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Schuller Log House Remarkable as it may seem with its vast virgin forests, log houses were not built and used by the earliest America settlers from across the Atlantic. Horizontal log construction was introduced to the New World by the Swedes, who settled along the Delaware River in 1638. About 1710, German settlers in Pennsylvania began constructing log buildings, but it is not clear whether they acquired the practice from the Swedes or brought it with them from the northern Alps. Both groups initially built houses of round tree trunks, and later they squared the timbers and made neatly fitted joints. The Scotch-Irish was the first English speaking immigrants to adopt the log cabin, and its use spread throughout the seaboard frontier. |
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By the Revolutionary War, the log cabin had become the standard frontier dwelling since it had many features desirable to the early settlers. It was quickly built from trees and rocks cleared from land to be used for farming. It was easy to build because it did not require an extra framework to hold up the walls. The fireplace was made of large stones and the chimney of sticks lined with mud. The floor was tamped earth and the roof was split wood shingles with cedar being the wood of choice. Since wood is a good thermal insulator, the log house was cool in summer and by use of the fireplace could be heated in winter. Examples of the earliest structures of round logs are now rare because of the natural deterioration of wood. |
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The earliest record of a log building in what would become Kentucky is in Dr. Thomas Walker's journal for April 23, 1750. Early settlers devised the Improvement Cabin, so designated because it was a symbol of a mans right to land occupancy with the cabin being part of the improvement he made to his property. The first improvement cabins were built at the site of Harrodsburg by James Harrod and his party of some thirty Pennsylvanians early in 1774. Concerted Indian attacks in Kentucky concluded circa 1782, and shortly thereafter settlers began erecting log houses on newly acquired land. These were meant to be permanent abodes and were constructed with more care. The chief innovations were taking the time and going to the trouble to season and square the timbers. The tradition of log construction was not limited exclusively to the early settlement period, but continued to be used until after the Civil War. |
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