Cabin Kits of Miniature Log Cabins- Rustic Replicas

Social Studies Student Kit

2008-07-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is the back of the social studies student log cabin kit. As you can see, the back wall is open so that the student can furnish their log cabin. The pioneers didn't have much and most was homemade. There was a bed, maybe a table, a bench or two, a few pots and pans. Our cabin is yet to be shingled and chinked.

New Social Studies Kit

2008-07-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

We've received many calls over the past ten years, from parents asking, "how soon can I get a log cabin kit and how quickly can we assemble it?" It seems their child had been assigned the project of building a log cabin in their social studies class and forgot to tell their parents till the last minute. We'd send some kits overnight (at the parents request) and, if we had time, modify a kit so it would be quicker to assemble.

Then it dawned on us! Why not make a "Student Kit" that is easier and quicker to build? So here it is. . . a first look at a work in progress. This cabin is 10" square and about 12" to the top of the chimney. It has an open back, a fireplace and a loft. We are currently working on building instructions and plan on adding illustrations and information on how pioneers used special tools to build their home.

French Fur Trading Center

2008-06-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

On the Straits of Mackinaw was situated Fort Michillimackinac. This French-built, fortified trading post dates back to the late 1600s. At that time, this European settlement was on the edge of the known world. If this large log cabin (a reconstruction) is a true replica of the original, it disproves the notion that all was rough built and raw.This cabin, the trading post, is built in the French style. The logs in the walls are set upright on a footer with a header pegged to the top. The logs were set apart and the gaps filled with rocks and mud. The steep roof required many cedar shingles. The many windows required multiple pieces of glass, shipped by canoe from Montreal or Quebec. . . Or perhaps the window openings were filled with empty wine bottles or oiled paper. Inside, the cabin had twin chimneys. Each chimney could have had back-to-back hearths on each floor. Hence, this cabin might have eight heated rooms. The inside chimneys also radiated heat. In all likelihood, this well-built structure was warm and comfortable in the cruel winter months.

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Apple River Cabin Kit

2008-06-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

This is our newest log home dollhouse kit. It is a 1" to the foot scale replica of the cabin in The Apple River Fort, Elizabeth, IL. Here, Black Hawk and about 200 warriors attacked the small community called Apple River Settlement, in 1832. The cabin has an open back. The chimney is stone. The roof is split cedar shingles. Selling for $179.00 plus $15 UPS Ground shipping, the kit includes illustrated plans and an illustrated story of a pioneer family who, in 1830, travel from Pennsylvania to a new life in the old Northwest Territory. The kit was designed and is made in the USA by a juried member of the Illinois Artisan Guild.

Log Cabin Cookhouse

2008-06-02T04:16:00.000-07:00

In the past, a log cabin home was a pioneer family's first shelter. In time, as the family grew and prospered, a new home might be constructed. In this case, from the 1840s, the new home was a frame structure with wood siding. Our pioneers, being frugal, usually kept the old cabin and used it for other purposes. In this case, it is used as a cookhouse. The log chimney is interesting. You'd think a log chimney is a fire hazzard. But the split wood shell you can see serves as the support for a fire-hardened, mud-lined inner flue. This type of chimney construction was common in Jamestown, Plymouth, Quebec, Montreal and other settlements of the 17th century. Cooking could be a big job in the 17th and 18th centuries as families were usually large and additional hired hands might be needed at certain times of the year to care for livestock, clear land, tend fields and harvest crops. Almost everything in the kitchen was made fresh daily.
Ummm, I can almost smell the fresh bread baking!

Log Cabin Essentials

2008-05-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

This photo of a log cabin store room is interesting. . . . not because of what is shown, but what is missing. It wasn't that long ago that the TV, computer, electricity, phones, cars, indoor plumbing and refrigeration were unknown. Look around the storeroom and you will see a few pots, a keg, some chairs, a few handtools, a couple of sacks (probably seeds or flour), some chains and not much more. In the early 1800s, this might be considered all the "essentials" needed to insure a comfortable life on the frontier. Even the rough flooring was considered a luxury as many log cabins had just a dirt floor.

