Western Washington University students regularly pass the abandoned Fairhaven Cabin near the Outback Farm.
Only one of the original two cabins remains. These log cabins were built in the 1920s by June and Farrar Burn when they settled on Sehome Hill.
The pair traveled across the country from Alabama before settling in Bellingham, where they built the cabins, according to the June and Farrar Burn Papers, written by the couple. They continued to travel, eventually ending up in Arkansas. June died in 1969 and Farrar died in 1975.
After they left Bellingham in the 1940s, the cabins were remodeled. Plumbing and electricity were installed. Shortly after, the cabins were abandoned.
In the 1970s, Fairhaven College students began exploring the possibility of rehabilitating the structures, according to a wooden plaque inside the cabin. Three students’ funding and a grant donated by Clayton Gorrie, a former resident, turned the cabin project into reality in 1976.
April Keala, Fairhaven College program coordinator, said the cabins served as the original housing for Fairhaven students. She said her dad lived in them when he was a Fairhaven student in the 1970s.
“I have a personal interest in the Burns’ cabin,” Keala said. “It’s actually where my husband proposed to me.”
CDN thanks Western Washington University professor John Harris for submitting student work from his newswriting class.
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