When Jake Detrie first saw the Davis Hollow Cabin at Moraine State Park, it was a mess.

Brambles and brush had grown over the structure, the inside was filled with debris and snakeskins hung from the rafters.

“Nature had done its damage,” said Diane Winston of the North Country Trail Association.

The association now leases the cabin from the park and is in charge of its maintenance and upkeep.

The Revolutionary War-era cabin behind the Davis Hollow Marina at Moraine was rediscovered in 1997 by Robert Tate, then the president of the Butler Outdoor Club, as he hiked in the area, Detrie said.

He called some of his friends in the Outdoor Club to come to the house and take a look.

While Tate worked to secure grants for the restoration, work began to rehab the cabin.

Detrie, a Butler resident, was one of a handful of volunteers who donned protective suits and masks and tackled the cleanup.

For three months, the volunteers cleared brush, shoveled and disposed of debris inside the house and disinfected its floors.

“We really did a lot of work around it and inside it,” said Detrie, a member of the Butler Outdoor Club.

The cabin was built around 1780, Winston said, with local timber, which was abundant in the area at the time.

“We are still uncertain of the occupancy of the cabin in the very early days, but we do know the Davis family from Butler owned the cabin in the mid-1800s,” Winston said.

However, the Davis family didn’t live in the house.

Instead it was used by a lumberman and his family in the 1880s, according to Winston.

It was 1968 before Frank and Katherine Davis began using the cabin as a summer house. After Frank Davis died, Katherine and her sister, Eleanor Holt, continued using the house.

In the early 1970s, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the property to construct Moraine State Park.

Today the cabin can be rented for the day, overnights and weekends and has been the site of weddings, dinners and meetings.

Winston said it’s important to pass on the history of the cabin.

“It’s a wonderful place for young people to enjoy history,” she said. “It’s a wonderful place for families to enjoy.”

Detrie, who still volunteers to do maintenance of the property, said the cabin is a much different place than it was in 1997.

“From the time I was there until now, it’s impressive and an eye-opener,” he said.

Winston credits the volunteers for all they do to keep the property in shape.

She said the volunteers are responsible for cutting the grass, chopping firewood and making sure the cabin is stocked with supplies. The volunteers are constantly improving the cabin and its surroundings, Winston said.

New sidewalks and a deck were installed, and New Castle-area Boy Scout Nick Shoup replaced the front porch as part of his Eagle Scout project.

The North Country Trail winds 4,600 miles from Crown Point in New York to Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota. The North Country Trail Association is a volunteer organization that maintains and promotes the trail.

The cabin can be rented from May 1 until Nov. 1.

Reservations can be made by calling 724-575-0471 beginning March 30. All rental money is used for the upkeep of the cabin.