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The Sabine, Trinity, Neches, Angelina and Sulphur Rivers are the major rivers in East Texas, but the Brazos River and Red River also flow through the region. The Brazos cuts through the southwest portion of the region, while the Red River forms its northern border with Oklahoma and a portion of Arkansas. In East Texas and the rest of the South, small rivers and creeks collect into swamps called "bayous" and merge with the surrounding forest. Bald cypress and Spanish moss are the dominant plants in bayous. The most famous of these bayous are Cypress Bayou and Buffalo Bayou. Cypress Bayou surrounds the Big, Little, and Black Cypress Rivers around Jefferson. They flow east into Caddo Lake, and the adjoining wetlands cover the rim and islands of the lake.

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Native species of the yellow pines include the longleaf, shortleaf and loblolly pine. Pines, hickories, oaks, elms, black walnuts, sweetgums and tuleos make their home in the Pineywoods. The Post Oak Belt or Post Oak Savannah area, east of the Pineywoods, mostly contain post oaks, a few live oaks, blackjack oaks and black hickories, according to Texas A & M University. Recently, some species (including hollies, cedar elms, ester red cedars and sugarberries) have replaced historical trees.

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Defined as a small house or cottage (usually of simple design and construction), cabins come in many shapes and sizes. Typically they are a modest, often cosy dwelling, usually in a rural or semi-rural location, found in various climates. However, in modern usage cabin architecture and design reaches new heights, being interpreted by architects and designers alike, often transformed into grandiose proportions where design is suitably challenged.

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The plains and piney woods of eastern Texas shelter most of the large lakes in the state, making the region attractive for water-recreation enthusiasts.East Texas has many tall trees, with some considered national champions for their height, notes Texas Escapes. For example, there’s the 110-foot black gum, which is both a state and national champion.

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Wood is probably the first construction material used by human beings. Timber architecture has been developed for centuries in the most diverse and ingenious forms and techniques. Timber is a lightweight, robust, elastic, cheap, and ubiquitous material to build with. From ancient Greece to traditional Chinese temples, wood has been the preferred construction material of civilizations in the whole planet since the dawn of mankind.

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A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers.

Construction with logs was described by Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio in his architectural treatise De Architectura. He noted that in Pontus (modern-day northeastern Turkey), dwellings were constructed by laying logs horizontally overtop of each other and filling in the gaps with "chips and mud".

Historically log cabin construction has its roots in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Although their origin is uncertain, the first log structures were probably being built in Northern Europe by the Bronze Age (about 3500 BC). C. A. Weslager describes Europeans as having:

... accomplished in building several forms of log housing, having different methods of corner timbering, and they utilized both round and hewn logs. Their log building had undergone an evolutionary process from the crude "pirtti"... a small gabled-roof cabin of round logs with an opening in the roof to vent smoke, to more sophisticated squared logs with interlocking double-notch joints, the timber extending beyond the corners. Log saunas or bathhouses of this type are still found in rural Finland. By stacking tree trunks one on top of another and overlapping the logs at the corners, people made the "log cabin". They developed interlocking corners by notching the logs at the ends, resulting in strong structures that were easier to make weather-tight by inserting moss or other soft material into the joints. As the original coniferous forest extended over the coldest parts of the world, there was a prime need to keep these cabins warm. The insulating properties of the solid wood were a great advantage over a timber frame construction covered with animal skins, felt, boards or shingles. Over the decades, increasingly complex joints were developed to ensure more weather tight joints between the logs, but the profiles were still largely based on the round log.

Nevertheless, a medieval log cabin was considered movable property (a chattel house), as evidenced by the relocation of Espåby village in 1557: the buildings were simply disassembled, transported to a new location and reassembled. It was also common to replace individual logs damaged by dry rot as necessary.

The Wood Museum in Trondheim, Norway, displays fourteen different traditional profiles, but a basic form of log construction was used all over North Europe and Asia and later imported to America.

Log construction was especially suited to Scandinavia, where straight, tall tree trunks ( pine and spruce) are readily available. With suitable tools, a log cabin can be erected from scratch in days by a family. As no chemical reaction is involved, such as hardening of mortar, a log cabin can be erected in any weather or season. Many older towns in Northern Scandinavia have been built exclusively out of log houses, which have been decorated by board paneling and wood cuttings. Today, construction of modern log cabins as leisure homes is a fully developed industry in Finland and Sweden. Modern log cabins often feature fiberglass insulation and are sold as prefabricated kits machined in a factory, rather than hand-built in the field like ancient log cabins.

