Did you know?
… that the Joaquin Miller log cabin one can admire in Rock Creek Park, along Beach Drive just after the intersection with Military Road was initially located on the campus of Meridian International Center? It was specifically located in the front garden of the White-Meyer House.
Built by the American poet, essayist and fabulist Joaquin Miller in 1883, it represents the only known example of late 19th century Rustic-style log cabin in Washington, DC. The exterior of the L-shaped cabin was constructed of split logs from what is today Rock Creek Park and chinking with a fieldstone fireplace at the center of the cabin. For the foundation, President Arthur offered discarded building stone left over from the construction of the Washington Monument! Miller is known to have occupied the cabin from 1883 to late 1885 when he left for California.
In 1910 after purchasing the current White-Meyer lot, Henry White, announced that the cabin would have to go. The California State Association proposed disassembling the structure and re-erecting it in Rock Creek Park as a tribute to Miller, who had settled outside San Francisco.The cabin was painstakingly deconstructed and moved in 1911. Miller composed a poem (see second link below) to be recited at its dedication on June 2, 1912, about eight months before he died.
In 1931, the cabin was leased to the poet’s niece, Pherne Miller, who sold beverages and food and conducted art classes in the cabin until the mid-1950s. Since 1973 the cabin has played host to the oldest continuous reading series in Washington through the Miller Cabin Poetry Series run by nonprofit literary and educational organization Word Works. In 1978 the series was held inside the cabin, until they outgrew the space.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Miller_Cabin
http://www.rockcreekconservancy.org/images/blog/J_is_for_Joaquin.pdf
