In the nineteenth century, Northwest Georgia changed dramatically when the federal government forced native peoples out and allowed white settlers to purchase the land left behind through lotteries. The Kirby-Quinton Cabin and the land where it originally stood embody this cultural shift through connections to the lives of two men, one Cherokee and one white. In the twentieth century, public officials and educators saved the cabin, reconstructing it and moving it to Jasper. Today the cabin serves as a house museum and education center. Reconstructed as a single-pen log cabin or single rectangular structure, it is typical of early nineteenth-century cabins in Georgia. The oak and pine logs used in cabin construction throughout the region can last longer than other materials, such as brick or stucco, when covered by a roof and set on pillars above the ground. Six to fifteen inches in diameter, the logs are sealed with mortar and fit together at right angles without the use of nails or other hardware.