Log cabins are mostly constructed without the use of nails and thus derive their stability from simple stacking, with only a few dowel joints for reinforcement. This is because a log cabin tends to compress slightly as it settles, over a few months or years. Nails would soon be out of alignment and torn out.

Ornamental woodcarving in the shape of an eagle's head on a projecting log in the wall of the loft from Ose at Norsk Folkemuseum.

In the present-day United States, settlers may have first constructed log cabins by 1640. Historians believe that the first log cabins built in North America were in the Swedish colony of Nya Sverige ( New Sweden) in the Delaware River and Brandywine River valleys. Most of the settlers were actually Forest Finns, a heavily oppressed Finnish ethnic group originally from Savonia and Tavastia, who starting from the 1500s were displaced or persuaded to go inhabit and practice slash and burn agriculture (which they were famous for in eastern Finland) in the deep forests of inland Sweden and Norway, during Sweden's 600+ year colonial rule over Finland, who since 1640 were being captured and displaced to the colony. After arriving, they would escape the Fort Christina center where the Swedes lived, to go and live in the forest as they did back home. There they encountered the Lenni Lenape tribe of Delaware, whom they found a lot of cultural similarities with (slash & burn agriculture, sweat lodges/saunas, love of forests, etc.), thus they ended up living alongside and even culturally assimilating with them (they are the earlier and lesser-known Findian tribe, being overshadowed by the Ojibwe Findians of Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario, Canada). In those forests, the first log cabins of America were built, using traditional Finnish methods. Even though New Sweden only existed briefly before it was absorbed by the Dutch colony of New Netherland, which was eventually taken over by the English, these quick and easy construction techniques of the Finns not only remained, but spread.[citation needed ]

Later German and Ukrainian immigrants also used this technique. The contemporaneous British settlers had no tradition of building with logs, but they quickly adopted the method. The first English settlers did not widely use log cabins, building in forms more traditional to them. Few log cabins dating from the 18th century still stand, but they were often not intended as permanent dwellings. Possibly the oldest surviving log house in the United States is the C. A. Nothnagle Log House (ca. 1640) in New Jersey. Settlers often built log cabins as temporary homes to live in while constructing larger, permanent houses; then they either demolished the log structures or used them as outbuildings, such as barns or chicken coops.[citation needed ]

Log cabins were sometimes hewn on the outside so that siding might be applied; they also might be hewn inside and covered with a variety of materials, ranging from plaster over lath to wallpaper.[citation needed ]

Log cabins were built from logs laid horizontally and interlocked on the ends with notches (British English cog joints). Some log cabins were built without notches and simply nailed together, but this was not as structurally sound. Modern building methods allow this shortcut.

The most important aspect of cabin building is the site upon which the cabin was built. Site selection was aimed at providing the cabin inhabitants with both sunlight and drainage to make them better able to cope with the rigors of frontier life. Proper site selection placed the home in a location best suited to manage the farm or ranch. When the first pioneers built cabins, they were able to "cherry pick" the best logs for cabins. These were old-growth trees with few limbs (knots) and straight with little taper. Such logs did not need to be hewn to fit well together. Careful notching minimized the size of the gap between the logs and reduced the amount of chinking (sticks or rocks) or daubing (mud) needed to fill the gap. The length of one log was generally the length of one wall, although this was not a limitation for most good cabin builders.

Decisions had to be made about the type of cabin. Styles varied greatly from one part of North America to another: the size of the cabin, the number of stories, type of roof, the orientation of doors and windows all needed to be taken into account when the cabin was designed. In addition, the source of the logs, the source of stone and available labor, either human or animal, had to be considered. If timber sources were further away from the site, the cabin size might be limited.

Cabin corners were often set on large stones; if the cabin was large, other stones were used at other points along the sill (bottom log). Since they were usually cut into the sill, thresholds were supported with rock as well. These stones are found below the corners of many 18th-century cabins as they are restored. Cabins were set on foundations to keep them out of damp soil but also to allow for storage or basements to be constructed below the cabin. Cabins with earth floors had no need for foundations.

