The Camp Yeomalt cabin is added to the state’s register of historic buildings.

The old, gray logs of the Camp Yeomalt cabin are suddenly glowing with a hopeful hue.

“Everything’s looking golden,” said island historian Jerry Elfendahl, after the the 70-year old cabin’s recent listing on the Washington Heritage Register. “It’s mind-boggling how many aspects of our nation’s history this cabin has touched upon. I hope being on the register will cause the public to recognize the significance of the building and help us get the job done.”

That job includes a planned fund-raising drive to replace sagging logs, patch up a weathered roof and bolster the cabin’s foundation and stone fireplace.

“Having a property listed is an honor,” said state historic preservation officer Allyson Brooks. “The benefits include potential tax credits, property tax deductions and code waivers to protect the integrity of the resource.”

The building’s inclusion on the state’s highest historic register – which includes 1,500 other culturally significant properties – also strengthens grant application efforts, according to Bainbridge Island Historical Society curator Lorraine Scott.

Built in 1935, the cabin was a Depression-era federal Works Progress Administration project employing jobless men. The “New Deal” program put more than eight million Americans to work before it was dissolved in 1943, leaving many log structures and lodges in parks throughout the Northwest.

“The men who built the log cabin were all in their 30s or 40s – men out of work and needing a job,” recalls Alfred Pousard, who visited the site regularly as a Boy Scout in the 1930s. “These were tough times for many. The WPA didn’t have a lot of money for materials. I’m sure most of the trees for the cabin’s logs came right off of the land.”

The building, which is set in a park east of Grand Avenue, was purchased from Kitsap County by the Boy Scouts of America’s Olympic Council in the 1930s, and served most of its long life as a scout meeting place and campground.

The cabin was turned over to the park district in 1987 when the scouts could no longer maintain the building.

A 1988 restoration report commissioned by the park district recommended immediate steps for preservation and cited the camp’s historical significance.

“The cabin serves as a reminder of hard times,” the study by Jones and Jones Architects stated. “WPA-built structures reflect an enthusiasm and pride of workmanship that testifies to the prevailing economic climate and the relief that many craftsmen must have felt to be employed once again and doing work for the public good.”

Few steps were taken to preserve the cabin as wood beetles, wind, rain and time worked at the log walls and shingled roof. The park district declared the building unsafe in March and began planning its deconstruction.

Elfendahl and other local historical preservationists jumped into action to save the cabin, enlisting the help of engineers and builders. As Team Yeomalt, the group has helped stabilize a wall, cleaned the interior, pressure-washed the exterior and applied non-toxic pest controlling chemicals to log surfaces.

The cabin was named to the the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Most Endangered Historic Properties” in June and became the first property listed on the city’s historic register in August.

“It’s been great learning all the rich stories about this cabin,” said Elfendahl, who has worked on island history projects for over 25 years. “I’ve felt all along that this is the most fascinating historical preservation project I’ve ever been involved in.”