Text Box: 18TH CENTURY HOUSES GRACE CABIN JOHN By Bill Feller Two homes of some of the earliest settlers in this area still grace the community of Cabin John. The oldest house was built in 1750 in Pennsylvania and moved to its present site in 1937, log by log. It is located at 7906 Riverside Dr., a few blocks from the Cabin John Shopping Center, and belongs to Toby Thompson. Situated along the C&O Canal, it has a beautiful view of the Potomac River. The house was purchased by Mr. Thompson’s father for $30,000, dismantled, and the logs trucked to Cabin John by the architect, Rocky Wood. When the logs were reassembled, Mr. Wood added cement t the sides of the house to fill in the spaces between the logs. Mr. Thompson, a Professor of English at Penn State University who has written several nonfiction books, grew up in the house. The oldest house actually built in Cabin John is the Magruder House on Seven Locks and River Rds. It was built in 1767 by Samuel Brewer Magruder and was known as “Samuel’s Delight” in the early days. It is owned today by Dr. Aban Eger, a retired physician, who was Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical School. Samuel Magruder was the great-grandson of Alexander Magruder, who emigrated to Virginia from Scotland in 1651. This migration was not totally by choice, however. Alexander was an officer in the Army of King Charles II and was sent to the colonies as a prisoner of war by the Cromwell government. Joshua Offutt bought the Magruder house in 1879. Lilly Stone bought it from Offutt in 1904 and sold it to Dr. Eger in 1956 for $22,000. The third oldest house now standing in Cabin John is an old log cabin at 7814 MacArthur Blvd. across from the Cabin John Shopping Center. Its owner, John Chambers, believes it was built in 1855. Because the house is now covered with clapboards and is painted green, it no longer looks like a log house. (Bill Feller is a local resident with a great interest in the Text Box: Cyclists of Glen Echo Join up for a moderately fast group bicycle ride every Sunday until October 28th at 8:30 am led by Karim Khalifa. Meet at 7308 University Ave where we will commence a 25 mile bike ride returning back to Glen Echo before 10:30am. Text Box: LADIES OF GLEN ECHO You are invited to Ladies Night at Diana Hudson’Taylor’s 16 Wellesley Circle. Wednesday, October 17, 8:00 p.m. Please RSVP 301-229-2163