Old Cabin

This is a photo of the old family cabin with my father and his friends sitting out front. This photo was taken in the 1940s.

My memory goes back to the 1940's. The log cabin was old at that time. It may have been built in the 1870's or earlier. It was a typical gable ended one story cabin with a full bedroom loft and a kitchen and garage addition. The kitchen and small garage were added some time after the original log cabin was built; perhaps sometime in the 1920's as motor vehicles and roads appeared during that era. The log portion of the cabin was build from field cut pine trees from the area. Chinking was placed between the log joints and the corner junctions were square cut by a saw cut. The fixed sash windows were single pane and indicated some ripples in the glass (an older type glass). The roofing was roll roofing; a common roofing material used during the 1920's . The enclosed photo of the old cabin shows the roll roofing.

The heating of the log cabin was by a wood stove made from an old oil drum placed on metal legs. A large cast iron wood fired stove was used for cooking with a water tank on the side used for hot water to wash dishes. A metal sink was on the exterior wall of the kitchen with a drain that exited thru the exterior wall of the kitchen. A large wooden kitchen table and benches was used for the meals.

The drinking water was brought in from a nearby spring. The water used for washing was caught in an old wood barrel placed to catch rain water off the roof. An outhouse was some 100 feet or so from the cabin.

Our family used the cabin as a weekend and summertime retreat. We loved to fish in the many nearby lakes and rivers, explore the wood, hunt deer, and generally relax.

As with many old buildings, the roofing decayed through neglect and lack of attention. The roof wood boards collapsed on the loft, taking the upper logs and other parts of the structure to the ground.