The log house was built alongside Wilcot Creek in northern Malvern, part of Scarborough, on land purchased by William "Willie" P. McCowan in 1848. Additions and renovations were made throughout the building's first century, before it was moved to the Thornbeck property on Littles Road in 1948. In 1974 the house was moved once more to the Scarborough Museum in Thomson Memorial Park to save it from demolition; the structure is now used to demonstrate family life in Scarborough in the 1850s.

The Scarborough Historical Society erected a plaque that reads:

This cabin was built about 1830 in the northeast part of Scarborough and was moved to its present site by the Scarborough Historical Society in 1974. 
From 1848 until his death, it was occupied by William Porteous McCowan (1820-1902) who had come to Canada in 1833 with his parents, Margaret Porteous and James McCowan. A coalmaster of Lesmahagow Parish, Scotland, the McCowan family, including four sons and four daughters, settled near the Scarborough Bluffs east of the present McCowan Road. 
"Uncle Willie" McCowan narrowly escaped death by cholera which claimed his father and brother the same night in 1834. A bachelor, "Uncle Willie" was succeeded as owner by his nephew James McCowan. 
Janet Purdie McCowan, a founding member of the Scarborough Historical Society, contributed generously to the cabin's restoration.