Frontier Blockhouse

2008-05-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

Most of us have seen John Wayne portray a calvary officer in a western movie. He is stationed at a frontier fort made of rough, log walls. Inside the wall, a raised platform (called a gallery) was used by troopers could to shoot and sometimes fire cannon at their attackers. But, if you look closely at an old fort, you'll often observe one or more heavily-built structures situated at strategic points along the walls. These are the blockhouses. They are typically two stories with the top floor wider than the bottom. Both levels might have window openings that were protected with heavy shutters. In the shutters, as well as the upper walls were narrow slits. These slits, dating back to Medieval castles, were originally used by bowmen to fire arrows. In the New World, the slits were used to protect riflemen. The slits were wide enough so that a rifleman, stationed inside the wall, could pivot his weapon and aim at anything in a rather wide arc. From the outside, the slit offered a narrow target to the attacker. The second floor of the blockhouse was the last bastion for the fort's defenders. It had a ladder that could be pulled up and a heavy trap door that could be slammed shut. Slits in the floor might be used to pour boiling water or shoot any attacker who dared approach the walls. Thus, the fort and blockhouse were important buildings in North America. Once inside, a small group of people might survive the attack of a far superior force.

Two-Pen Dog Trot

2008-05-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

This log cabin model is based on a pre-Civil War log cabin home I toured several years ago. If you are a real estate agent you might list this dwelling as "double cabins connected by a breezeway". The folks who built the original called this log cabin home a two-pen-dog trot. Let me explain. The pioneers called a room a pen. This cabin has two rooms . . or two pens. The open, roofed area between the cabins was called a dog trot. Likely, this area was taken over by the family dogs as they were protected from inclement weather and close to family members who fed, played and hunted with them. If you have a few dogs, you know how restless they can get! Thus, the antsy dogs trotting around became the name for this sheltered space.

A Plymouth Rock Home

2008-04-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

The first European settlers in New England (1620) built timber-frame homes clad with hand-sawn siding. The dimensional wood was cut in a saw pit. A log was dragged onto a couple of supports over the saw pit and cut with a long two-man saw. One man stood on top of the log while the other stood underneath the log on the floor of the saw pit. Pulling a long, two-man saw up and down cut a straight slice of log. The slice of wood was attached directly to the house frame. As there was no glass for the window openings, the houses were cold and drafty. Often, the family barn was enclosed in one side of the house as cattle and sheep helped heat the interior. Cooking and heating was accomplished by using a large fireplace which was enclosed in a wall. The roof was made of dry reeds. The risk of fire was very high and the chances of saving a burning house very small.

Pioneer Food Storage

2008-04-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is a root cellar at the Lincoln Log Cabin in Illinois. Built into a hillside, this cellar has some carrots, cabbages and other plant material. It doesn't look very appetizing, does it?In pioneer times, preserving foods was an important job. There were no refrigerators or freezers, tin cans, freeze dried foods or neighborhood supermarkets back then. People ate what they could grow, hunt or gather. Some plants, like peas were strung on threads and hung inside until they dried rock-hard. These dried peas were used in stews and soups. Corn was also dried and ground into flour. Cabbage, carrots, cucumbers and other vegetables migh be pickled in vinegar or stored in a root cellar. Some cuts of pork, beef and fish were salted, sun dried, cured with herbs and brine (like corned beef) or smoked like ham. Some fruits (like apples) could be stored in cold cellars or made into preserves or beverages. Other farm products, like milk, could be churned into butter or processed into cheese.Preserving foods was a big job, but necessary, or you didn't eat!

