The annual Ned Mosher Apple Butter Festival, hosted by the Westerville Lions Club, took place on Sunday, October 2 at the Knox-Metzger cabin, which is located on the grounds of McVay Elementary School. The event featured tours of the 1860 era log cabin, apple butter stirring, apple cider making, children’s games and crafts, and music. Donations from the sale of food, cider, and jars of apple butter went towards cabin repairs. The event sponsor was A Gal Named Cinda Lou, located in Uptown Westerville and owned by retired McVay educator Debbie Bennati.
The log cabin, built by Maryland native and blacksmith John Knox between 1840 and 1850, has a rich history. It was originally located where the Calvary Bible Baptist Church is now, across the road from the present Everal Barn/Heritage Park. The Lions Club of Westerville, under the guidance of Westerville City Schools District Science Coordinator Ned Mosher and Mac McVay, both Lions Club members, painstakingly disassembled and moved the structure in 1980 to its present location in McVay Woods. They restored it and hosted a “cabin raising” on World Lions Service Day. For many years the structure has served as a learning center for children throughout the community. Anything having to do with maintenance of the cabin, such as fixing windows, filling cracks, planting trees, erecting a school bell, building a fire pit with benches for the students and, in 2012, completely replacing the cedar shingled roof, has been funded and worked on by the Westerville Lions, local men and women who individually and jointly volunteer their time to provide service to the Westerville community.