Log Cabins

Essay

The Philadelphia region served as an important diffusion ground for log cabins in America as Swedes, Finns, and later Germans transposed their traditional building practices to the Delaware Valley, melding old-world models with the bounty of timber but adapting to the lack of tools and skilled craftsmen. By the mid-nineteenth century, log cabins had become far removed from mainstream, middle-class building practices. However, they experienced a symbolic revival in nineteenth-century political campaigns and served as nostalgic building models for twentieth-century back-to-wilderness and back-to-the-land movements.

Color photograph of wooden structure with porch.
The Nothnagle Log House, located in Greenwich Township, New Jersey, is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in the United States. (Wikimedia Commons)

Scholars debate the specific origins and diffusion of the American log cabin, but the Delaware Valley was central to its introduction. Scandinavians introduced the log cabin to America when they settled New Sweden in the area of the Delaware Bay in 1638. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, German and Swiss settlers brought the concept of the “continental” log building, which was divided into three rooms and organized around a central hearth. Welsh and Scots Irish settlers adapted the log cabin to their building traditions by shifting the chimney to the gable ends and carried the practice into the hinterland and western frontier. (English settlers, preferring frame construction, did not adopt log construction until the eighteenth century.)

The colonists who introduced log cabins to the American landscape used their carpentry skills and knowledge of construction to work forests of timber into hewn logs and stack them into shapes that would have been recognizable back home. In doing so, they expressed their hopes and ambitions for new lives in America. The log cabin was generally considered a temporary structure, typically one or one-and-a-half stories with one room that might be divided into two.

Two Axes and a Saw

Its construction depended on access to woods, demanded basic skill, and required few tools—a felling axe, a broad axe, and a hand saw or crosscut saw. In contrast, log houses, which were meant to be permanent, often had two stories and more complex floor plans mimicking more-sophisticated frame or masonry dwelling construction. Both forms of log building existed in the Philadelphia area, but the tradition was abandoned for frame construction or more refined brick or stone. By the twenty-first century, few log cabins existed and most log houses had been sided over, obscuring their rustic beginnings.

Two black and white photographs depicting two different ways log walls were joined together at the corner.
Corner notching refers to the way two log walls are joined together. The image to the left shows a simple saddle notch while the image to the right shows the common v-notch. (Library of Congress)

In its most basic form, the log cabin consisted of four walls joined at the corners, forming a single “pen,” or “crib.” Within this room builders could install partitions and often added lean-tos on the back. Chimneys, normally constructed of stone or brick, stood entirely inside the house in cold-climate regions like the Mid-Atlantic. Foundations for log cabins often consisted of wooden posts or a course of stones or logs on the ground with the first “sill log” set directly on top. Builders, particularly the Swedish, filled the gaps between logs and insulated the walls with chinking (a mixture of fill such as wood or stone packed together with oakum, moss, clay, or dried animal dung) and daubing (a finish layer of clay and lime). The Upper (now demolished) and Lower Swedish Log Cabins in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, both likely constructed in the 1640s, exemplified the typical Swedish log cabin, constructed out of logs with clay chinking and clapboard gables.

Even in urban areas like Philadelphia, log cabins served as housing for those who could afford no better. Few examples in Philadelphia were documented, and all historic log buildings were demolished or relocated. However, a photograph taken in 1869 of the “old log cabin” in Kensington survives in the collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia as a depiction of an urban log cabin standing dilapidated under its towering brick neighbors.

The Cabin as Symbol

In the mid-nineteenth century, the log cabin became an important symbol in American political rhetoric. After being nominated in Harrisburg in 1839, Whig presidential nominee William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) and his supporters launched the “Log Cabin Campaign,” tying the log cabin to simple, self-sufficient, democratic ideals of many mid-nineteenth-century Americans in stark contrast to elite ideals of refinement. As he stumped around the country, including Philadelphia, supporters received tokens with the cabin image. The most well-known example of a cabin-linked president was Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), whose Kentucky birthplace log cabin was later reconstructed. Thereafter, the log cabin became romanticized to reflect a way of life long removed from modern, industrial society. For this reason, it became a key element of the American romantic and wilderness movements.

Color photograph of a log cabin or hut.
With the fondness for log cabins firmly in place, enthusiasts began reconstructing the makeshift log huts used by Continental soldiers at Valley Forge during the 1777-78 winter encampment. (Photograph by Donald D. Groff for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia)

The nostalgic reframing of the log cabin made preservation and reconstruction a popular activity for patriotic celebrations, pageants, and memorials. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 hosted by Philadelphia had a reconstructed log cabin that was ironically credited to the New England tradition, rather than the Philadelphia region where the log cabin actually originated. Later, the soldiers’ cabins at Valley Forge were reconstructed to represent the 1777-78 winter encampment, when Continental troops constructed nearly 2,000 makeshift log “huts,” or cabins, measuring 14 by 16 feet with wood chimneys lined with mud. Most of the original cabins were quickly dismantled and others deteriorated. However, with the American fondness for log cabins firmly in place, enthusiasts from the Daughters of the Revolution began reconstructing them in 1905. After the designation of Valley Forge State Park (later Valley Forge National Historical Park), staff reconstructed more cabins in the 1940s. Many of these were rebuilt again in 1961.