Cabins were constructed using a variety of notches. Notches can vary within ethnic groups as well as between them. Notches often varied on a single building, so their styles were not conclusive. One method common in the Ohio River Valley in southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana is the Block House End Method. An example of this is found in the David Brown House.

Some older buildings in the United States Midwest and the Canadian Prairies are log structures covered with clapboards or other materials. Nineteenth-century cabins used as dwellings were occasionally plastered on the interior. The O'Farrell Cabin (ca. 1865) in Boise, Idaho, had backed wallpaper used over newspaper. The C.C.A. Christenson Cabin in Ephraim, Utah (ca. 1880) was plastered over willow lath.

Log cabins reached their peak of complexity and elaboration with the Adirondack-style cabins of the mid-19th century. This style was the inspiration for many United States Park Service lodges built at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Log cabin building never died out or fell out of favor. It was surpassed by the needs of a growing urban United States. During the 1930s and the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration directed the Civilian Conservation Corps to build log lodges throughout the west for use by the Forest Service and the National Park Service. Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon was such a log structure, and it was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1930, the world's largest log cabin was constructed at a private resort in Montebello, Quebec, Canada. Often described as a "log château", it serves as the Château Montebello hotel.

The modern version of a log cabin is the log home, which is a house built usually from milled logs. The logs are visible on the exterior and sometimes interior of the house. These cabins are mass manufactured, traditionally in Scandinavian countries and increasingly in eastern Europe. Squared milled logs are precut for easy assembly. Log homes are popular in rural areas, and even in some suburban locations. In many resort communities in the United States West, homes of log and stone measuring over 3,000 sq ft (280 m ²) are not uncommon. These "kit" log homes are one of the largest consumers of logs in the Western United States.

In the United States, log homes have embodied a traditional approach to home building, one that has resonated throughout American history. It is especially interesting to discover that, in today's world, log homes represent a technology that allows a home to be built with a high degree of sustainability. In fact, log homes are frequently considered to be on the leading edge of the green building movement.

Crib barns were a popular type of barn found throughout the U.S. south and southeast regions. Crib barns were especially ubiquitous in the Appalachian and Ozark Mountain states of North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

In Europe, modern log cabins are often built in gardens and used as summerhouses, home offices or as an additional room in the garden. Summer houses and cottages are often built from logs in northern Europe.

Chinking refers to a broad range of mortar or other infill materials used between the logs in the construction of log cabins and other log-walled structures. Traditionally, dried mosses, such as Pleurozium schreberi or Hylocomium splendens, were used in the Nordic countries as an insulator between logs. In the United States, Chinks were small stones or wood or corn cobs stuffed between the logs.

Log cabins were constructed with either a purlin roof structure or a rafter roof structure. A purlin roof consists of horizontal logs that are notched into the gable-wall logs. The latter are progressively shortened to form the characteristic triangular gable end. The steepness of the roof was determined by the reduction in size of each gable-wall log as well as the total number of gable-wall logs. Flatter roofed cabins might have had only 2 or 3 gable-wall logs while steeply pitched roofs might have had as many gable-wall logs as a full story. Issues related to eave overhang and a porch also influenced the layout of the cabin.

The decision about roof type often was based on the material for roofing like bark. Milled lumber was usually the most popular choice for rafter roofs in areas where it was available. These roofs typify many log cabins built in the 20th century, having full-cut 2×4 rafters covered with pine and cedar shingles. The purlin roofs found in rural settings and locations, where milled lumber was not available, often were covered with long hand-split shingles.

The log cabin has been a symbol of humble origins in US politics since the early 19th century. At least seven United States presidents were born in log cabins, including Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and James A. Garfield. Although William Henry Harrison was not one of them, he and the Whigs during the 1840 presidential election were the first to use a log cabin as a symbol to show Americans that he was a man of the people. Other candidates followed Harrison's example, making the idea of a log cabin-and, more generally, a non-wealthy background-a recurring theme in campaign biographies.

More than a century after Harrison, Adlai Stevenson acknowledged: "I wasn't born in a log cabin. I didn't work my way through school nor did I rise from rags to riches, and there's no use trying to pretend I did." Stevenson lost the 1952 presidential election in a landslide to Dwight D. Eisenhower.

A popular children's toy in the US is Lincoln Logs, consisting of various notched dowel rods that can be fitted together to build scale miniature-sized structures.

Related-housing

Aldrich, Chilson D. (1946), The Real Log Cabin, MacMillan.