Elizabeth, IL

2008-04-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Like many folks, I like visiting historical sites to learn how American pioneers like Abe Lincoln, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone lived. A couple of years ago, I visited a fort near Galena, IL called Apple River Fort. It was built at the time of the Black Hawk War as protection from a possible attack. The attack did happen and a small group of pioneer men, women and children defended themselves against 200 Native American warriors. The pioneer men were shocked when one of their friends was killed in the first volley. Three women, instantly assessed the situation and, as mothers often do, took charge. They organized the women and children into a production line to load muskets (a task of several steps) and distribute them to the men defending the walls. They also brought empty muskets back to the production line to be reloaded. The attackers were surprised with the steady firepower from the fort and reasoned that there were many more men than their scouts had reported seeing. Soon the warriors quit their attack, looted the log cabin homes near the fort and rode off. To honor the three brave women, whose given names were Elizabeth, the town voted (a decade later) to change the name of the town to Elizabeth.

The Voyageurs

2008-04-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Voyageur is a French word meaning “traveler”. During the fur trade era, crews of men who paddled canoes of supplies from Montreal, to “rendezvous” in the back country were called voyageurs. At these rendezvous the supplies were traded for furs which were brought from deeper in the wilderness. The furs were carried by canoe back to Montreal and on to Quebec where they were shipped to France. The majority of voyageurs were French, French/Canadians and Native Americans.
The strength and endurance of these men is legendary. They worked a 14 hour day, paddled 55 strokes per minute and carried their supplies and canoes when they crossed (portaged) the dry land that separated the lakes and rivers they traveled. Few voyagers could swim. Many drowned in rapids or in storms while crossing lakes.
A bundle of furs weighed about 90 lbs. A bundle of trade goods weighed the same. A routine portage meant each voyageur must carry 2 bundles (180 pounds) at a time, across rugged, sometimes muddy trails. Every ½ mile or so the voyageurs set down their bundles and ran back for 2 more.
There were two types of voyageurs: the pork eaters (mangeurs de lard)) and the winterers (hivernants). The men who paddled from Montreal to the rendezvous at Grand Portage lived on a diet of salt pork. . . so were called pork eaters.
The men who transported trade goods deep into the wilderness stayed at winter outpost and lived “off the land”. These men were called winterers. Winterers traded for furs in native villages and in the spring transported the furs from their outposts to a rendezvous post.

Split Pea Soup

2008-03-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall (Ontario), 1869, by Frances Anne Hopkins.

Frenchmen in the Old Northwest (lands around the Great Lakes) had little opportunity to prepare a hot meal. Yet, men paddling and portaging canoes, bales of furs and supplies from dawn to dusk needed nutritious food. Here is one early recipe for a hot, satisfying stew that was enjoyed by the voyageurs.
The tin kettle in which we cooked our food, a trader wrote, would hold eight to ten gallons. At the end of a long day paddling our canoes, the cook hung our kettle over the fire, nearly full of water. Nine quarts of dried peas- one quart per man, the daily allowance - were added to the heating water. When the peas had all burst, two or three pounds of salt pork, cut into strips, where added for seasoning, and the kettle was allowed to simmer all night. At daybreak, the cook added four biscuits, broken up, to the mess, and invited all hands to breakfast.
The swelling of the peas and biscuits filled the kettle to the brim and was so thick that a stick would stand upright in the stew. The hungry Voyageurs squatted in a circle around the kettle. Each man used his wooden spoon to ladle the hot meal from the kettle to his mouth, with lightning speed, and soon filled their belly.
Pea Souper, a nickname for French-Canadians, originated because of this daily breakfast repast.

Rustic Shelters

2008-03-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

On the frontier, it was common to build a rustic log cabin. A crew of lumbermen needed a bunkhouse close to where they were cutting old growth timber. A miner or trapper, merchant or farmer needed shelter when they moved into a new area. With a few tools and a little time, a rustic log cabin could be built. No nails were used in this structure as the log walls are interlocked and the shingled roof is held in place by an framework of saplings. Often the floor was dirt. As there is no fireplace in this rough structure, perhaps it was used as a storehouse. Over time, additional structures might be built such as a stable, barn, chicken house, spring house, smoke house. As the community grew, the settlers would raise a rustic log cabin church.