While no historic log cabins survived within Philadelphia’s city limits, a more recent example is tucked into the neighborhood of Northern Liberties, north of Center City. In 1985, artist Jeff Thomas constructed a two-story log house from logs and mortar on four vacant lots. Inspired by the “back-to-the-land” movements of the 1970s, it became a much-loved novelty in Philadelphia’s modern urban landscape, continuing a form of rustic but comfortable housing first introduced to America in the Philadelphia region.

Amanda Casper is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of Delaware. She has an M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in History from the University of Delaware. She works as a historian for the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office. (Author information current at time of publication.)

Copyright 2016, Rutgers University

Gallery

Nothnagle Log House

Wikimedia Commons

Scandinavians introduced the log cabin to America when they settled in what would become southern New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Pennsylvania. In its most basic form, the log cabin consisted of four walls joined at the corners, forming a single “pen,” or “crib.” The one-room cabin shown here is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in the United States. Built between 1638 and 1643 by Finnish settlers, the Nothnagle Log House is located on Paulsboro-Swedesboro Road in Greenwich Township, New Jersey. The adjacent, taller wooden structure is an addition, built in the early twentieth century. The log house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 2016, the log house remained privately owned. The owners, who live in the addition, offered tours of the log house by appointment.

Lower Swedish Log Cabin

Library of Congress

Scandinavians introduced the log cabin to America when they settled New Sweden in the area of the Delaware Bay in 1638. The Upper (now demolished) and Lower Swedish Log Cabins in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, both likely built in the 1640s, exemplified the typical Swedish log cabin, constructed of logs with clay chinking and clapboard gables. This photograph, taken in 1937 by Ian McLaughlin for the Historic American Buildings Survey, depicts a view of the Lower Swedish Log Cabin from the northwest. The cabin appears in the background of several early twentieth-century motion pictures shot by filmmaking pioneer Siegmund Lubin of Philadelphia. The cabin was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was restored in 1987, following decades of neglect and vandalism.

Corner Notching

Library of Congress

The corner notching, or the way two log walls are joined together, is an important detail that sometimes helps determine a builder’s ethnic traditions. Also, it allows scholars to track the dissemination of the log cabin from where it was first introduced in southeast Pennsylvania into the country. The notching styles reflect the skill and time demanded to make them, and range from the simpler saddle notch (shown left), to the common v-notch (shown right), and more complicated half or full dovetailing, along with square notching that relied on pegs or spikes to secure the logs.

"Harrison The People's Choice"

Library Company of Philadelphia

In the mid-nineteenth century, the log cabin became an important symbol in American political rhetoric. After winning the nomination in Harrisburg in 1839, Whig presidential candidate William Henry Harrison and his supporters launched the “Log Cabin Campaign,” tying the log cabin to simple, self-sufficient, democratic ideals of many mid-nineteenth-century Americans in stark contrast to elite ideals of refinement. As he stumped around the country, including Philadelphia, supporters received tokens with a log cabin image like the one shown here. This token is inscribed with “The People’s Choice” at the top and “The Hero of Tippecanoe” at the bottom. A bust of Harrison appeared on the opposite side. The small hole at the top indicates that the token could be worn around the neck.

Valley Forge National Historical Park, 2011

In the mid-nineteenth century, the log cabin came to symbolize simple, self-sufficient, democratic ideals. By the end of the century, it was romanticized to reflect a way of life long removed from modern, industrial society. Nostalgia for the log cabin made preservation and reconstruction a popular activity for patriotic celebrations, pageants, and memorials. In the early twentieth century, for example, enthusiasts from the Daughters of the American Revolution began reconstructing the makeshift log "huts," or cabins, built by Continental soldiers at Valley Forge during the 1777-78 winter encampment. After the designation of Valley Forge State Park (later Valley Forge National Historical Park), staff reconstructed more cabins in the 1940s. Many of these were rebuilt again in 1961.

The structure in this photograph is a reconstruction of a hut built by the Muhlenberg Brigade. When Muhlenberg’s men arrived at Valley Forge on December 19, 1777, General Washington challenged them to see who could build their hut the fastest. As a result, the original huts were constructed within a matter of days. A dozen soldiers slept inside each hut, which only measured 4 by 16 feet. In all, Continental troops constructed nearly 2,000 of these makeshift log huts. (Photograph by Donald D. Groff for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia)

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Related Reading

Barrick, Mac E. “The Log House as Cultural Symbol,” Material Culture 18, 1 (Spring 1986): 1-19.

Blanchard, Matthew P. “Log Cabin Serves as a Rustic Reminder….” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 4, 2004.

Bomberger, Bruce D. Preservation Brief 26: The Preservation and Repair of Historic Log Buildings. Washington, D.C.: Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, 1991.

Bucher, Robert C. “The Continental Log House.” Pennsylvania Folklife 12, no. 4 (Summer, 1962): 14-19.

Glassie, Henry. Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968.

Jordan, Terry G. American Log Buildings: An Old World Heritage. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.

Kniffen, Fred B., and Glassie, Henry. “Building in Wood in the Eastern United States.” Geographical Review 56, 1 (January 1966): 40-65

Noble, Allen G. “Colonial Houses in the Delaware Valley Hearth” in Wood, Brick, and Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape, Volume 1: Houses. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1984.

Wacker, Peter O. and Trendell, Roger T. “The Log House in New Jersey: Origins and Diffusion.” Keystone Folklore Quarterly 13 (1968): 248-268.

Weslager, C. A. The Log Cabin in America: From Pioneer Days to the Present. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1969.

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