The original log structure was built circa 1820 to 1830, with a board and batten addition dating to as late as the 1860s. At first one and one-half stories, the log cabin is believed to be the oldest structure in Shades Valley. Members of the Eastis family lived there for over eighty years until Edward Beaumonts purchased it in 1951. Purchased from William Cummings in 1863 by Wallace S. McElwain, owner of the nearby Cahaba Iron Works or Irondale Furnace, the log house was used for a commissary or company store, the first store in Shades Valley where settlers could purchase supplies. Before that, settlers had to make a long trip over Red Mountain to Elyton, then the county seat. Although the furnace was destroyed on March 29, 1865, by Wilson's Raiders, the commissary was spared.