Celebrating, "Log Cabin Day"!

Old-fashioned you say!  Well, have you ever heard the saying, "If it was good enough for my grandparents, it's good enough for me." ?  When European immigrants first found their way to these shores, they found a land pretty much untouched.  It was full of unclaimed trees.  Those trees became the perfect source for building houses.  And what quicker way to build a house than with logs?

The first time I was inside a log cabin, I was struck by the insulation factor of the logs.  It was a very hot day, with temperatures in the 90's.  But inside the log cabin, it was cool; probably about 70 degrees.  I haven't been in one during cold weather, but I'd think the logs would retain the heat if the interior was heated and the logs were chinked well.

And now, in this present day, the log cabin holds a nostalgic value as well.  When we think about log cabins, many prominent figures of American history come to mind.  President Lincoln was born and lived in a log cabin, as did many of our pioneering heroes, like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett.  But, to me, the log cabin took on a new nostalgic value, when I started to learn about pioneer life from reading the "Little House" books.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her first memories of living in the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin, "...in a little gray house made of logs."  As she went on to describe her life on the prairie in other volumes, she told of her family building log homes.  And as she came to live, here in Mansfield, Missouri, she and her husband and little girl, first lived in a log cabin.

These days, the log cabin has become the exquisite, "Log Home"; made of finely milled logs, kiln dried, cut to precession and pieced together at a factory.  They are then shipped to the site and reassembled.   While the intensive labor is taken away from the home owner, this has become a very popular home these days.  I wonder what Laura and her family would think if they could see this today!

I believe that growing up in a log cabin and facing hardships in her life fashioned her skills of observation and ultimately her writing abilities.  She left us with a keen view of Pioneer life.

"Youth ever gazes forward while age is inclined to look back. And so older persons think things were better when they were young."  "Those who stop dreaming never accomplish anything."  "We can work our dreams into realities if we try, but we must be willing to make the effort."  "I wish folks now had to live for a while like we did when I was young so they would know what work is and learn to appreciate what they have." Laura Ingalls Wilder

This miniature, which I made as a souvenir in my shop, will have to suffice as my attempt at building a log cabin.  And even that was time comsuming and pushed my skills as a craftsman! My days of being physically fit enough to build an actual log cabin are long gone!  But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to live in one still!  :)

I welcome your comments here on this subject. Thanks.  The Old Man in the Bib Overalls