Mill State Park.

• Ferguson's great-grandfather raised 13 children in the cabin, and his grandfather was born there in 1893.

• The cabin is located in the park's Pioneer Village and is referred to as the "Gardener's Cabin".

• It is near the grist mill.

• The DNR renovated the cabin.

John Allen on coming to Lawrence County around 1813 homesteaded 160 acres of land. Most of the land which he homesteaded is today known as the Albert Crawford farm and is located about five miles north of Tunnelton, Indiana, on this farm John Allen built a two-story hand-hewed log house in which he reared his family of seven boys and four girls. He continued to reside in this house until his death in 1885.

This old log house was purchased by the State of Indiana some time about 1932 and moved some fifteen miles from its original site to Spring State Mill Park, Indiana, where it will be preserved for generations to come.

On one corner of this farm was established a family burial plot. In this plot John Allen and his wife, Catherine, were buried along with their daughter, Sarah, and sons, Andrew, Noah, and Elijah. In the same burial plot Mary Allen (1750-1830), is buried, wife of James Allen, who was a brother to John Allen. Also, in this plot is buried Susan Allen (1793-1853). It is thought that this Susan Allen might have been the wife of John's other brother, Andrew, but I have no definite knowledge of this fact. The maiden name of John Allen's wife was Catherine Foutz. They were married in North Carolina and had five children when they came to Indiana. John Allen was born in 1783 and died in 1865. Hs wife, Catherine Foutz Allen, was born in 1790 and died in 1852.

Links:

John Allen Cemetery.

Spring Mill Historical Files.