Weslager, C. A. (1969), The Log Cabin in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

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A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Construction with logs was described by Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio in his architectural treatise De Architectura .

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Home architects / log cabin architect

set out to satisfy demanding program requirements

Log cabin architect Rand Soellner designed this log home to satisfy an interesting requirement: Front Entry with right side main view. This project was specified to use dead standing timber as logs from the Yellowstone Park area (Lodgepole pine). 14″ round logs were planned, with "D" logs inside to save space. Garage is off to the left side, invisible from the entry approach. Great views off the rear and right side. There is a great open plan hearth room open to dining and kitchen. The 2nd floor area upstairs has a pool table loft open to the space below and room for a large screen cinema. On the main level, there is a spacious master suite with 2-way fireplace. With such interesting requirements, it is no wonder Soellner enjoys being a log cabin architect.

Log cabin architect Soellner enjoyed this design, because of the interesting features the client was after, like the flared log bases, to give it a more naturalistic rustic feeling. Also, huge plate glass windows frame the views on the elevation facing the primarily vistas (see above). Nice rustic touches with the rockwork as well.

Log cabin architect performed research.

Intensive research was accomplished by the log cabin architect, with visits to other log homes with which the contractor was familiar. The requirements for jacks around the base of log walls was detailed, as was a special base log that solidly blocked the exterior environment, while permitting a hollow raceway for utilities along the base, which also permitted a tall wall base. As a log cabin architect, Rand Soellner wanted an authentic appearance for this home. To help achieve this, he created numerous drawings carefully depicting how the rockwork was to be arranged, the log flares nested, and windows and doors detailed.

As a log cabin architect, Soellner likes to provide powerful rustic imagery like this bold fireplace with massive log "arms" to support the mantel. (C)Copyright 2004-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Log cabin architect and big stone fireplaces.

This is an example of a similar massive native stone fireplace intended for the corner of the Hearth Room that anchored that end of the room and of the exterior elevations. As a log cabin architect, Soellner likes to take this the extra mile, to make sure that his clients have that "x+ factor" of design, to enhance their enjoyment of his designs through the decades. "I have actually received phone calls 18 months after some of my clients have moved into a house I designed for them," reported Soellner, "and they say something like: 'I just finally noticed how you angled the great room to take advantage of that sensational view of Panthertown Valley' (actual quote), or some such other feature that took them a while to bring to their conscious mind." Soellner said that a log cabin architect has to think of these things while designing, so that their clients enjoy it after they move into the house.

One might think that a log cabin architect doesn't have a very glamorous job, but Rand Soellner begs to differ. he said that it is a miracle. He said that he is blessed with clients who engage him to design something that has never existed before on a particular patch of ground, and that it is his sacred duty as a log cabin architect to create a home that is the best it can possible be. So, that is what he does.

Contact info for log cabin architect:
Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB
(Home Archtiects ®)
828-269-9046
www.HomeArchitects.com

tags: log cabin architect, log home architects, mountain architecture, timber frame, post and beam, custom, cashiers architect, highlands, Asheville, Hendersonville, Atlanta, Brevard, Sylva, Waynesville, Lake Mead, Lake Lure, Lake Norman, lake Hartwell, jackson hole

Resources and links:
log home architects
home architects

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Log cabin architect Rand Soellner designed this log home to satisfy an interesting requirement: Front Entry with right side main view. This project was specified to use dead standing timber as logs from the Yellowstone Park area (Lodgepole pine). 14″ round logs were planned, with "D" logs inside to save space.

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The Bottomlands, which are south of the Pineywoods, are typically dominated by native hardwood trees--including oak, water oak, cherrybark, bitternut hickory, black hickory, black tupelo and sweetgum. A thick understory of tree growth includes small trees--such as waxmyrtles, American hornbeams, viburnums, rusty blackhawks and yaupons.

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We are fortunate that East Texas has conditions that allow for the growth of many kinds of forests. Many of these conditions are created by the geology of the area and the diverse array of soils that have been formed by that geology. Although topography (elevation) in East Texas is not great, like that found in West Texas and in western states, there are very diverse micro-topographies and microclimates that make East Texas Forests diverse.

