There are few homes more alluring than a stone home. They draw us in with their overwhelming beauty. As I first caught a glimpse of this Strasburg home I was smitten.
This house is obviously perfect!
There can’t possibly be anything wrong with it!
Why would these new homeowners call this humble builder for help?
Oh, how beauty blinds us all.
Originally posted 2015-03-07 16:45:11.
Only those who visit the outhouse ever get around to seeing this perspective of the mountainside cabin.
And, that’s a shame.
Those visitors who fail to partake in the “Rural Ritual” just don’t know what they are missing.
Originally, the only window visible from this side of the cabin would have been the one centered in the end log wall, all the others were added during the restoration process.
Without the light that came from the cabin’s single fireplace this would have been one very dark home. It was a different world back in those days. A home was a shelter from the outside world when needed. Life then, was lived outdoors.
I like this profile of the cabin, maybe not as much as the other side, but still.. it’s nice. She appears much taller and more imposing when viewed from” the downside”. The height of a structure really alters our opinion of it, doesn’t it? Short is cute, tall is imposing. Which description do you want for your cabin?
Talk about being tall… the first course of logs on this side is a good four to five feet off of the ground versus that very same course of logs nearly touching mother earth on the opposite end.
As you can see this log cabin is perched on rock piers… irregular columns of stone placed in each corner. Each was crudely built, likely by the home-owner, using no mortar and many rough, jagged, pieces of granite which are commonly found laying on the ground here east of the Appalachian Mountains.
Every indication is that there was no footer installed under any of the piers. Likely, the first step in building this cabin was that a large stone was dropped on the ground and from there the cabin was built.
I like that visualization… Dad announces… “Here’s a good spot… I like it… Let’s build a house!”.
But… But… What about getting government permission, permits and such? What about hiring an architect? Is this land zoned for a cabin? lol None of that… pure freedom.
Most builders simply gasp when they view this primitive foundation. No way would it ever pass code today, maybe even for an barn, not to mention a house. I’ve heard of people abandoning their homes because of a crack in their foundation… heck, this support system is nothing but a crack, and yet it has stood for more than a century. Man up, people!
I built a house for myself many years ago using a stone pier system on it. It was an easy method of quickly moving forward in the building of the home. But in the long run, it was a mistake, and not just because of the fact that mice never give up on trying to get into a home built using this technique. It was the fact that no matter what I did afterwards I could never get the floors warm in the winter.
It’s a fact… if your floors are cold, you are cold. And, if you are cold, that means your wife is cold. And that my friends, is too much misery for any man to bear.
So… the lesson of the day… when the time comes to build your own cabin, make sure and put a solid stone foundation under her. You can use stone piers for your porch floor… they look good there and it gives the dog a cool place to go during the hotter months.
With the solid foundation everyone lives happily ever after, in the cabin with warm floors, and the happy wife.
The End.
Thank you, each and every one of you, for following along.
Noah
Originally posted 2015-03-06 17:08:24.
We added a stone stairway and retaining wall to improve foot access from the parking area to the cabin safer and more pleasant.
For over a hundred years the original inhabitants of this cabin made the climb between these two levels via a well-worn dirt path. A path that we found slick to traverse when wet or covered with snow.
We used local stone to build with and the masons did an amazingly good job on it… it added so much to the function and aesthetics of the cabin site.
My heart always goes out to craftsmen who build stairs, I’ve been in that position myself many times, whether they are masons or carpenters, they build something that is more complicated and challenging that it appears, while working on something that has more ongoing traffic than many country roads.
Constantly they are being asked to move aside as someone “needs” to come through. Apologies are always offered, and accepted, but every craftsmen is always greatly relieved when they are finished.
Originally posted 2015-03-05 17:07:20.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a stone mason? maybe even, during his “glory moment”? To be up at the top of a chimney after many weeks of hard work and struggle… about to complete something that will stand for centuries?
Of course you have. 🙂
These five photos (all taken at the same time) pretty well showcase life at the top of a chimney.
