At first glance this cabin appears to be drop-dead gorgeous. Don’t you think?
But something is wrong here. Something falls short of it’s true potential… can you see it?
Let me give you a hint… it has something to do with the chimney… in fact it’s two things about that stone and brick creation.
No, it’s not the brick topping of the chimney. That is a fairly common feature on old houses and cabins in this part of Virginia.
Times up.
The first problem is that the mason have shouldered the chimney higher up (the shoulder being the area where the chimney transitions narrower, in this case where it went from stone to brick). This transition should have occurred where the logs ended and the gable end siding began. The result of shouldering the chimney this low gives the impression that the chimney has somehow dropped a few feet into the soil… it has lost some of it’s prominence… it’s power has been drained… it’s majesty, degraded.
And then there is that one odd stone… located in the middle of chimney that appears diamond-shaped. The mason put it there to be decorative and to demonstrate how artistic he was. To me, and maybe I’m just being too picky, it’s a visual distraction. No single stone should stand out from the others… unless of course, it is the cornerstone.
Originally posted 2015-06-19 14:13:03.