Log Home History

Believe it or not waayyy back in 1987 the powers that be of the state of Michigan knocked their collective heads together and decided the state need a specific moment of the year to strictly focus on log homes. Since every other day of the calendar year was already being used for such non-important holidays like Arbor Day and Earth Day, they settled on the last Sunday in June. So why am I writing about a holiday that is still 6 months away? Because though it may not be vacation time yet, it is the time of the year where companies all across the country reset their clocks and we all fight among our fellow employees so we don’t end up working the day after Cinco De Mayo.

Historical Log Cabin Day is a day solely devoted to the 100+ registered log homes spread throughout the Pot Holder State (I’m not the only one that thinks Michigan looks like a pot holder am I?) On that last Sunday in June various places up and down the state hold arts & crafts festivals, give historic log cabin tours, and present programs in honor of one of this countries many symbols of freedom. Though it’s our opinion here at the Log Homes Journal that one tiny day just isn’t enough. From Abe Lincoln to Lincoln Logs the log home is a part of history that deserves a whole year, that’s we are here everyday to make sure the tradition and lifestyle that surrounds each log home is given the attention it deserves. So remember, make you plans now for this year’s Historic Log Cabin Day and check back here for more great log home articles.

This past weekend the family and I took a trip further down south to Linden, Al. Population 2,338. The little town in the middle of nowhere lies 60 miles past Tuscaloosa, Al. home  to the world famous Crimson Tide college football team. With temps predicted to be in the low 30’s here at home,  a weekend away would have sounded  like a better idea had I been headed to the beach. Instead it was that time of the year where we visit the grandparents and as luck (or the lack there of) would have it, the cold temps were going to follow us all the way there.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family dearly but 3 days spent huddled around the fireplace watching the weather channel and CSPAN intermittently is enough to drive anyone crazy. I did have a chance to check my email while shivering in my long johns and what I found was a dear friend experiencing a similar sort of calamity. "We are in the midst of our first blizzard.  They are calling for 1 to 1.5 FEET of snow in a 24 hour period. Fortunately they plowed our street - just in case we dare risk a drive.  We have 5 foot drifts up against some of the doors and windows…." This from a friend that lives in Marshall, Mi.

All this talk and simultaneous experiencing of cabin fever got me wondering just where did this phrase which is thrown around so often during these winter months come from? Obviously it’s a cousin of claustrophobia and more than likely to be blamed for many the family feud. But why cabin fever? Well thoughts are a little split as to the exact origin. Some say it came from the nation’s settlers who had suffered through the long winters huddled together in their cabins unable to travel into town. Others suggest it’s due to the fact that when a fever set in, those that had the misfortune to be set upon by it would be quarantined in a log cabin. I’m of the opinion that either way both answers seem to fit as a proper definition.

While I sat watching the weather channel for the 10th straight hour and 16 hours away my dear friends sat with their 2 toddlers, I quickly understood why the term "cabin fever" was synonymous with claustrophobia and the feeling of being isolated nay even trapped between four walls.

Believe it or not I’m no log cabin guru. I’m not the end all be all know it all of log cabin tips, techniques, and trends. What I do know is that like everything else in life, with enough research anybody can become an expert at anything. Therefore it should be no shock to find out that a couple times a week I get a bit stumped on what to post about and go looking for blog fodder. I check the news wires, I scan "How To" websites, I even look at what other log cabin bloggers are writing about. Well with the Internet being what it is, occasionally I just get lucky and come up with a great story or list of tips that just have to be shared. That’s how I came across these next two little bits of info. Dumb luck. Plain and simple.

As the title implies, today we are talking myths. Log cabin myths. Yes they exist and yes I’m about to blow your mind with what I’ve come across. First off lets talk Abe Lincoln’s birthplace. As many a history buff will tell you, located just outside Hodgenville, Kentucky sits a cabin which is officially listed as "The Official Abraham Lincoln Birthplace Historical Site" Yet Lincoln never sat foot in the place!! According to Interesting History "It was actually made from salvaged parts of another log cabin in the area, then disassembled, moved and reassembled so many times that even if it were the original logs, it may not look anything like the original cabin." What actually happened to the cabin the future president was born in? It burned down in 1840.

Shocking I know. Here’s come one more.

Pilgrims never lived in log cabins!! Now when I read this bit of info I was all "Whatever. What kinda shrub are these guys smoking?" So I did some more digging and sure enough. Pilgrims never lived in log cabins. Again from Interesting History "log cabins weren’t built in America until the late seventeenth century after they were introduced by Germans and Swedes" So what did Pilgrims live in? From what I was able to gather by bouncing around on the web for an hour, they lived in abandoned Indian villages. Wow here you go thinking you know all about history and then "kaboom" it all just turns into a great big myth.

I think the thing I love most about American History are the things we give some sort of historical value to. Recently my family and I had our annual yard sale in which we attempt to get rid of all the junk we keep in storage so that we will have room for more junk we never use. Part of the pre-yard sale process involves digging through everything and deciding the sentimental value of the thing that has been hiding in the far reaches of the attic for 20 years.

“Hmmmm I know I haven’t listened to this Weird Al Yankovic cassette since 1992, but it was playing that night we won the state finals…I’ll keep it!!”

This type of logic is engrained into each one of us so much that we apply it to every part of our lives. A classic example of this is the Roosevelt Cabin located on the campus of Berry College near Rome, Ga. It seems that the college has gotten approval for an $18,000 grant they applied for towards repairs to the cabin, which was built in 1902.

Over the past 104 years, time has taken its toll on the cabin and such repairs as replacing structural joints/beams, damaged floorboards, and some work on the fireplace are urgently needed. Obviously every home experiences some sort of damage after a while (you should see my place after a weekend with a 2 year old) so the fact that the Roosevelt Cabin was granted money for repairs isn’t really what I find to be so funny about this. That reason is due to why it’s considered historical.

Why is the Roosevelt Cabin a historical site? Why is the Georgia Department Of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division giving away money to return the cabin to its previous rustic glory? Because as you may assume former President Teddy Roosevelt once lived there? No. He never lived there at all. In fact from what my research was able to find (by research I mean Google), the reason this is such a valued sturture in terms of it’s importance to American History is because…..he once ate dinner there back in 1910.

Does this mean there are 238,710 historical meal stops on the Presidential Dining Tour that are currently being preserved?

There it stands some 100 years since it was first built near Lexington TN Aunt Toogie’s cabin never was anyplace the local kids would want to hang out. At the age of 94 Ada Blankenship still refuses to knock on the doors of the spooky place. In the 20’s neighborhood kids would spend their time telling tales of old Aunt Toogie and her ability to make tables cross the room with just one look. In the words of Ada “She wore a big, black bonnet and a long, dark dress all the time. And she didn’t have a tooth in her head. It was scary-looking.”

With ghost stories and horror movies commanding the attention of most people these next three days until Halloween arrives, to me there’s nothing scarier than historical sites with a dark history and sordid past. Aunt Toogie’s cabin is a perfect example of how the history still haunts us today. The two room cabin is still there after all these years and as for Ada whose lives nearby the cabin which is owned by her family, she vividly remembers the day Aunt Toogie was buried “My granddaddy was a blacksmith, and he made the casket that Aunt Toogie was buried in. They put her in the Derryberry Cemetery.”

Just look at the thing. The two room cabin seems to have the ability to conjure up a ghost story without even having the prior knowledge that dreaded Aunt Toogie once sat on the front porch smoking her pipe all day. You can practically hear her cackling as the boys and girls run past her home for fear they may be turned into frogs.

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