First notice that there is the ladder, a big part of being a stone mason is the climbing, up and down. Over and over. Always while carrying something heavy… tools, stones, or mortar.
Once you are up there at the top the views of the surrounding countryside, and all the jobsite activity, are amazing. You are on top of the world.
It’s time to get to work though… there is the constant checking of each stone to make sure that everything is plumb and level. Each stone is laid with as much care up here as it is down below. No one else would ever know if something was a bit off… but the masons would know… and so, it is done right.
There is plenty of activity going on up here as the final shaping of each stone takes place to get it to fit just right. While here you stand on a narrow walkboard rock chips fly past you, sometimes striking you, adrenaline is flowing.
The conversation is often jovial, each man boasting of how good they are at what they do.
One of the greatest benefits of working with stones all days is that you get to wear whatever kind of hat you want… no one would dare insult a mason on his choice of hat. A mason is after all a walking muscle. A man that can hit you with a rock at anytime from high above. A man that swings a heavy hammer for a living.
All three of these men became dear friends of mine over the years of working together. Dan, seen here with his captain hat, passed away from cancer a few years ago… I can still hear him singing one of his old Irish tunes. Will, the man with the level, surprised us all and is now a member of the clergy in the Episcopalian church. And Stewart… he works in the local zoning office… he says its’ much easier on his back. Of that, I have no doubt.
For many years I was the only area builder who kept a full-time crew of stone masons. I loved to see their work on a daily basis. I loved the sounds that were always present in the background… of chisels being struck with hammers, but most of all I just liked having friends around me who enjoyed working with their hands.
Originally posted 2015-02-27 15:33:33.
Everyone loves a good mystery. At least I do.
And, everyone that works on old houses is always looking for that hidden treasure that no one has ever found before.
I had the thrill of finding both, in one item, while taking down the old house known as “Western View”. That memento was hard for me to give away, but I did. And, it took me fifteen years to solve the mystery behind it, but I believe the answer was finally revealed.
Up near the top of one of the chimneys I found a stone with my initials carved into it… NB. The “N” was inverted (that part of the mystery I still haven’t solved).
It’s not uncommon for masons to carve the date on a stone in the chimney, and perhaps their initials, but when they do so it’s always at the base of the chimney where all can see it.
This stone was near the top and on the side of the chimney that faced the roof. A mason rarely gets up on a roof, he works from a scaffold and the roof side is the back of the chimney to him, he just reaches over to that side. Every indication was that this stone was carved by someone sitting on the roof after the chimney was built… how odd was that?
Now, I clearly owned this stone, it was mine. I bought the salvage rights to the house. I found the stone. It had my initials in it… how many times will this happen in my life? It was a keeper for sure.
But when it came time to build my client’s fireplace I felt that the stone belonged there in plain site, to honor that mysterious engraver from so long ago. I just wished I knew why someone would sit on a peak of a roof to carve their initials in a rock.
Fifteen years later I received a call from a potential client who owned the farm across the road from where Western View once stood. He had on his property an old stone kitchen that had once belonged to Dolly Madison’s grandmother. He wanted me to restore it and add on to it a vintage log cabin (which I did, but that’s a story for another day).
When I went to look at this stone kitchen I was pleased to see that it was built out of the same kind of stone that Western View’s chimney’s was built out of. This new client pointed out all the names and initials that were carved into the stones, put there by Civil War soldiers while based there on the property, some of the names had inverted letters. Ah Ha!
I did a little research and found out that it was common practice to assign someone during that war to take a lookout position on rooftops. I then had this vision of some young man stuck up on a Western View’s roof, sitting next to a chimney, with nothing to do but carve his initials in one of the stones.
Likely the only thing that young man ever did that still survives to this day is that one carving. Now that is something to think about.
Originally posted 2015-02-23 15:23:32.
This stone cottage is a low visual impact structure… with minimal landscaping, it’s only a single story tall, using local salvaged stone. The house site, with it’s breathtaking views, is the main focus. The home serves as a shelter for the frail human beings that occupy it.