East Texas Forests mark the end or transition zone (what ecologists call an ecotone) of the great eastern, southern, and northern forests which abut up against other great ecosystems ( ecosystems are large areas with all of their habitats) like the coastal prairie ecosystem, the black-land prairie ecosystem, and the oak savannah ecosystem. An ecotone is a place of diversity, as different ecosystems inter-grade up against and into one another making a more diverse whole system. Sort of like a "shifting mosaic" (patches of different habitats) on a landscape scale.

Some of the major East Texas Forest Ecosystems (also known as vegetational areas, forest formations, biomes, or life zones) are:

1) Oak - Pine Ecosystem
2) Oak - Hickory Ecosystem
3) Southern Pine - Hardwood Ecosystem
4) Oak - Gum - Cypress Ecosystem

These large ecosystems can be broken down into smaller ecosystems called associations, forest cover types, communities, and vegetation types. These smaller ecosystems are named by the most prominent dominant tree species that exist in an area and the place this tree exists on the landscape. For instance, we have American Beech - Southern Magnolia - Loblolly Pine Slope Association, Bald Cypress - Water Tupelo Bottomland Association, and Longleaf Pine - Bluejack Oak Upland Association.

Trees can grow over a wide range of elevations. However, we can generally classify them by the topographic position where they are usually found. In East Texas, due to the long growing season, high rainfall, and low elevation, even a few feet or inches height difference can determine what trees are found in a particular forest. Topographic elevation varies from 0-500 feet (from the coast to the Oklahoma border) in East Texas. The terms uplands, slopes, and bottomlands are used to denote where plant associations are in terms of topography.

Soil moisture is also a characteristic that determines where trees live. A hydric soil (like that found in a floodplain) is wet or saturated; a xeric soil is dry (like a deep, sandy bank); and a mesic soil is intermediate between wet and dry (like that found in a terrace or slope just above a river floodplain).

Trees are often classified according to soil moisture differences. For example, Southern Magnolia is a mesic (intermediate in soil moisture) tree species, a Bald Cypress is a hydric (wet) tree species, and a Shortleaf Pine is a xeric (dry) tree species.

Author: Brandt Mannchen

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We are fortunate that East Texas has conditions that allow for the growth of many kinds of forests. Many of these conditions are created by the geology of the area and the diverse array of soils that have been formed by that geology.

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The Piney Woods are part of a much larger region of pine-hardwood forest that extends into Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The Piney Woods area thins out as it nears the Gulf of Mexico. West of the Piney Woods are the ranchlands and remnant oak forests of the East Central Texas forests ecoregion.

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Wood’s acoustic properties make it ideal for minimizing echo in living or office spaces. Wood absorbs sound, rather than reflecting or amplifying it, and can help significantly reduce noise levels for additional comfort.

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Wood has a natural resistance to electrical conduction when dried to standard moisture content (MC) levels, usually between 7%-12% for most wood species. Its strength and dimensions are also not significantly affected by heat, providing stability to the finished building and even safety implications for certain fire situations.

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Log cabins have been around for hundreds of years. The first cabins were created in the Scandinavian countries, and it was settlers from these countries that first brought the look and style of the log cabin to America.

Over the years, log cabins have changed considerably. While they were originally created using one of a few limited styles, now a log home can be built or created using a variety of methods and materials.

Log Cabin Construction Styles and Types

When deciding whether a log home is right for you, it's important to take a look at the various construction styles and types to get a better understanding of what they entail.

Full Scribe

One of the first methods of building a log cabin, which is still used today, is the full scribe method. In this method, the logs are stacked on top of one another horizontally. The logs are milled or cut to sit tightly against one another without gaps.

This home will have little to no frame, and the logs will be seen both inside and out. Over the first few years, the logs will settle and shrink, so adjustments will be needed to keep the joints tight. No insulation is used with this type of build, so it's important to monitor the joints to make sure they remain tightly secured together to keep air gaps from forming.

Another older method of log cabin building is the chink method. This method also uses full logs stacked on top of one another, but in this case, the logs are not joined or fitted together. Instead, the gaps between the logs are filled with some kind of mortar known as chink.

Chinking may need to be reapplied after the first few years when the home has had a chance to settle, in order to keep it at its most air and watertight. This method can be slightly easier to build, because the logs don't need to be scribed to one another prior to building.

Post and Beam

In a post and beam log home, vertically placed logs are used to hold larger horizontal logs in sections. This method uses fewer logs than full scribe or chink style homes, so it's more cost effective. The areas between the logs are filled in, usually with some kind of traditional stick-built frame. The exterior may then be finished with half logs, timber, or other materials. This type of home is usually also lower in maintenance than a full scribe or chink style home as well, because there's less shrinking and settling over the first few years.

