CHILO — Residents in this tiny Clermont County river town are trying to save a log house that they date to the early 1800s from being bulldozed into oblivion.

        It's a drama that pits the village of Chilo against the federal government, the state and Clermont County over what they see as insensitivity to local history.

        For weeks the residents, including the mayor, Shana Stevenson, have been racing headlong to stop the demolition, which was scheduled for Thursday.

        The county board of commissioners voted last week to delay the demolition, but put no time frame on how long the delay would last.

        The residents argue that the log house, which was covered with clapboard siding years ago, is part of the village's heritage, the oldest structure in this town of just 97 people and 39 occupied housing units.

        “I think it gives people an understanding of the harshness of life our forefathers had to endure,” said Dan Burke, one of the organizers in the drive to save the log house. “They coped, they managed, they were successful.”
       

Built to last centuries
               And some of what they built endures, like the log house. It has weathered flooding and the elements for 200 years.

        “It's proved itself to be tough, it's still standing,” said Ms. Stevenson.

        Some of the clapboard siding has been shorn off, revealing enormous solid oak beams, 16 inches high, some of the logs with the bark still on them.

        “This is a cathedral cut,” said Joe Palazzolo, admiring the exposed logs. “This is all original stuff. It's been here, it belongs here.”

        No one is complaining about the propriety of the procedure that may bring the wrecking ball.

        The woman who owned it sold it in the buyout offered by the county and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Project. The home was purchased for $34,000. After the flood of 1997, the project was begun in the county to buy, elevate or flood-proof homes in flood plains.

        Two reviews by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office determined the house had no significant historical value.
       

Value judgment
               “Just because it doesn't qualify for the National Register doesn't mean it doesn't have significance to that community and its history,” said Gary Knepp, a Batavia attorney and director of the Historical Office of the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

        “It doesn't qualify probably because its architectural integrity has been compromised. But that doesn't mean it has no significant history.”

        Jeannine Kreinbrink, senior archaeologist with Natural & Ethical Environmental Solutions in West Chester, said the house looks like it was built at least in the first half of the 19th century.

        “It's in better shape than I expected it to be,” said Ms. Kreinbrink. “Its significance can be local as well as national. I think if there's a way to save it, it should be saved.”

        Ed Dean, who lives near Chilo, said h some research indicates “this may have been the first post office in Chilo, back in the days when mail arrived on flatboats.”

        Residents trying to save the house have been told they can buy it back. They do not have the money. Nor does the village, said Ms. Stevenson.
       

Borrowed time
               As the deadline for demolition neared, Mr. Knepp came up with an option residents are pursuing — disassemble the house log by log, label and number the logs, and find a place to store them until a new location can be found to reassemble the house.

        That has been done before in the area. A log house in Delhi Township was taken apart, log by log, several years ago, stored and then reassembled at West Fork Park in Green Township. It is now a German-American Heritage Museum.

        But Chilo would like to see its log home stay where it is. They refer to the disassembly option as Plan B.

        A number of residents met Wednesday morning at the log house as Ms. Kreinbrink looked it over. A home next door has already been razed; the bulldozer sits on the property and a pile of rubble is all that is left of the home. It is a chilling sight for those trying to save the log house.

        “We can't let that happen,” said Mr. Palazzolo.

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