Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The building of the hewn-log house was usually
done with a limited but useful set of tools, and with
handmade or cut nails at least for the roof. With a
felling axe, broadaxe, froe, augers, hand plane or
drawknife, chisel, hammer, shovel, knife, and perhaps
a saw, adze, and prybar, the pioneer could construct a
house that was quite adequate and comfortable.
Site
The site chosen was usually on a rise of ground, above
high water of a creek or river. Rarely was it placed in
a level spot with good soil and, indeed, it appears that
the site most chosen was the one least desirable for
cultivation. A rocky bank above a spring was a favored
spot, or rough ground between newly cleared fields.
Outbuildings were scattered nearby — barn, smoke-
house, corncrib, root cellar, henhouse. The hewn-log
house was only one of several structures necessary to
sustain the settler.
The actual construction began with cutting the
trees, usually a continuing chore anyway, as fields were
cleared. The man and older sons, if any, hewed the
house logs on two sides while green, often adhering to
the signs of the zodiac. March and May were suppos-
edly good months to keep hewn timbers from warp-
ing. The logs were hewn to a thickness of six inches to
eight inches, with the heart in the center to further
reduce warping. Sometimes logs were split and each
half hewn, but this was rare. Each family usually did
its own hewing, over a period of perhaps months, and
the logs were skidded to the house site, where they
seasoned, at least partially. Then, when enough logs
were ready and time from farmwork permitted, the
house was raised.
A dovetail notch being cut for a ceiling joist (see photo). Dovetailing
construction stabilizes the front and back walls.
feats of strength, the girls and young men courted
behind their elders' backs and the children played and
shrieked over everything.
If the logs had not been hewn ahead of time, crews
were put to work with broadaxes, squaring the logs,
sills, joists, and beams. Then the men notched and fit-
ted the logs, laying them on the stones of the founda-
tion, sometimes prepared ahead of time. Notches were
worked by eye, as was everything else about the early
log house. Everyone knew what he was doing; they all
lived in houses like this one, after all, and had done
this many times before.
Sometimes the stone fireplace and chimney went
up along with the logs, but these were usually added
The Raising
A house-raising was held if other settlers were near,
and this custom was as colorful a part of the pioneer's
life as we know of. Neighbors began arriving at day-
break by wagon, on horseback, or on foot, bringing
their tools, the wives laden with food, with children
and dogs scampering everywhere. The air of festivity
was that of a social occasion, as the women caught up
on their gossip, the men competed good-naturedly in