Timber Frame

Timber frame log homes are built in much the same way that a post and beam home is built. The difference is that instead of using rounded logs for the frame, the logs are squared off. There are no settling issues, and the home is typically easier to build. You can use any type of siding on the exterior. It's possible to use half logs to create the look of a log cabin or to use another type of siding, such as shiplap or horizontal Dutch lap siding instead.

Corner Post

If building a log home using either the chink or full scribe method of construction, you have choices as to what to do with the corners of the home. There are several options when using full logs including dovetailing the logs together, saddle notching them, or allowing them to butt and pass.

However, there is another method of construction as well, called the corner post. In this instance, full logs are used to create the walls and frame of the home, either full scribed or chink. The difference is that squared off posts are used on the corners to frame the edges of the home and to give the logs a natural place to end at the corners. The logs are fixed to the post at the corners, creating a stable design with a clean, more finished edge.

It's also very common to use half logs, quarter logs, log veneer, or log-look siding to get the appearance of a log home. Sometimes these methods can be used with a post and beam or timber framed log home, giving the exterior a finished appearance that makes it look like a full scribe home, but without the maintenance.

These materials can also be used on any stick-built home to give it the look of a log home as well, by installing over the exterior in place of other types of siding. These methods can be used to create a hybrid style home, one that has all the looks and charm of a log cabin, but with the ease of building of a traditional stick-built home.

When choosing log-look siding, it's important to remember that using a half log will have many of the same issues of a full scribe; the half logs could shrink, and require adjustment. They'll also require maintenance to keep them looking their best.

An alternative would be to use a steel, log-look siding. Steel siding is highly durable, and won't expand and shrink like half logs. It's very low maintenance and is backed by insulation, so it will make your home more comfortable as well. With steel log-look siding you can get the hybrid style, with more benefits than wood facing.

Build Your Ideal Home

Log homes and log cabins definitely have a unique style and charm. Consider the different methods of building or retrofitting to get the look that you want, and build your ideal home.

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A Complete Breakdown Of Log Cabin Construction Styles And Types

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Log cabins have been around for hundreds of years. The first cabins were created in the Scandinavian countries, and it was settlers from these countries that first brought the look and style of the log cabin to America. Over the years, log cabins have changed considerably.

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Long before the Texas Forest Service started using airplanes to spot forest fires, men climbed to the highest pine tree they could find. The Forest Service began building metal lookout towers at strategic locations in the forests. Some lookout towers can still be found throughout East Texas, such as near Bethany on the Texas-Louisiana line, near Mount Enterprise in Rusk County, at Love’s Lookout north of Jacksonville, and beside U.S. 69 at Central north of Lufkin.

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Top suggestions for modern cabin architecture

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Forested East Texas soils belong in the red and yellow soils group characteristic of the southeastern United States. These soils occur in a humid climate, their outstanding characteristic being that they are strongly leached. At the south, just interior from the Gulf Coast, are the low, flat lands of the Coastal Prairies, where the soils have a high calcareous content, are dark to black in color, and support a dense growth of tall grasses. The soils of this region without a calcareous content are light in color and are of two types-those with a heavy subsoil, which support a vegetation of tall grasses and those with a well-drained subsoil, which support growths of pine forests. At the north of timbered East Texas are discontinuous areas of dark-colored soils representing the fraying out of the Black Prairies in extreme northeastern Texas. A westward extension of East Texas timbered soils comprises the Eastern Cross Timbers-an elongated, relatively narrow, sandy strip lying between the Black and Grand Prairies. The soils of the Eastern Cross Timbers are sandy, being derived from the weathering of the Woodbine sand formation. These soils are light colored, thoroughly leached, and support a woodland growth in sharp contrast with the dark colored, heavy textured soils that support a tall grass vegetation in lands on either side of the Cross Timbers strip.

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Wood has a higher insulation rating than either steel or plastic as a result of its natural cellular structure. This means that homes and buildings require less energy to maintain heating and cooling, plus wood can help regulate humidity levels to a small degree. One source suggests that a hardwood floor installed over a wood subfloor provides the same insulation value as a 22-inch concrete floor.

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Today's log homes are often spacious and elegant, but in the 1800s log cabins reflected the hardships of life on the North American frontier.

