BRIDGING PAST + FUTURE EDUCATIONAL USAGE OF THE NEILL LOG HOUSE

Bridging PAST + FUTURE

Educational Usage of the Neill Log House

By Charles Stewart III

SIX LOCAL NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, including the Squirrel Hill Historical Society and the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition (SHUC), together with the Pittsburgh Department of Public Works officially formed Friends of Neill Log House (FONLH) in October 2021. The Neill Log House in Schenley Park, one of only a handful of structures still existing in Pittsburgh from the 1700s, was designated a Pittsburgh Historic Landmark in 1977. The log house is believed to have been built by Robert Neill around 1795.

The interior of the cabin might someday be experienced through immersive media like virtual reality. Photo courtesy of Helen Wilson.

Because the cabin’s last major reconstruction was over 50 years ago, in 1969, it has been deteriorating, and part of the mission of FONLH is to “secure funds to restore and maintain the Neill Log House.” The second part of its mission is to “foster knowledge of its historic significance, and work with interested parties to ensure the continued educational use of the structure and its site for future generations.”

Both the Building/Design and Fundraising committees of FONLH have been hard at work, so preparing for the log house’s educational usage seems to be the natural next step and aligns with learning about its historical significance and fundraising objectives as well. When FONLH first reached out to Chatham University about becoming an educational partner, David Finegold, Chatham’s president, enthusiastically connected members of FONLH with faculty members Lou Martin and Kyra Tucker.

The National Parks Service included this ca. 1900 photograph of the Neill Log House in its Historic American Buildings Survey. Library ofCongress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Every Chatham student is required to have at least one 120-hour internship, and Lou Martin, Associate Professor of History at Chatham, is helping to coordinate an intern partnership with FONLH and SHUC to organize all of the Neill Log House archival materials that have accumulated thus far. One of the FONLH team members is Helen Wilson, a historian with the Squirrel Hill Historical Society. “Organization to me is the key,” said Wilson. “We need to know what we have and how to get our fingers on it when we need it.”

Professor Martin claims “this could just be the beginning” of a variety of ideas for educational usage of the log house, including scripts for docent tours and the creation of lesson plans that would meet the curriculum standards of Pennsylvania’s Department of Education.

“I think that over time we can make the Neill Log House a great educational destination for students of all ages to learn about 18th-century settlement,” said Martin. “This could also be an opportunity to learn about settler agriculture, their mindset as they further colonized the Ohio Valley, and to learn about displacement of native peoples.” Kyra Tucker is the Chair of Chatham’s Interior Architecture and Immersive Media programs, the latter being one of Chatham’s newest degrees. This may be where the past history of the Neill Log House meets the future in terms of technology.

“It would be a really interesting project to have interior design students and immersive media students work together to create a historically accurate depiction of the structure,” said Tucker, “and then to create an immersive experience where somebody could actually experience what it would have been like for a family of seven living in the cabin. There could be simulations of what mealtime would have looked like at that point in time, what foods would have actually been served, and how they would have been prepared.”

With immersive media, you could put on an Oculus headset and then you would be in that world of the late 1700s, says Finegold. “Then the other thing that we could do to enhance the visitor experience would be to add augmented reality, enabling individuals to get additional information on their smartphone as they walk through the log house.”

Tucker said a project like this would be “amazing” for people to work on as a multi-year venture. “Being able to research and create an historically accurate story in this way, I think, would be incredible,” she said.

Tony Indovina, president of Friends of Neill Log House, would agree. “Delivering information by connecting with the technology of the younger generation is really going to appeal to younger people.”

Charlie Stewart serves on the board of Friends of Neill Log House as a descendant of Robert Neill, who is his great-great-great-great-grandfather.

For more information about the Neill Log House, its history, and the efforts of FONLH to preserve the building for the future, visit shuc.org/projects/ friends-of-the-neill-log-house/.

The structure was a subject of postcards in the early 20th century, like this colorized one, ca. 1909. Courtesy of Tony Indovina.