Log Cabin Kitchen

2008-03-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is a French-Canadian kitchen in a 17th century log cabin. There is no microwave, frig, stove, toaster or any other electric appliance. There is no inside running water, hot or cold. Lighting (other than that from the small window) is provided by a fire in the fireplace, an oil lamp or a candle. If it is warm out you might prop open the door for more light. . . but that might let in the flies, bugs or wild critters. The fireplace serves as the furnace as well as the stove. In the summer, mom might cook outside so her log cabin home wasn't overheated.What you ate depended on the season. This cabin was built close to the St Lawrence river. You could fish for your dinner. At certain times of the year, eels were so abundant they were caught by the barrel full. At other times, the river was frozen. There was an abundance of wild game in the forest. You could kill moose, bear, deer, rabbit or turkey. You might also raise farm animals like sheep, pigs, chickens and geese for food. There were many Maple trees to tap for syrup each spring. There was also farm crops like wheat, peas, cabbage and other vegetables.Wheat flour was made into 5 lb loaves of bread and baked in outside ovens. Green peas were strung on strings and hug from the rafters to air dry. The French Canadians ate so much pea soup that "Pea Soup" became their nickname.

An Event from The French and Indian War

2008-03-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, a woman from West Virginia ordered a cabin kit. She said the Franklin miniature log cabin looked much like the old cabin on her farm. She said her log cabin dated back to the French and Indian War. Her pioneer ancestors had built their log cabin home in a hollow, deep in the Appalachian mountains. While her family was carving their farm from the wilderness,France and England,Holland and Spain were again at war in Europe. The war (called the Seven Year War in Europe) soon spilled over into North America. British and Colonial troops started attacking French Canadian forts in the Ohio Valley. The French retaliated by sending war parties into New England and the South. On one of these raids, the woman told me, a war party came to her ancestors' cabin. The father was away on business. The indians quickly killed the hired hand and ransacked the cabin. The mother and her children (those old enough to travel) were taken captive and led off to Canada. The father, returning home a few hours later, learned what had happened.Swiftly, he recruited a few woodsmen and they tracked the war party north. When the mother and children arrived in Canada, a French family paid for their release and brought them into their home. The father, arriving in Canada, learned that his family was safe and sound. He gathered them up and led them back to their mountain home in West Virginia. Here, the family has continued to reside for over 250 years.

Log Cabin Barn

2008-02-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

Log Cabin Barn

In the past, the barn was more important than todays’ garage. It housed some of the livestock, equipment (like saddles, mowers, plows) and food (like hay and oats) for the animals and seeds for next years' crop.

This barn, typical of structures built around 1845, is at the Thomas Lincoln Farm in Lerna, Illinois.

As you can see, the barn, a reconstruction, is a large structure made of long logs notched at the corners. The barn is not chinked, as the animals living inside do not require any additonal protection from the changing Illinois weather. The barn is high and dry, with two large doors in the middle.

Wagon Travel

2008-01-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

Two hundred years ago, “By land” meant walking. You walked or your animal walked as you sat on their back or in a buggy or wagon pulled by an animal. Animal drawn wagons carried freight, produce, your household goods and family from one place to another. The roads traveled were raw, dirt trails. At times, they were choked with mud or clogged by fallen trees, rock slides or drifting snow. A few roads were toll roads and might have sections of “corduroy” road which were paved with logs. What a jarring experience that must have been! Rivers and streams had to be crossed. Maybe a toll bridge was available and the traveler paid a fee to keep their feet dry. In other places, a large raft might be available to take your animals, wagon and family across a river. This was called a “ferry” and might be a family business. A family member would float you across the river by pulling on a rope tied to a tree on each shore or push the raft across with a long pole. There was a fee for this service. In more rural areas, you might swim your livestock and float your wagon across a river. You had no other choices. Sometimes animals and people drowned during these swims. As there was no highway system, the road signs were probably few and far apart. Large groups of people hired a guide to show the way. Others relied on crude maps, landmarks they were told about or asked folks they might see along the way.