The roomy log "cabins" we build today are likely to include skylights, whirlpool tubs, and other luxuries. However, for homesteaders settling the American West, log cabins fulfilled more basic needs. Wherever timber was readily available, a log cabin could be built in just a few days using only a few simple tools.

No nails were needed. Those early log cabins were sturdy, rainproof, and inexpensive. Some of the first buildings constructed in a colonial frontier were log cabins like the Chicken, Alaska Post Office.

Log cabin construction came to North America in the 1600s when Swedish settlers brought building customs from their home country. Much later, in 1862, the Homestead Act influenced the design of America's log cabins. The Act gave "homesteaders" rights to open land, but required that they cultivate it and build homes at least ten by twelve feet in size, with at least one glass window.

The PBS television series, The Frontier House, documented efforts of three modern American families to build and live in frontier style log cabins. Deprived of modern comforts such as indoor plumbing and kitchen appliances, the families found life harsh and exhausting.

Examples of Log Homes and Cabins

Log cabins are examples of building with local materials.

When pioneers encounter trees, they cut them down and built shelter. A log cabin built by homesteaders on the Alaskan frontier would be something to be proud of c. 1900-1930. How might they have constructed it? A frontier style cabin would often have notches cut with an ax on the ends of each log. The homesteaders would then stack the logs and fit the notched ends together at the corners.

The log cabin of poet Robert W. Service (1874-1958) may have been built this way. Called the Bard of the Yukon, in Dawson City, Canada, this retreat was ahead of its time with what today is called a "green roof." The Revolutionary War shelters at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania probably had wooden shingle roofs.

Log Cabin Construction Facts

Do you think you could build and live in a frontier style log cabin? Before you answer, consider these log cabin facts: The frontier style log cabin was introduced to the New World by Swedish settlers in the early 1600s - pioneers who perhaps had lived in cabins in the Swedish Lapland. It used no nails; contained only one room; was only 10 feet wide; measured 12 to 20 feet long; had at least one glass window; included a loft area for sleeping.

To build a frontier style log cabin: lay a rock or stone foundation to keep logs above the damp soil; square off each log; cut notches on the top and bottom of each end; stack the logs and fit the notched ends together at the corners; "chick" (or stuff) sticks and wood chips in the gaps between the logs; fill remaining spaces with mud; cut open a door and at least one window; build a stone fireplace; rake the dirt and gravel floor smooth.

Does this sound too rustic? If you prefer your "cabin" to have all the modern amenities, there are plenty of ways to learn the craft - week-long schools, training videos, and plenty of books have been published by people in the know.

Log Home Affordability

They're not called "cabins" anymore. And they're not made from the timber growing behind your lot. The Log and Timber Home Council of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) suggests that anyone who can afford to build a home can afford to build a beautiful log home. Here are some of their secrets:

Choose stock plan "kits" with pre-cut and pre-drilled timber.

Choose a simple, rectangular design.

Go small and simple, with an open floor plan.

Think like a pioneer and build only what you need at first, then add on porches and extras.

Do the start-up work yourself. "As much as 35 percent of your budget will go to clearing your home site, excavating a foundation, creating a driveway and installing utilities," claims the NAHB Council.

Keep the design of the roof simple.

Choose a builder trained in log home construction.

Sources

16 Secrets of Affordable Log Home Design! Log and Timber Home Council of the National Association of Home Builders [accessed August 13, 2016]

Chicken, Alaska Post Office photo by Arthur D. Chapman and Audrey Bendus at flickr.com

Frontier Log Cabin, Alaska Homesteaders, photo LC-DIG-ppmsc-02272, Carpenter Coll. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Div. (cropped)

Photo of man notching log by Thinkstock/Stockbyte/Getty Images (cropped)

Photo of Robert Serivce cabin by Stephen Krasemann / All Canada Photos / Getty Images

Photo of cabin at Valley Forge by Aimin Tang / Collection: Photographer's Choice / Getty Images (cropped)

Photo of Swedish cabin by Cultura Travel/Philip Lee Harvey/Photolibrary Collection/Getty Images (cropped)

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Are Log Cabins Today's Small House Solution?

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Today's log homes are often spacious and elegant, but in the 1800s log cabins reflected the hardships of life on the North American frontier. The roomy log "cabins" we build today are likely to include skylights, whirlpool tubs, and other luxuries. However, for homesteaders settling the American West, log cabins fulfilled more basic needs.

