There are many historic homes in Putnam County. The oldest might be the Hoge House which now sits behind the courthouse in Winfield. The Hoge house, built in1838, ceased to serve as a dwelling many, many years ago. The oldest structure in Putnam that continues as a dwelling might be the home of Charles Caldwell, Jr., in Fraziers Bottom.

Caldwell’s home, or most of it, consists of two log structures which were used to house slaves owned by the William A. Alexander family sometime prior to 1860 (late 1840’s?). Both cabins featured dirt floors. The history of the structures between the Civil War and 1927 is unknown. In 1927, the Alexander family moved the two structures, constructed a chimney and fireplace, and joined them together under a single roof, and added wooden floors. The two-room structure served as a dwelling place during the years of the Great Depression.

In 1942, Charles Caldwell, Sr., a lawyer in Dunbar, purchased 75 acres adjacent to the Alexander home, which acreage was without a habitable dwelling. Shortly after World War II, Charles, Sr., moved the reconstructed slave cabins and chimney to his property. The Caldwell family continued to live in Dunbar, using the structure for a summer retreat where they produced a large garden and preserved its abundance.

The Caldwells added improvements. Asphalt siding was installed to the exterior. Charles Caldwell, Jr., recalls digging a cellar, as a pre-teen, beneath one of the cabins, which cellar houses the hot water tank.

More recently, Charles, Jr., now 84, has returned the interior of the two cabins to their original state. The rough hand-hewn logs have been painted to match the original color and the clay filler replaced with concrete. The hand-sawed boards and joists, while painted reveal the labor which was expended more than 175 years ago. Caldwell plans to remove the asphalt siding, fill the cracks in the ancient logs, paint them to mimic their original tone.

“I do not want this history to be lost,” Caldwell said. “Now that I have cut back upon my green house activities, I have more time to devote to the project.”