Preservationists are racing to save and move a log cabin that may be the oldest structure in Cobb County, with a $65,000 fundraising campaign underway.

The Power-Jackson Cabin on Post Oak Tritt Road in East Cobb — likely dating to sometime before 1840 — is threatened by lack of maintenance and a recently withdrawn development plan that might come back. 

The landowner and the County are supportive in principle of a plan by the nonprofit Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society to move the cabin and restore it at the Hyde Farm Park. That’s a historic site where a number of other Power family buildings still stand — including two other log cabins.

The plan “offers an incredible opportunity to have three cabins from this pioneer era all belonging to the same family” saved on one site, said Cobb Landmarks Executive Director Trevor Beemon.

The property owner is Ken Clary, a 94-year-old Sandy Springs resident whose daughter, Jan Clary Gross, is acting as a go-between on some of the talks. She said her father “absolutely” supports moving the cabin, which he does have the resources to maintain and has been vacant for more than 20 years. “So we would be happy for someone to properly maintain it,” she said.

County spokesperson Ross Cavitt said there are “ongoing discussions” among Cobb Landmarks, the Parks and Recreation Department, and District 2 County Commissioner  Jerica Richardson about the plan.

“The Hyde Farm complex already contains the second and third oldest structure in the county, and the Power-Jackson cabin is said to be the oldest, so a move would make sense,” said Cavitt. “It would, however, take a vote of the Board of Commissioners to accomplish, and that is not yet scheduled.”

Beemon said that the parks department has told his group that the plan is “likely enough that they want us to go ahead and fundraise for…