log cabin

log house,

Log houses were unknown to Native Americans, and the first English settlers did not build them. They are known in some countries of Europe, especially Scandinavia, Germany, and Switzerland, and it is a generally accepted hypothesis that they were introduced in America by Swedish settlers on the Delaware in 1638. The log cabin was later adopted by the other settlers in America, and by the end of the 18th cent. at the latest the log house was the typical backwoods dwelling. It was universally used by settlers in the West until they reached the Great Plains, when the sod housesod house,
house with walls made of strips of sod laid horizontally in courses like bricks. Sod houses were common in the frontier days on the western plains of the United States, where wood and stone were scarce.
..... Click the link for more information.  appeared as the customary dwelling. Reappearing in the Rockies, the log house became a symbol of the frontier. In the late 20th cent. the log house experienced a minor resurgence in the United States, but the contemporary "log home" bears little resemblance to its colonial and frontier predecessors. The modern version is typically constructed from a kit that contains machine-notched and preservative-treated log-shaped lumber using contemporary building techiques and materials.

Bibliography

See H. R. Shurtleff, The Log Cabin Myth (1939, repr. 1967); C. A. Weslager, Log Cabin in America (1969).

log cabin

log cabin A general term often applied to two different types of dwellings, both of which are constructed of logs. A log cabin is constructed of straight, relatively smooth, round logs stripped of their bark and laid horizontally, one above the other, to form a structure. In contrast, a log house is constructed of logs that are hewn to form square timbers before they are assembled as a structure. The construction of these two types of dwellings differs with regard to the tools, skill, and time required for their construction. In both, the logs are notched or otherwise fastened together to prevent their spreading at the corners and to provide rigidity and strength, but in a log cabin the logs protrude beyond the joints; in the log house, the square-hewn timbers do not protrude beyond the joints. Log cabin construction requires only an ax, a minimum of skill, and a minimum of construction time. The walls are usually waterproofed by an infilling between the cracks, such as clay. Typically, both types have a pitched roof. The earliest log cabins in America usually consisted of a single room; they usually had a battened door, and where brick or stone was scarce, a clay-and-sticks chimney. Compare with log house; also see dogtrot cabin, double-pen cabin, notch, planking, saddlebag cabin, vertical log cabin.