The DeKalb History Center has embarked upon a campaign to “Sustain the Swanton.”
By the end of this year, the goal is to raise $20,400 of which about $4,000 has been raised for the maintenance of the Benjamin Swanton House in Decatur.
The house’s core is a two-room log cabin that is estimated to have been built about 1825.
Because of a fire in the DeKalb County courthouse in 1842, nearly all of DeKalb’s earliest records were destroyed.
Over 100 years, the original log cabin was transformed into a Georgian Cottage, including a central hallway with two rooms on either side, and the addition of a porch and a second floor.
Swanton bought the house in 1852 but returned to his home state of Maine with some of his family during the Civil War.
His home was preserved by Union troops who used it as the headquarters of the Federal Army of the Tennessee.
After the Civil War, the home remained in the Swanton family until 1965.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Swanton House has been maintained by the DeKalb History Center since 1970 when it was moved to 720 W. Trinity in Decatur.
In January, a tree fell on the roof, causing extensive damage and involving almost $70,000 in repairs.
The average annual cost of maintaining the Swanton House, Biffle Cabin and Thomas Barber Cabin is $20,400.
That amount includes landscaping, utilities (at commercial prices), maintenance and services such as pest, rodent and termite control.
To donate, go to tinyurl.com/3hze26nu.
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