by Edward on Dec 12, 2013
in Rustic Home Décor Times
Most historians believe that the first cabins came to America when the Finns and the Swedes began to colonize the area of New Sweden circa 1635, along the banks of the Delaware River (present day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland). They brought their cabin building skills with them. During the expansion west by the American Frontiersman that followed,, many of the first buildings erected were of log construction. Homesteaders, early French trappers and prospectors built log cabins because they were a cheap material shelter that could be fabricated with the simple tools they brought with them of axe, adze, and hand saw.
Many families histories (like my own), have a rich history of farming and cabin life. My Mother grew up in a dirt floor cabin in the Ozark mountain hills in Southern Missouri and my father grew up on a farm in Northwest Missouri, where the original homestead cabin still stands (it was built when Missouri was still a territory). Dad lived in a farm house without running water, electricity or plumbing as well, and would be viewed by most as a cabin. Perhaps I am the first generation out of the cabin!
My father was one of the first to move off of the farm to join the Marines, then to college on the G.I. bill and became a forester. He moved west with my mom and raised my sister and me on National forest lands throughout Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Alaska. Cabins of those various regions are similar, but are also vastly different depending on the timber/materials available. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel extensively within the states and some abroad and I have been infatuated with cabins and lodges of all kinds as a decorative style and as architecture for as long as I can remember.
My wife and I live in the wooded foothills along the banks of the Ohio River in Southeastern Indiana. Cabins and rural farming river life is still very much a part of the culture where we live. My wife shares my passion for rustic home décor, and after we finished our first cabin inspired addition to our home, we have slowly been converting our entire home to a rustic cabin décor theme.
Cabin and lodge décor has become a chic decorating style all of its own. Be it from dressing up a downtown city apartment, to adding a cabin inspired addition, or possibly building a cabin or cottage and decorating it from the ground up….we Americans love our Cabins!
