Gamlin Cabin - Grant Grove, Grant Grove Village

The Gamlin Cabin is down the road a short distance from Grant Grove Village, in the actual Grant Grove of Big Trees (Giant Sequoias.) It was built in 1872 by Israel Gamlin. He and his brother Thomas filed a timber claim for 160 acres and built the cabin in Grant Grove. They grazed cattle instead of logging, sticking around for 6 years. The cabin is built of squared logs. The areas under the gables are filled with planks, notice the ax marks from where they were shaped with an ax. The roof is "shingled" using 3 courses of huge split-face planks, notice how thick and long they are. The shingles are supported by round beams which extent through the end walls (see the photo above.) There are 2 side-by-side doors, and a rock fireplace and chimney are directly opposite the doors on the far side. There are small windows in both of the side walls, the floor is dirt.

When the park was created in 1890 the army was assigned to protect the area, and they used the then 18 year old cabin as a storehouse. A near-by hollowed-out fallen Sequoia tree trunk served as a stable for the horses (it is still there, you can walk through it.) The cabin was moved to the Grant Grove Village area in 1892, it was placed about where the current Visitor Center is. In 1914 when the park service took over supervision of the park from the army the first park ranger lived in the cabin. When a new ranger residence was built in 1921 the cabin probably became storage space or a visitor center. In 1932 the Gamlin Cabin was moved back to the Grant Tree Grove, where it is still located.