The house was originally owned by the Columbia Furnace Company, or George Mayberry & Co., who started operations about 1803, and purchased a number of tracts of land. About 1886, these properties went into the hands of receivers and operation of the furnace ceased. A number of these log cabins and small parcels of land were sold to individuals and accurate records are difficult to trace.

9 Feb 1905: The Quaker City National Bank of Philadelphia and the Monarch Blast Furnace Co., Inc., sold to Shenandoah Iron & Coal Co. Deed Book 61, page 354

1 Jul 1905: Shenandoah Iron & Coal Co., Inc., sold to Green Berry Larkin. Deed Book 63, page 5

Green Berry Larkin died 14 Aug 1926, intestate, leaving six children and his widow. Deed Book 106, page 13

30 Dec 1919: Walter E. Larkin and Anna, his wife, Mary Foltz and B.F. Foltz, her husband, Clarence H. Larkin, Ethel B. Sine, and Earl D., her husband, Jos. A. Larkin and Bessie, his wife, and Robert G. Larkin and Hazel V. his wife, conveyed to their mother, Rebecca L. Larkin.

This is a one and one half story, rectangular log house with a metal roof and two inside brick chimneys. The logs are chunked and daubed, but not weatherboarded. The cornices are plain wood. There are eight windows with twelve 8x10 panes downstairs and six panes above. There is also a side porch with one step and no balusters. The entrance is a batten door one step up from the porch. The latter has small plain posts.

There are six small rooms with seven-foot ceilings. There is a small concealed stairway in a back room. The heavy pine doors are the batten type. The walls are chunked and daubed, and whitewashed. The locks and hinges are of the common sort. A few doors have iron latches. The floor boards are wide, rough and irregular. There is no cellar and no mantels.

These log houses are of interest only in connection with Columbia Furnace, which is now dismantled.

One of the iron doors from this furnace is used at the Larkin home as a door step. It bears the name and date "Columbia Furnace 1808."

Between 1780 and 1880, iron working was an extensive and important business in Shenandoah County. During the Civil War, the furnaces suffered destroying fires, but in some cases they were speedily rebuilt. These local furnaces were of special value during the war, and for this reason, every effort was made by the Federal Army to destroy the furnaces. Columbia Furnace suffered from fire at least three times during the war.

Source: Virginia W.P.A. Historical Inventory Project, 1937

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