The Log Cabin and Hard Cider Club took its name from a campaign phrase used by Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in 1840. Because Harrison's campaign sought to appeal to non-elite voters, the campaign stressed Harrison was content to live in a log cabin and drink hard cider.

The Portland club met at the studio of William Capen, Sign and Fancy Painter, on Exchange Street, on the "left hand side going down from Middle Street."