Originally posted 2015-02-14 15:22:42.
I have designed and built several stone cottages over the years. This one is on a hillside in Madison County, with spectacular views.
This home pulled me in a new direction, and I appreciate that, after all, no one wants to be stuck in a rut. We all know that we learn and grow with new experiences.
Anyway, back to the story of this structure…
This client wanted a small stone home built on his property in which he wanted zero bedrooms… none at all. That got my attention.
He was an outdoors-man and intended to sleep outside in a tent whenever visiting the property… visitors and guests would do the same. He wanted this stone cottage to handle all the other rooms of a house that we have come to enjoy… baths, kitchen, laundry, etc, and a large gathering room with massive stone fireplaces at each end and a wall of windows to take in the breathtaking view.
I clearly remember the struggle I had with getting a building permit for this home. I was the first and only builder to request a zero bedroom home permit. Government officials like to check every box, and there was no box for something so unique. (I’ve always enjoyed being an “out of the box” kind of guy).
The success that I have achieved in creating beauty in the majority of my projects has been by basing the the designs on historic structures (yes, I am a copy cat, and proud of it). I broke that “historical pattern” here on this home when I learned that the client had spent his career working for the National Park Service. I dug through many books written on the various structures that one would find in our national parks and this “look” is what I came up with.
I’ll post other photos this weekend showing some of the details . I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Originally posted 2015-02-13 15:22:51.
One last photo to share from the barn/home project. Remember those arches that are so prominent in the photos of the front of the house? Here’s a close-up photo showing the workmanship that went into building those features.
Every one of these stones was created by very talented men, each with a hammer, a chisel, and lot of strength. These are not glued-on stones like you find in shopping centers, but solid rock that will last millennia.
I just love good stonework. Can’t you tell?
Originally posted 2015-02-13 13:46:28.
Whenever I build a log home I always have the stone masons build the corners first… for several reasons.
The first reason is that at the beginning phase of any stone project is the period when you have the best selection of stones. As a stone pile gets lower, the pickings become more challenging to lay. You will find that you are left with more “bowling balls” than “shoeboxes” (it is only human nature to pick the best stone you can find after each visit to the pile). You want the best stones used on your corners, for strength and beauty.
Another reason to build the corners first is that the rest of crew is “itching” to start laying logs and they need a stone foundation to work off of. Once the stone foundation corners are laid the carpenters can begin their work. (The masons can later fill in the stonework between the corners, after the logs are up).
When we build a cabin we generally pour a concrete foundation to support the first floor system. Once that floor system is built we lay a solid stone foundation using the floor system as guide. This stone foundation will bear the weight of the entire cabin, so it’s got to be built solid, and of course, attractive.
Originally posted 2015-02-08 15:50:31.
Hi, my name is Noah Bradley and I am an “archoholic”. I can’t help myself, I love the things… I can’t get enough of them.
Wouldn’t you agree that a log bedroom just HAS to have a stone fireplace and that having an arched one would make it perfect? That’s what we built for this cabin.
I find vintage stone arches all over Virginia, and beyond. Masons didn’t stop using them in the Roman times, they were a part of American history. Arches are not just for the wealthy, or for elaborate Cathedrals, but for anyone who desires to build something that not only looks great, but lasts for centuries.
Take a look at this photo that I snapped of a little stone bridge that is spanning a small stream of an old homestead. Actually this “bridge” is no bigger than a culvert pipe that we see commonly used today, but yet it is soooo much more attractive. (This little bridge is over two hundred years old and still serving it’s purpose).
It’s just precious.
Have you ever wondered how a stone arch is built and put into place? The method hasn’t changed. You start by creating a form, then shape the stones, next set the stones in place using the form, and then remove the supporting structure.
I have always liked incorporating a “proud” keystone into our stonework… the top center stone is the keystone and by “proud” I mean a bit taller and larger than the rest of the stones in the arch.
Originally posted 2015-02-07 15:02:40.
