1800s FOLK KENTUCKY LOG CABIN -- PULASKI COUNTY

OLD ROCKERS IN THE 1800s PULASKI LOG CABIN WINDOW

I spotted this log cabin on a rural piece of property in Rockcastle County last weekend. The owner of the cabin was just pulling away and I was able to speak with him for a few minutes before he had to be on his way. 

He gave me permission to take photos of the place and told me that he and his son have been in the process of rebuilding it for the past ten years. They had taken the old log home apart in Somerset County and moved it piece by piece to its present location in Rockcastle County.   When it arrived in Rockcastle they began the slow process of putting it back together. They plan to make it a livable place again.

SOUTHWEST VIEW OF LOG CABIN
FRONT FACADE HAS MIDDLE DOOR 

I  was delighted to be able to examine the cabin up close. Its planked logs were full of history. It was built in the latter 1800s. Its construction was a story-and-a-half single-pen home with a recently added new partial loft over the  interior room (pen). The roof appeared new also. . The word pen designates a log dwelling unit consisting of four walls, notched at the corner, generally forming one room. Usually one room pens are referred to as cabins. 

HALF-DOVETAIL ON 20' PLANKED LOG
ADZE MARKS ALONG LOG-- SOUTH SIDE

Usually, I have a tape measure in my field bag but had forgotten to pack it. So I did the next best thing -- I used my feet to step it off. I found it to be about twenty feet square. That makes the planked logs twenty feet long. The close-up photo above shows a half-dovetail notch and adze marks all along the planked board. An adze is a hand cutting tool with an arching blade used to shape logs.

NE CORNER OF HALF-DOVETAILED  NOTCHING --DOOR IN BACK SIDE

According to Terry G. Jordan author of  Texas Log Buildings: A Folk Architecture, a foremost expert on log architecture, the half-dovetail notching probably evolved from the Pennsylvania full-dovetail notching giving us a hint of where the original builder might be from. 

There are several different forms of folk log architecture. Examples are smokehouses, barns, crib barns, churches, cabins, and more. This particular log had white oak construction which was a prevalent wood used in early Kentucky structures. 

Its like a puzzle -- dissecting the forms of older houses. Some exhibit one period while others have additions from later periods making it more puzzling to the observer.

A 1700s KENTUCKY LOG CABIN-- Sunday Simplicities

Last weekend, when I drove my son to the Amtrak station in Maysville, Kentucky, we stopped at several interesting spots along the drive. One was a place called Washington. It was a "place" along a two-lane country road that was settled in the late 1700s and still retained remnants of that first settlement period.

Originally, in the 1790s the area around Washington contained around 119 log cabins. Above is one of the original log homes remaining in situ (not moved from its original place). There are only about ten of the original number left in the area. 

As one can tell from looking at the above photo, the log home is rather tilted from its years of use and exposure to the elements. But up until recently it was a Visitors Center for people to stop in and find out about the area. 

The first thing I noticed about the place were the shutters. I was not familiar with these types on old historic homes and wondered if it was some type of retro fit to make it look charming. A little research and I came up with the photo above from the Library of Congress. The same type of shutters were being used on this 1862 photo of a gin house in North Carolina. I suspect that the shutters are a southern indigenous type. It would be fitting that the log home would  adopt a naive type as it is constructed simply.    

The windows, I believe, are perhaps original but I can't say for sure. Many homes from the late 1700s had 6 over 6 panes in the windows or a 9 pane (lights) sash (McAlester). The chinking of course is recent as most old chinking had to be replaced every five years or so.

The original builder/s must have been quite short as my son would have to duck to get in the front door if it were open. I suppose that is why someone put the sign above the door that says, "duck."

Right now there is no one living in the place. but it is being well maintained. 

There was a sign out front that said that the home had been used as a residence up until the 1950s. At one time there were actually two families that lived in the log cabin.

The above photo is the back of the house. It shows the frame addition that was added in 1805. The roof is still being kept in what was probably the original type -- wood shake shingle. There are two chimneys -- one to the right in the photo and another to the left on the addition. 

The chimneys are old brick. I wondered if they had been limestone originally as so many of the historic homes  in Kentucky have it as chimney material. I called the Washington Visitor Center the day after I got back --  I found it online and I talked to a Jeanette Tolle. She said the chimneys were original and that the bricks had been produced right on the property.

I want to go back to this area when I have time. It certainly is an area rich in vernacular architecture.

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Sunday Simplicities is about -- my  outlook on life. Now in retirement I am observing new horizons -- opportunities have surfaced.  Economies have changed as well as my perspective on what is truly important in my simple life.  Stay tuned.