June 28th is Log Cabin Day. Back in the early days of the world, people built homes out of strong and sturdy logs. Carefully notched together and sealed in-between with a caulking agent like mud or clay, Log Cabins were sturdy and reliable and could stand the test of time.
Admittedly, you’d have to change the roof out every so often, but ultimately there was nothing like them. They were especially popular in the frontier days of the American migration west, and seven of the American Presidents were born in them.
Log Cabin Day celebrates the history of the Log Cabin and commemorates this most humble of homes.
Log Cabin day was originated by the Log Cabin Society (go figure) in corroboration with the Bad Axe Historical society. Each year people go out to help preserve historical log cabins so that they can be maintained for the future and hold on to the artifacts and memories that make them so important.
So important to the American History and idea of humility is the Log Cabin that the Whigs, American Colonists who supported the American Revolution, used it as the symbol of William Henry Harrisons’ campaign to show that he was a simple man of the people.
Log Cabins go back a lot further than just the America’s though, anywhere there were tall sturdy timbers the Log Cabin became a mainstay of habitation. The Wood Museum in Trondheim displays multiple forms of a log cabin, fourteen in total.
But Log cabins appeared all over the northern reaches of Europe in an incredible range of styles. Sometimes the outside was even hewn flat so that siding could be put on, and occasionally the interior was given the same treatment to make the way for wallpaper, lath, or plaster. Log Cabins are just that versatile, no wonder they’re still a loved form of home to this day.
