John Green and his wife Deborah came from New York state in 1844 with their four children to seek a better life. When John Green first visited our area, he found this very location on the Flat River to be much to his liking, so he built his first cabin right here. It was pretty rustic by our standards, but served him and his family well in the early days.

Original photos of founders John and Deborah Green hang on the wall to the left.
The coverlet on the loft was made by Deborah Green and given to her son as a wedding gift.

Hunting for food and fur was a part of pioneer life. Note the gun and powder flask on the loft, at the ready. A bearskin coat hangs at the left and a bearskin is hanging on the back wall, perhaps to be made into a coat or used as a blanket on a cold winter night. The leather boots under the table resemble traditional moccasins but have higher, boot-like tops and were made from the hide of deer or bear in this area.

Space was very limited in the cabin. Nails were hammered in the wall of the cabin to hang items such as the cast iron frying pans. There would have been a fireplace to use for cooking and to heat the cabin. A candle mold would make candles for future use.

The rocking chair belonged to Catherine Satterlee, Greenville’s first teacher in 1845. It is time period appropriate for the Green cabin. John Green junior would likely have been a student of Miss Satterlee. She had 25 pupils in 1845, six of whom were Native American children.

With a family of six, it wasn’t long before John constructed the first frame home in Greenville, a block or so away, where his family could grow and flourish. Our city was known early on as Green’s Village and later officially named Greenville, in honor of its first resident and founder, John Green… and it all began in a humble log cabin on the banks of the Flat River.