For most pioneers, the first dwelling was a log cabin, usually built from trees cut down to clear the land. In the mid 1800s, Jim and Alice Perkins started a farm in Williamstown Township and built their home there. Michigan State University Professor Earvin Vanderjadt later purchased the property and planned to burn down the cabin, but Haslett school teacher Jane Taylor persuaded him to donate it to the Haslett School District as a teaching tool. Fellow teacher Robert Copland created a hands-on program in the early 1970s for middle school students, and with Jane Taylor, Raymond Koerner, and others developed a Pioneer Living and Outdoor Education class. Students went with Copland to the site in Williamstown Township, took the building apart, carefully marked each log for reassembly, and moved the logs to the hill behind the middle school. The cabin was used for nearly a decade until budget cuts ended the class. The Friends of Historic Meridian acquired the cabin from the Haslett School District in 2006 and moved and reassembled it at the Meridian Historical Village in 2007, where it remains in use as a teaching tool for elementary students learning about pioneer settler life.