The Tucker Rutherford Cottage & The Johnson Log Cabin
The Tucker Rutherford Cottage: 1870s, 1880s, 1890s
Albert and James Tucker owned this building throughout most of the latter half of the 19th century, probably while using it for passive income from rent. The two brothers owned stores in both the northern and southern parts of town as well as other residential properties.
The Tucker-Rutherford Cottage is typical in scale and quite representative of the many miners’ homes that were once built throughout the valley. Due to their poor construction, few of these small, wood-frame structures—that were so typical of the Clear Creek Valley—remain today.
This house was donated to Historic Georgetown, Inc. in 1976 by Frank E. (Buff) and Mary Lou Rutherford of Georgetown. Its design is reminiscent of the simpler, more rustic lifestyle of an everyday miner and his family. Limited work has been done on the Tucker-Rutherford Cottage.
This log cabin was presumably a pioneer prospector's home built sometime around 1870. It is one of the few remaining log cabins and quite typical of many that once dotted the Clear Creek Valley. The simple log structure represents one of the earliest and most common types of construction in the mining West.
Little is known about the house’s builder, Mr. Johnson, who apparently stayed in town only for a few years before moving on to a new community in search of riches. The lovely miner's cabin features a loft and the remnants of original wallpaper, in which dainty blue ribbon was woven through. This one-room cabin characterizes an itinerant miner’s or prospector’s lifestyle—one that is most often neglected within the context of house museums. In 1974, it was donated to our organization by Fred and Ginger Booth.