From one of my favorite blogs - A Rovers Cabin.

 

Read the whole story here;

Rovers Log Cabin story

Scouts don't often get to do that kind of stuff anymore.

It would be neat if the logbook became a book.

I love these.

When roadside attractions and little motels and places to eat, were every few miles along the two lane highways.

Red Run Lodge, Rouzerville, Pennsylvania

From this site; 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/john-margolies-roadside-america-photograph-archive.html?loclr=flik

Would love to know what it had been - Howell or Hamburg 1941

Another one from the ill fated TNT story. Would love to know what it had been. Was it a house? Or a business? At one time it had been chinked, you can see that on the left side of the photo. Most of the chinking has fallen out. At least one bad log, way left about half way up.
  Two stories. You can see the second floor joists.
An addition on the right. Was it a kitchen added on, or a stove to heat an office.

No large doors in view to indicate that it may have been a barn. Add normally you would not put nice windows like that in a barn.

Probably a home with a kitchen added later.

No firring strips to indicate that at one time the whole place could have been sided. But the front gable is sided with clap-board. And tar-paper covered the front.
The wide boards look like they cover a window, but don't look like they covered the whole front at one time.
While it probably had been used up until the time of the sale in 1941, it does not look like it was well maintained. But we will never know the whole story, only what the photo is willing to show us.

Would have loved to have seen it. . . .

 This old dog-trot cabin once stood on land that was taken over for the war effort. I have discussed that under the title Lost Valley in the labels on the right.

Many fine homes and businesses were lost when those towns disappeared.

Many log cabins also.

Would have loved to have seen them.
For the hundreds of old cabins saved over the years, thousands have been lost.

This blog didn't last long but it has some fun photos.

Miniature Log Cabins

A neat site on some cool Ohio homes. . .

Historic Architecture of Ohio

Under 'who would have thought' or 'I did not know this'! - Muhammad Ali's log camp.

Back when places like this were travellers stops. . . Route 66 'John's Modern Cabins.'

 I think the sign has since been taken. . . .

 I remember passing many places like this in the late 50's early 60's as we drove on vacation in Missouri back then.

 Nearest I can find to how they may have all looked at one time.

2011

A nice story . . . .

Here,

A couple of neat old photos.

This one is called Johnny Jackson's cabin.

Look at the size of those logs.
5 or 6 to make a wall. Wow!













This one is called slave' house.

It is pretty big. Nice chimney.

Maybe more than one family.

Most of the chinking is gone. Some metal tin covering some of the logs.

Could have been the land owners home, then passed down if the land owners moved into a bigger house.

Fun stuff - Cash recording studio. . .

Cash Recording Studio.

Old North Carolina cabin 1935

Found this photo here.

It was taken in 1935 in North Carolina.

Like the linked blogger stated, you can see a level and square on the wall behind the man. Was he a carpenter?
A violin case is behind him on the floor. Did he play, or someone in the household?

A nice clock on the mantel.

A few other things I picked up on.

There are gaps in the logs where the chinking as fallen out. Probably why he needs a fire if it is drafty.

At one time the logs had been white-washed (to make the cabin look better and brighter), but that now is worn and missing. Matter of fact the white-wash and logs in the back corner would suggest the place had not been well maintained for a while. You can see light coming in between the logs.

The hearth stones seem to be missing near his feet. It almost looks like his foot is resting on some sort of bag.

The mantel is very basic and not looking very sturdy.

There is an old trunk behind him, standing on top of something else. And a pile of rags on top of that.

While that may be his coat on the wall behind him, it also looks like a window or opening is blocked of behind the coat.

The photo makes you want to ask questions that no longer can be answered; Was he still living in this cabin or was it his 'man-land' away from the main house?
Was it now just his hunting cabin?
There are no female touches around the place, was he single?

Was he just living with hard times?

The cabin looks much older than the 1935 would suggest, but there sure are a lot of interesting things going on in the photo.

And since we are talking about Anne . . . .

11 women who made wilderness history

Here.

And, yes, there are log cabins.

A neat piece on how to build a log cabin in early WV.

Can be found here.

This drawing is dated 1885.

How to train your dogs. . . . .

. . . log dogs.

From here.

I still hope to meet this guy some day. . . .

Cabin fever: Charles McRaven teaches how to build log structures that last

• BY DAVID A. MAURER
 
• Apr 15, 2017

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."

Source

Nice before and after. . . .

Source

Since we are talking about Maine anyway. . . . .

That same summer I worked in Maine that I mentioned in the last post, on one of my canoe trips I got to stop by an old hunting fishing camp called Nugents Camp on Chamberlain Lake.
It is one of those places the old guides would tell you you had to stop at if you were passing it.
Accessible only by boat or float plane, it was built in 1936.
And it has log cabins.

Way back when I was there, and I would imagine is still the case, the property had no electricity.
Lighting and cooking and water heating was done by propane.
Refrigeration was done by way of an ice barn (log building) built into the hillside.
In the winter they would cut ice blocks out of the lake and store them in this ice barn, covered with saw dust.
I stopped by in July and there was still plenty of ice. Ice ponds and ice barns were a big deal before refrigeration.

This paper is a lot of fun! - Building with Logs, Olympic National Forest

Building with Logs, Olympic National Forest

Paintings of log cabins - Jon Van Zyle

I discovered Jon's work when I bought the book; Mardy Murie Did for my daughter.

What follow is and example of his works. Jon Van Zyle