Iconic Logs: Staten Island Chuck's Log Cabin

On this, the second of February, Punxsutawney Phil makes his annual prediction about the coming of spring by coming out of his burrow in Pennsylvania. If he sees his shadow, there will be six additional weeks of winter; if not, then spring is on its way. In essence, according to the groundhog, shadows are bad!

In a log home, we have a different view. Shadows on your logs, to a certain extent, are good! Shadows mean protection for your logs from the sun and rain via long overhang of the eaves. Shadows are also good when applying a log home finish, because application of stain in direct sunlight can lead to flash-drying and improper penetration of the stain into the wood. So shadows might be bad for the groundhog, but when you're in a log home, shade is good!

Incidentally, while Punxsutawney Phil is the groundhog of fame, he has a colleague to the north in New York. Staten Island Chuck is another rodent in the shadow watching business; but rather than a hole in the ground, Chuck lives in style. That's right, folks. Staten Island Chuck lives in a log cabin. That's a groundhog I can admire, and that's another way log cabins and log homes are interwoven with American history and culture!

Iconic Logs: Booker T Washington's Birthplace

There are notable U.S. Presidents who had humble beginnings in small log cabins, but they aren't the only leaders of this great nation who have started their life in a log home. In honor of Black History Month, we look at Booker T Washington.

Born in 1856, he was an orator, educator, author and political leader. He began life humbly as a slave in a cabin with a dirt floor; but determination and passion drove him through tiers of education, political leadership, and other notable landmarks. A powerful speaker, he became a driving force in the early events that led to the Civil Rights Movement, such as the Atlanta Compromise. Washington is a prime example on how historic log homes are dovetailed with the lives of crucial leaders in our country.

Washington was instrumental in starting schools, seeking support from philanthropists, educating others, and building a network of influential contacts. He professed the path to social equality for the African American community was through "industry, thrift, intelligence and property."

There is more information on Booker T Washington, an influential American leader who started life in a log cabin, on Wikipedia.

Sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington

Iconic Logs: Chippewa National Forest HQ

If ever you find yourself in Cass Lake, MN, take a moment to hop off the main drag through town and visit the Chippewa National Forest Supervisor's Office. Like many of the historic log government buildings throughout the state and country, this impressive structure traces its history back to the Great Depression and work done by the CCC and WPA. The three-story log structure still serves its original purpose as office space for the forest supervisor and a visitor center for tourists.

As part of the New Deal to put Americans back to work, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)'s Company 705, Pike Bay Camp, completed the building in 1935. From hand-hammered ironwork on the doors, to hand-scribed and notched 100-year-old pine logs, to unique steps and railing, to an impressive granite fireplace, the entire building is a piece of craftsmanship to behold.

The massive 50-foot tall fireplace/chimney in the center of the structure is made from 265 tons of local granite. The base footprint of the fireplace is 14'x14' and the building itself is composed of over 16,000 lineal feet of logs.

About 12 years ago, some log replacement and other restoration work was done on the historic landmark. Now it is coated with WeatherSeal Historic Brown, a popular stain color for many1920-1940 era buildings.

You can read a full account of the building at the Chippewa National Forest's website, or see more photos on our Facebook page.

Iconic Logs: Civil War Shelters

Many of the historic log cabins scattered around this great nation date back to the decades surrounding the American Civil War. There are plenty of stories and photographs capturing the role log cabins played in the Civil War, and here is one letter that references a log cabin's part in this man's experience. From Jacob Bartmess of the 39th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 8th Calvary, Co. C, an 1864 letter to his young son:

New Years day. '64. 

Well my little boy Elliott.

Pappy thought that he would write his little boy a little letter. I am in a little house made of little logs, this little house has a little fire place in it, and this cold day pappy keeps a big fire. I just got done browning some rye for to make coffee, the men does not give us quite coffee enough to do us here. Pappy gets his own dinner, and supper and breakfast. I cook meat make coffee and good gravy and sometimes bake corn cakes, we pound our coffee in a tin instead of grinding it on a coffee mill.

never mind wait till pappy gets home and we will show mother how to cook and make gravy.

Elliott dont you think the men wanted me to go away off with my mule team through the mud and rain and cold, and there was another man went in my place and let me stay in my little house by the fire, dont you think that he was a good man for going in my place.

there is a great big river here lots wider than clear across grandmothers orchard

pappy washed his shirt and drawers today.

Elliott you must be a good boy. pappy will come home after a while.

from your pappy

J. W Bartmess

to his Elliott.

Log cabins and homes are an important part of our nation's rich history, and should be restored and preserved for future generations to understand our past and bring that understanding forward into the future.

Source: Carmony, Donald F. (June, 1956). "Jacob W. Barmess Civil War Letters." Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 52, Issue 2, pp 157-186. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~imaghist/online_content/vcsfrmpst/voices_cvlwr/index.html


*The photo is of a cabin in southern Minnesota, and is no way connected to the story, other than the style and era in which it was built.

Iconic Logs: Jack London's Cabin

White Fang, The Call of the Wild, To Build a Fire...these are definitive novels of the American and Canadian wilderness that give us all a taste of the wild frontier of yesteryear. Many of Jack London's adventurous texts were written from this very log cabin, built on his mining claim in Dawson City of the Yukon Territory. To preserve the structure and make it more accessible to the public, a team went in and retrieved the cabin in 1969. Since the cabin has interests on both American and Canadian soil, it was broken into two buildings and reconstructed so that each of the twins have half of the original logs. One stands near its original location in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. The other, which is pictured, is in Jack London Square in Oakland, California.

Inscribed inside the back of the cabin was carved "Jack London, Miner, Author, Jan. 27, 1898," until the slab was removed in the 40's by Jack MacKenzie, the last man to deliver mail by dogsled. The building could use some restoration and maintenance, but it is in remarkable condition for sitting in the wilderness for 70+ years and outside in California for 30+ more!  

Jack London's Klondike cabin is one of many example of how the log cabin is the home of the adventurous American spirit. From Native American Chief Seattle to author Jack London to President Lincoln to author Laura Ingalls Wilder to Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn, America's spirit is stacked with logs. Log cabins inspire literature, adventurism, and connection to nature.


 “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
-Jack London in The Bulletin, San Francisco, California, December 2, 1916, part 2, p. 1

“Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild

View the entire story of the Jack London cabin here.