Cabin fever: Charles McRaven teaches how to build log structures that last
At the age of 81, Charles “Mac” McRaven still can swing a goosewing broadax with the authority of a young Abe Lincoln.
Through the decades, the Albemarle County author and master craftsman has built and restored more than 450 log, stone and post-and-beam structures throughout the country. He is widely recognized as a leading authority on the preservation of rough-hewn log cabins.
For five days in early May, McRaven will teach a workshop at his Ravenoak home near Charlottesville on aspects of building a hewn-log cabin. In August, he will dedicate the same number of days to teaching stonework, and in the fall, the workshop topic will be blacksmithing.
“This year, we are doing something a little unusual for the hewn-log cabin workshop,” said McRaven, who has been teaching pioneer skills since 1980. “I’ll be teaching things like the hewing of logs using broadaxes and foot adzes.
“And I’ll be showing the students how to finish out a cabin by doing the chinking, and putting in doors, windows and a floor system. Almost everybody who takes a log workshop ends up building a log cabin, or finding an old one to restore.
“I’ve had several people take two or three workshops from me. I love sharing my knowledge with others, and some of my best friends have been former students of mine.”
One of McRaven’s repeat students is Elizabeth Pearson, who will be traveling from her home in Montgomery County, Maryland, to take the log cabin workshop. This will be her third workshop, as she previously took one on stone masonry and another on how to build a timber frame structure.
Pearson is used to working with her hands, having been rebuilding pianos since 2007. She recently became the piano technician for the President’s Own Marine Band, and she soon will visit the White House to take care of one of the pianos there.
“Mankind has been fascinated for centuries by things lost, and ancient arts gone by,” Pearson wrote in an email. “I’m likewise fascinated by these things, but more than that, I have dreams of building something beautiful that will last through the ages.
“I dream about building historic vacation cottages, and, in time, building my own house. How do you not make the room in your schedule to spend a few days at a workshop with a man who has built covered bridges, reconstructed historic buildings and can fix anything?
“I figured from the beginning that Mac was a special person. Getting to know Mac and Linda [his wife] has been a wonderful experience.”
McRaven has given workshops throughout the country and has presented lectures related to pioneer skills at locations such as the Ozark Folk Center, Minnesota Arboretum and the National Building Museum. His 1978 book, “The Classic Hewn-Log House: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building & Restoring,” helped to usher him onto the national stage.
“The interest in log cabins really took off in the 1970s, when so many people were going back to the land,” McRaven said. “At the time, there were several books on the market about weekend cabins and round pole cabins, but nothing on authentic, Appalachian hewn-log cabins.
“So I wrote that book, and it’s still in print and has done very well. I was teaching journalism at the College of the Ozarks at the time, and after the book came out, I started getting requests to build and restore log cabins.
“I switched over to doing that, but I’ve always liked to teach, so it was a natural thing for me to start giving these workshops. I actually got interested in teaching the craft of log cabin building when I was seeing log cabins being pushed over and burned.
“Teaching people how to create a place to live for very little money, and with a few simple tools, was something I wanted to share.”
What McRaven learned in 1980 at the Arkansas Folk Center, where he gave his first workshop, informed how he teaches today. The experience turned out to be a primer on how not to teach a workshop on building a log cabin.
“When I got to the center to start teaching the workshop, I saw a bunch of skinny round poles they wanted to build the cabin with,” said McRaven, who, with his wife, founded the Free Union Country School 33 years ago. “Those poles weren’t going to make a decent cabin, but there were 30 people there wanting to learn.
“I did the best I could, but I realized this needed to be done right. First off, one person can’t teach 30 people hands-on stuff.
“That’s why I limit my workshops to about 15 people. The essence of my teaching style is to show the students what to do, and then let them do it.”
Pearson mentioned that one of the side benefits of taking a workshop from McRaven is listening to his stories. The stories often relate to lessons he has learned, and high points in his career.
“In 2009, a lady living in Baltimore wanted me to restore her grandfather’s house, which is near Love Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway,” said the father of five. “The cabin was built in 1897 with small chestnut logs.
“It was the worst cabin we ever worked on, because it was literally about to fall off a cliff. We had to tie a cable to it and anchor it to a big tree before we could jack it up and work on it.
“With a lot of hard work, we restored that thing. It doesn’t have electricity or plumbing, but it turned into one of the sweetest cabins I’ve ever done.”
McRaven didn’t have the benefit of learning how to build a log cabin from an expert like himself. His school was the academy of trial and error, with extra credit given for boneheaded mistakes.
“If somebody starts to build their own shelter and doesn’t know how to do it, he or she will make a lot of mistakes,” McRaven cautioned. “The first log cabin I built was a nightmare.
“Because I was self-taught, I didn’t do the chinking or the notches right. I learned the hard way from my mistakes. A lot of people are interested in building a log cabin until it comes to actually doing it. Then they say, ‘Whoa, man. This is a lot more work than I ever thought.’
“But I teach them to look back at what they have accomplished, rather than looking ahead and getting intimidated by what still needs to be done.”
In mid-August, McRaven will dedicate five days to teaching students stonework. He has written three books on the subject — “Stone Primer,” “Stonework” and “Building with Stone.”
“After my log cabin book came out, my publisher wanted me to write a book about building with stone,” said McRaven, who is the Presbyterian minister of Waddell Memorial Church in Rapidan. “I was doing a lot of blacksmithing at the time, and I wanted to do a book on that."
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