Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin, Historic log cabin in Arnolds Park, United States

The Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin is a log house in Arnolds Park, Iowa, built by Rowland Gardner in July 1856 for his family and a group of settlers. Its hewn logs and simple construction show the building methods of early frontier settlement in the region.

Rowland Gardner built the cabin in July 1856 after leading settlers into the region. On March 8, 1857, a band of renegade Wahpekuta Sioux led by Inkpaduta attacked the Gardner family and neighbouring settlers in what became known as the Spirit Lake Massacre. The raid began at another cabin, but this one became notorious because Gardner's 13-year-old daughter Abagail survived, was taken captive and later ransomed by the Yankton Sioux. The massacre accelerated the U.S. government's removal of the remaining Sioux from Iowa and Minnesota and slowed settlement in the area for a time.

The cabin represents the clash between settler communities and Native American tribes that shaped the region's development. Visitors can experience how these conflicts remain part of the local identity and storytelling today.

The cabin stands in Arnolds Park, not west of Estherville. It is operated as a museum by the State Historical Society of Iowa, which acquired the property after Abbie Gardner-Sharp's death in 1921. A monument to the massacre victims was erected near the cabin in 1895.

The raid began at another cabin; this one became known because 13-year-old Abagail Gardner survived, was taken captive and later ransomed by the Yankton Sioux. The cabin also appears as a setting in MacKinlay Kantor's 1961 novel Spirit Lake.