Heather Wright/The Independent

When Abraham Smith and his wife, Anna Hoy, arrived on the shores of the St. Clair River, there was nothing but trees which blocked out the sun.

The couple landed around what we now know as the St. Clair Parkway and Smith Line in 1820, along with two children and another family, and settled in the area. They built a cabin, just 12 by 14 feet, a temporary shelter against the cold of winter and the critters which roamed the forest.

That cabin, which now sits behind the Sombra Museum and seems like the size of a potting shed, likely housed the Smiths and at least two of their children for three years or so, according to Kailyn Shepley, curator of the museum.

After Abraham and Anna built another house, their oldest son used it for his first home with his bride. Later, the family plastered and painted the walls to create a sterile milkshed. It stayed in the Smith family until 1990. John Delmar bought it and donated it to the Sombra museum three years later. 

Since then, Shepley says, they’ve worked to keep the oldest building in Sombra standing. 

Saturday, marked a milestone; funding from the Alix Foundation and the Moore Foundation helped pay for a cement pad and foundation for the tiny home. There’s also a pavilion over top to keep the rain and snow from damaging the historic building.

Shepley thinks it’s worth the effort so people in Sombra can walk in and discover an important part of their history.

“Everything is fast; fast fashion, fast culture, everything is just thrown away. And for someone to walk in and say ‘this building has been here for 200 years… Our little town doesn’t have a lot of history, but if we keep our history alive, hopefully people will be proud of it,” says Shepley.