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For being a relatively lightweight building material, wood outperforms even steel when it comes to breaking length. It can support its own weight better, which allows for larger spaces and fewer necessary supports in some building designs.

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While the desire to not rely on the world’s forests for building demands is well-intentioned, the advantages of wood as a building material still outweigh other products on the market when looking at the environmental impact and performance.

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Climate is the unifying factor in the region's geography; all of East Texas has the humid subtropical climate typical of the Southeast, occasionally interrupted by intrusions of cold air from the north. East Texas receives more rainfall, 35 to 60 inches, than the rest of Texas.

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In early East Texas, dozens of forts were built by settlers to provide a safe and sturdy refuge from Indian attacks. One such fort stood in north central Houston County where Indian attacks were common.

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Free topographic maps visualization and sharing.

Topographic maps > United States > Texas > Texas

Click on the map to display elevation.

Texas, United States (31.81604 -99.51210 )

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Name: Texas topographic map, elevation, relief.

Coordinates: 25.83706 -106.64585 36.50045 -93.50782

Maximum elevation: 13,675 ft

Average elevation: 2,474 ft

Texas

With 10 climatic regions, 14 soil regions and 11 distinct ecological regions, regional classification becomes problematic with differences in soils, topography, geology, rainfall, and plant and animal communities. One classification system divides Texas, in order from southeast to west, into the following: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and Basin and Range Province.

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Texas topographic map, elevation, relief

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Free topographic maps visualization and sharing. Topographic maps > United States > Texas > Texas Click on the map to display elevation. Texas, United States (31.81604 -99.51210 ) Name: Texas topographic map, elevation, relief.

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All of East Texas also lies within the Gulf Coastal Plain, but with less uniformity than the climate with rolling hills in the north and flat coastal plains in the south. Local vegetation also varies from north to south, with the lower third consisting of the temperate grassland extending from South Texas to South Louisiana and the northern two-thirds of the region dominated by the temperate forest known as the Piney Woods, which extends over 23,500 square miles.

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Another Advancement in Modern Architecture

If you haven't noticed, modern architecture has rapidly been making significant changes in the way homes are built. Generally the changes are induced by the desire for greater efficiency, sustainability, and energy savings. This little abode in particular is located in Ecuador and has a tree growing from within the middle of the cabin. It also has some cool wooden embellishments and a chic yet simple interior. But none of this is what makes this little home so notable.... The reason we're bringing this cabin to your attention is that is actually uses Pumice Stone as its insulation. Check out these photos, then tell us your thoughts on our facebook page!

One of the problems with modernist architecture is that in many places in the world, it has supplanted traditional methods of building that over generations, have been specifically adapted to local climates, materials and knowledge. Much of this monoculture of modern architecture depends on carbon-intensive, industrial materials, creating forms that are often divorced from the unique cultures and building solutions that have developed in place, over many years. Think concrete boxes and gridded subdivisions, devouring land as far as the eye can see. Of course, modern architecture can be rehabilitated - or at least made to integrate local realities of climate, building culture and materials that are naturally available. Ecuadorian architects Luis Velasco Roldan and Ángel Hevia Antuña created this small house prototype that takes into consideration the region's traditional building techniques, using naturally sourced and local materials and passive solar heating. The home consists of a living room, bedroom, kitchen, dining area and office. There is plenty of natural daylighting and warm materials (Ecuador laurel for exterior cladding and eucalyptus wood for framing) throughout, creating an clean and uplifting atmosphere. The bedroom is lovely, featuring a glazed corner and skylight that doubles as a reading nook and solarium. The home's innovative use of this material allows it to maintain interior temperatures of 20 to 21°C (68 to 70°F) all year round, even when it got as cold as 12°C (53°F) outside. Pumice was used once more on the insulating green roof above, as a drainage layer.

READY FOR YOUR NEW CABIN? Click here to find builders, cabin kits, plans, and designers in your area!

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You'll Never Guess What They Used for Insulation - Cabin Obsession

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Another Advancement in Modern Architecture If you haven't noticed, modern architecture has rapidly been making significant changes in the way homes are built. Generally the changes are induced by the desire for greater efficiency, sustainability, and energy savings. This little abode in particular is located in Ecuador and has a tree growing from within the middle of the ...