| THE TENNY LOG CABIN AND STONE BARN |
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On October 30, 1832, brothers Rufus and Alvah Tenny, of Monroe County, New York, purchased 240 acres in Section 30, Highland Township. Alvah thereafter sold his interest to another brother, Jesse Tenny, who settled on the property in February, 1833, and built the log cabin shown here. This was soon enlarged with an addition that served as both a school and church. Sadly now gone, this humble structure was the site of several events significant to Highland's history. On December 26, 1833, a dozen of the township's earliest pioneers met here to sign a covenant establishing a Baptist church. Representatives from other Michigan congregations were thereafter invited to a meeting at the Tenny cabin on January 16, 1834, at which time the new church was formally recognized. A year later, on March 17, 1835, the Michigan Territorial legislature passed an act providing that "All that part of the county of Oakland comprised in surveyed township 3 north, range 7 east, [be known] by the name of Highland; and the first township meeting be held at the school-house on the farm of Jesse Tenny." Pursuant to this act, Highland's early pioneers gathered at the Tenny Cabin on April 6, 1835, where Rufus Tenny was chosen moderator and Noah P. Morse clerk.
Notice the octagonal stone barn at the far left of this photo.
