ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – A transformation is taking shape at a Roanoke landmark.
Despite some community debate, the renovation of a historic caretaker’s cottage into a coffee shop is moving forward.
The old caretaker’s cottage transformation into a coffee shop is now brewing.
“It’s in better condition than what we anticipated.” said Keri and Justin vanBlaricom.
Keri and Justin vanBlaricom have officially begun construction for Fishburn Perk. Their journey has been more than just a renovation, it’s been a trip back in time.
“It’s all been a really, really positive unearthing of the log cabin and how it was built,” said Keri.
An architectural historian with the Department of Historic Resources thinks the building is one of the oldest buildings in Roanoke, possibly the oldest in the city. Floyd County log cabin expert Al Anderson says the horizontal logs were built pre-civil war between 1818-1820.
“This first section, the addition here is a timber frame section. It’s not log, traditional mortise and tenon wooden peg. And then the center section, which we think was the original log cabin, and then the addition that was put on the far end was another log structure.” said Al Anderson, log expert and owner of Timber Works of Interest.
Given the age of the cottage Anderson says he’s impressed with its shape.
“The structures in a lot better condition than I thought it would be, given its age and that it hadn’t been lived in in quite a while,” said Anderson.
The best part for everyone involved in the project is the history coming to light.
“There’s lots of stories in these old places,” said Anderson.
“It’s really cool to see kind of try to figure out piece together the story that that has been kind of written here has been forgotten about,” said Justin.
As they go down memory lane, the vanBlaricoms also look forward to the future.
“We also get to bring new life to its, you know, remodeled like version, and then it gets to stay around for hopefully hundreds of more years,” said Keri.
Despite the age of the cottage, its condition is better than expected.
Though the family has until March 2026 to finish the project, their goal is to open the doors of the coffee shop next summer.
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