1825 Log House On It's Way Up. . .

It won't be long before we'll see the 1825 log house taking shape. John built a tall crane out of cypress to assist in lifting the logs. Now that it's in place, the house should go up quickly----if----"Mother Nature" will cooperate.  Jeff (see Pickin', Singin' and Shootin') returned today to help with the house-raising, but "Betsy", John's 1947 Farmall tractor, had other ideas. She said it was way too cold and windy for her to start work today! She's a warm weather girl. . .

Many people don't realize that  as late as the 1920s, log houses were still very much in use here. When my Grandparents, Earl and Alice Magers, moved to Dell in 1916, they lived in a dog trot log house. Although she was only four years old, Aunt Mamie remembered it well. She and Aunt Naoma slept on the side that wasn't heated!

Not wanting to waste the day, John and Jeff decided to put cypress siding on the storage shed in back of the log house. Here they are, braving the cold. . .

 

Looks old, doesn't it? Obviously, there's more work to do, but now it's better protected from the winter weather. 

For more history on the log house, go to widner-magers.org, link below.