The Goodletson Cabin, located next to the Pioneer Schoolhouse just north of the intersection of County Q and Moravia Street, stands as a window into the village's pioneer past.

Thomas and Kristin Goodletson built their cabin on Eagle (now Horseshoe) Island in 1854, a year after Ephraim was founded.  The island was temporary shelter for their family, and in 1855 they skidded their home across the ice to the mainland.  Once there, the family of seven resided at the new site, located near the present-day Ephraim Condominiums, until 1886.

The cabin is constructed of flat-hewn logs with dovetail cornering, typical of frontier buildings of the period in this region.  It consists of a single large room with a sleeping loft for the children.  The parents slept on the main floor, simply furnished with a bed, wood-burning stove, table, and the basic implements of pioneer life.  In very severe weather, it is reported that farm animals were brought in from the cold to protect them and to provide some extra warmth for the cabin's human occupants.

Many meetings of the Bethany Lutheran Church were held in the cabin before the church was built in 1882.  The Ladies Aid of the Lutheran Church was founded in the Cabin, with Mrs. Goodletson as the first treasurer.  After the Goodletson family moved to other quarters, the Cabin became part of the old Hotel Ephraim where, after the addtion of a kitchen and bathroom, it served as the honeymoon suite.  When the motel property was slated for condominium development the building was offered to the Ephraim Historical Foundation, provided that it was moved away from the site.

The Foundation acquired the Cabin in 1974, transported it up the hill away from the shore and situated it at its present location adjacent to the Pioneer Schoolhouse on Moravia Street.  After restoration work and furnishing with artifacts appropriate to pioneer times, the Goodletson Cabin was opened to the public as a museum that same year.

The Goodletson Cabin is truly a piece of living history in the heart of Door County.  An audio reel inside the cabin gives accounts of the challenges that early pioneers in this area faced and what their day-to-day lives might have been like.  The Cabin speaks of a different era and helps us see our present-day world in a different light.