English Homes in Jamestown, VA

2008-01-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

Early English settlers in Virginia built a fortified settlement called Jamestown. The homes they constructed were not log cabins. Instead, they built small homes of massive, square-cut timbers that were mortised and pegged. The spaces between the timbers were filled with interwoven sticks (called waddle). The waddle was covered (or daubed) with mud. Even the chimney was built in this manner. The hearth was about five feet high so you could walk into the fireplace and look straight up the chimney. The floors were bare earth. There were window openings but often they were covered only by a shutter. As the original settlement was built on an island in the James river, the mosquitoes were plentiful and lethal. The little homes had thatched roofs made of reeds and/or grasses that grew in abundance in the swampy areas around the fort.

Log Cabin Inn

2008-01-04T06:18:00.000-08:00

This log cabin reminds me of old inns I've seen in Virginia and other parts of the country. Originally, this cabin had two rooms on the main floor and two rooms upstairs. In the days of Abe Lincoln, inns had one second-floor sleeping chamber for women which was reached by one staircase and a second upstairs bedroom for men reached by a separate staircase. There was no access from one bedroom to the other. Travelers slept together, sometimes several to a bed. There was no bathroom. Instead, there was an out house or two and chamber pots. Water for drinking and washing was drawn from a well. A pitcher was filled and placed, along with a basin, on a table in each room. The guest would pour a little water in a bowl to wash their hands, face and more using a chunk of home-made soap and a wash cloth. Cologne or perfume was used lavishly as travelers usually carried little extra clothing in their saddlebags, or trunk.As rough and rugged as this inn appears to us today, it offered a welcome respite to people who might have been sleeping on the ground for days, cooking over a campfire, freezing in winter or being eaten alive by bugs in summer.Here, one could buy a hot meal for a penny or two, enjoy a drink, catch up on the news and sleep in a soft bed.

Plymouth Settlement

2007-12-26T04:40:00.000-08:00

The first English settlers of New England built timber-frame homes clad with hand-cut siding. The dimensional wood was cut in a saw pit. A log was rolled onto a couple of supports over the saw pit and cut with a long two-man saw. One man stood on top of the log while the other stood in the bottom of the pit. Pulling the saw up and down cut a straight slice of log. The cut siding was attached directly to the house frame.As there was no glass for the window openings, the houses must have been cold and drafty. Often, the family barn was enclosed in one side of the house as cattle and sheep helped heat the interior. Cooking and heating was accomplished by using a large fireplace which was enclosed in a wall. The roof was made of dry reeds. The risk of fire must have been very high and the chances of saving a burning house very small.

French-Canadian Log Home

2007-12-18T05:21:00.000-08:00

At the top of Lake Michigan, on the shore of the Straits of Mackinac, is a reconstructed, fortified trading post from the New France era.In the 1600s and early 1700s, many Native Americans hunted and trapped the animals Europeans prized for their fur. When they had gathered enough furs, the Native Americans might travel to a French settlement. Here, they traded their furs for items they valued. A beaver fur might be traded for a quantity of beads, blankets, cloth, mirrors, ax heads, knives or an iron kettle.Most years, the French traders tightly packed the furs into bundles and transported them, by canoe, to Quebec. Ocean-going sailing ships carried the furs from Quebec to France.The furs might be used as a fur collar or a coat. . . but most beaver furs were processed into felt and transformed into fashionable, expensive hats. This French-Canadian cabin differs from the American style built by Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Instead of a wall of horizontal logs, the French set the logs vertically, pegging the bottom end to a footer and the top end to a header. The gaps between the logs were filled with stones and mud. Using this method, the French could build a one-room log cabin or a much larger structure using a standard log length. Often, French cabins had steep roofs. I'm told, this was to prevent a thick blanket of snow from accumulating and then slipping off the roof and blocking the door. Dormers were added to light a space used for storage and/or sleeping.

