"Robert Scruggs, the builder of this cabin, was born just across the state line in North Carolina in 1800. Around 1805, his family moved to South Carolina near the Cowpens Battlefield and began farming. In the mid-1820s, he married Catharine Connel, and to help the couple establish a household, Robert’s father, Richard Scruggs II, gave them 200 acres of land. Around 1828, they built their home, and began the hard work of clearing, planting, and harvesting. The Scruggs family raised horses, mules, hogs, cattle, and sheep, and planted grain (corn, wheat, rye, and oats) to feed the livestock. In addition, they had a fruit orchard and grew peas, beans, and potatoes. They churned butter for their consumption and for sale. Although the farm was the main source of income for Robert Scruggs, he also ran a country store, which stood on the other side of the Green River Road, in front of this cabin."

"The couple had eleven children, and as the family grew, they added rooms onto the house and covered the log walls with paneling. In doing so, they preserved the original walls of the cabin within the additions. Robert Scruggs died in 1890 at the age of ninety, and Catharine died less than two years later at the age of eighty-seven. The cabin remained in the family until the mid-1970s, when the National Park Service purchased the property from their granddaughter, Rosa."