08/20/2026
Last week, a team from the University of Louisville Department of Geographic & Environmental Sciences returned to Todd County as part of the ongoing HTC, Inc. project to determine the age of a pioneer era log cabin.
After Undergraduate Research Assistant Aubrey Knerr, Graduate Research Assistant Isaac Grimm, Undergraduate Research Assistant Max Bell, and Associate Professor Maegen Rochner, PhD posed with Jim Weathers, the the best logs were selected for study.
The first samples taken in the spring of 2025 did not yield the minimum number of tree rings to conclusively establish their age. To obtain the highest number of rings, cores were taken from several of the largest logs by coring diagonally from the corners through the hearts.
Dr. Rochner plans to compare the recent cores with the ring pattern of a 200 year old tree that was harvested in the 1960s near Mammoth Cave.
The Todd County cabin was the home of Jim Weathers' grandparents, Mary Idella Scruggs (1887-1977) + Louie Montrose Weathers (1887-1969). According to a Todd County Standard article, Weathers' family lore identifies the cabin's builder as the Patriot, Col. Anthony New (1747-1833).
Pages 12 and 13 of the 1809 handwritten journal of the American explorer and soldier, William Clark (1770-1838) state that he "staid the night" with Col. New and after breakfast, set out for Russellville on his eastward return from St. Louis to Washington, D.C. The cabin was Col. New's home until the following year when he built the brick residence he called "Dunheath".
Historic Todd County, Inc. initiated the project to establish the cabin's date in December 2024 and is working with the Lewis & Clark Trust to mark the eastern return trail through Todd County.