Apple River Cabin Model

2007-12-01T01:22:00.000-08:00

This picture is a 1" to the foot scale replica of the Apple River Fort cabin, located in Elizabeth, IL. The model looks much like the original full-size cabin and shows the steps the pioneers took to build a log cabin home. The logs are squared and notched to interlock at the corners; The windows and doors are cut out of the walls; the roof framing is built of long, straight, slender saplings and often covered with hand-split cedar shingles. The walls are chinked with a mixture of clay or mud and a fireplace and chimney might be built of stone or wood. This model has a wood floor, but many pioneer cabins had just a dirt floor. Glass was a rarity on the frontier. Window openings might be covered with a piece of oiled paper, an animal skin or wooden bars and heavy shutters. To see other minaiture cabin models, please go to http://www.rusticreplicas.com/

Fort St Louis at Starved Rock

2007-11-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

Lured by tales of a great river to the west, Louis Jolliet, Father Marquette, and five men launched two canoes from St. Ignace in May 1673. Their goal was to find the legendary Mississippi River. Their discoveries greatly increased the knowledge of North American geography and the Indian nations living in the upper Mississippi Valley.

On their return trip, the explorers paddled up the Illinois River, passing by Starved Rock. Located on the south side of the Illinois River, near Utica, Illinois, Starved Rock today is a State Park. Here, glacial melt and stream erosion has sliced through tree-covered, sandstone bluffs creating 18 deep, narrow canyons.

Eventually, the French claimed the entire Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes. To hold their claim, the French built a fort at the Straits of Mackinac. Here, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan join and the entrance to Lake Superior is but a short distance away.

As a southern defense, the French built Fort St. Louis atop Starved Rock in the winter of 1682-83. This site was chosen because of its strategic position high above the last rapids on the Illinois River.

In February, 1684, the newly built fort was attacked by 500 Iroquois warriors. Sharing command of the fort were explorer Henri Tonty and a French army officer, Chevalier Baugy, twenty-two French soldiers, traders, trappers and craftsmen. In addition, twenty-four Shawnee, Miami and Loup warriors and their families were protected by the forts’ stout walls.

Perched 170 feet above the river, Fort St Louis could not be taken by assault. The Iroquois tried, several times, but were driven off. The invaders had no choice but to besiege the place.

The French were short of food and gunpowder. . . but so were the Iroquois who had traveled a great distance by foot. They could not carry much and quickly hunted off the local game. For eight days the Iroquois hung on, sniping, probing the forts’ defenses, growing more desperate. Finally, the Iroquois realized they had no choice but to withdraw.

The French abandoned Fort St Louis by the early 1700s and retreated to Peoria, Illinois where they established Fort Pimitoui. By 1720 all remains of the fort at Starved Rock had disappeared.

The diorama, pictured here, was researched and built by the History/Social Science Department and students of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. This reconstruction is based on descriptions of the fort by LaSalle, Henri Joutel, property deeds and a variety of business and French army documents. These sources, though contradictory at times, describe the fort of 1684 as made of upright logs and earthworks of about 600 feet in circumference which protected housing for between eleven and fifty men, contained seven bastions, a storehouse, forge, officers’ quarters, a chapel and at least three traders’ cabins.

Fort Michillimackinac

2007-10-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

In the late sixteen hundreds, the top of Lake Michigan and the straits which connected Lake Superior to the other Great Lakes was of strategic importance. Here, a fortified trading post controlled the fur trade. Native Americans and Frenchmen traveled here from the West and the North to trade beaver furs for products manufactured as far away as France. The furs were then transported by canoe to Quebec and on to France where most of them became fashionable (and very expensive) felt hats.