Father Dyer Cabin
Location/Directions
This small cabin was built in 1880 by the Reverend John Lewis Dyer and two down-on-their-luck miners. The transitional log cabin is typical of cabins built in the 1870s and 1880s: it has a wood plank floor, a shingled roof, a window, a board-and-batten door (over which a horseshoe is hung for good luck) and logs notched in saddle fashion. Log cabins were well suited to frontier towns and mining camps. They were quickly thrown together, and one man could, if necessary, build a cabin by himself.
Inside this cabin, as in most cabins, are homemade furniture and an iron stove. Bunk beds are built in one corner; often they were attached to the walls. On the newspaper-lined shelf at the head of the bed are matches, a candle, pipes, tobacco, a shaving mug and razor. The homemade table is covered with cans of sugar, salt and condensed milk plus a few tin plates and cups. The cups are upside down to keep out rodents and dirt. On a box turned on end are a water bucket and wash pan. A ladder leads to the loft. Burlap serves as the window curtain.
Visitors note the sparsity of homey touches and the lack of unessential knickknacks that lend character and coziness to a dwelling. The meager furnishings denote a temporariness which, in this case, is appropriate. On the other hand, the authentic simplicity shows what little the cabin's inhabitants needed.
Directions: Father Dyer's Cabin is located at 310 Wellington Road, Breckenridge, near the intersection of Wellington and French Street. From Blue River Plaza in the center of Breckenridge, proceed north on Main Street (toward Frisco) for two blocks to Wellington Road. Turn right (east) and proceed two blocks to French. Father Dyer's Cabin is located on the left side of the street beside the Methodist Church.