Log cabins

This page was adapted from a description and drawing of frontier cabins that was on the state of Utah website that is no longer published.

Log cabins were common in Eastern Europe and Scandinavian countries—places like Germany, Sweden, and Norway. When people from these countries moved to North America (before the United States existed) they brought their style of home with them. Using only an axe, a log cabin could be built in just a few weeks (even a few days with enough people working on it). This is what made them so popular.

Proenneke cabin in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. Photo from Wikipedia courtesy of the National Parks Service.

Log cabins were typically only one room that the entire family cooked, ate, and slept in. They weren't designed to last forever, they were easy to build with just an axe, so you could provide shelter for family quickly.

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Conner Prairie log cabin interior from Wikipedia. Photo by Derek Jensen.