It's not unusual for developers to find relics of the past tucked inside the walls of home they're getting ready to tear down, but this particular discovery has stopped demolition in its tracks for now. It's a log cabin dating back to around 1850s and thought to be one of the earliest structures of its kind in North Texas, reports NBCDFW.com. Developer Curtis Grant found the cabin when he began tearing down the home in Flower Mound that had been built around it. A researcher used tree-ring analysis to date the cabin to the mid-19th century, and the Cross Timbers Gazette says that means it was likely built by one of the first settlers in the area, William Gibson. He put up the cabin, which measures 16 feet by 16 feet, in order to claim the 360 acres around it as part of a land grant.
"We want to save this cabin at this site,” says Flower Mound historian Mark Glover. "Some of the earliest people to settle in North Texas built this house." Grant is on board, and he and the town are trying to figure out how to make that happen. It would mean scaling back the planned 12-home development and setting aside three of the lots for the cabin as a historical site. “I’m not a multi-millionaire," says Grant, who NBC says wasn't under any legal obligation to stop his work. "I can’t afford to just give the land.” But the town says it doesn't have the estimated $500,000 it would take to buy the lots. They're hosting an open house today for people to see the cabin, which could lead to a fundraising campaign to preserve it. (Click to read about a discovery about an earlier piece of American history, involving the mystery of Roanoke Island.)
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