I need your aid! (Marlinton: rent , work, health)

[jasperowenns]

I am writing a short fiction, & I need to ask a favor of you. I was wondering if you have ever been to a deep-woods home / cabin.

You see,I am trying to envision what a present day, lived in, old deep-woods cabin looks like inside & out. Perhaps one off the grid, & is that even possible?

But I do not know of the things one experiences in such a secluded crib. Such as what kind of front door would it have? A homemade door? A Pot belly stove, or a fireplace? What furniture would there be?

Floor covering, or bare wood? Would the floor boards necessarily be treated, or painted?

ok, I AM picking your brain, but its for a good cause, right?

[snorpus]

If you have the opportunity, rent a standard (not modern) log cabin at Watoga State Park next spring or summer. These were built ~1940, and would give you some ideas. I've stayed there, as well as in the company houses at Cass (and my grandparents house on "Tannery Row" in Marlinton), but what follows is what I "suppose" an early log home would be like.

When originally built, the cabin would be pretty small, maybe 30' wide by 15' deep, built on a stone foundation with a crawl space underneath. The floors would originally have been dirt, later covered by pine board flooring (not painted, but maybe oiled). The interior would be a single large room, with a sleeping area on one end and a fireplace at the other. Cooking would have been done over the fireplace.

Above the sleeping area would be a sleeping loft for the children, reached by a homemade ladder. This would be in what today we'd call an attic, so the ceiling would be high in the center, sloping towards the eaves.

Over the years, several improvements would have been made. A kitchen "bump-out" would be created, with a separate wood cook stove. A wood or coal-burning stove might be placed on the hearth, exhausting up the fireplace's chimney. A rear bump-out might be added for a bathroom (sometimes this was done by enclosing a rear porch).

Outside of the cities and towns, living off-the-grid wasn't a choice, it was a necessity. Well, septic tank, kerosene lamps and wood/coal stoves. Not done too often today, but still possible.

Good luck with your writing.

Snorpus

[awakenthesun22]

If you have the opportunity, rent a standard (not modern) log cabin at Watoga State Park next spring or summer. These were built ~1940, and would give you some ideas. I've stayed there, as well as in the company houses at Cass (and my grandparents house on "Tannery Row" in Marlinton), but what follows is what I "suppose" an early log home would be like.

Excellent idea.

[harborlady]

Depending on the locale of your novel, I've seen another idea in a museum which I believe was located in Astoria, Oregon. If not it might have been Seattle.
It was a Native American structure that was designed in a scheme of concentric levels of squares or rectangles to be located upon a slight hill or mound to encourage drainage. The center was the dug out fire pit, the roof apex was the flue vent, and from that point the rest of the interior was terraced in layers around the lowest level= the fire pit. Cooking was done by various proximity in relation to the fire pit. The first & second terrace around the fire pit was seating and sleeping. Something like sitting at the kitchen table while cooking, or doing other work. Heat and light and community.

The layers closest to the walls were the layers where personal belongings were stored. I don't recall what the roofing material was made of, or the walls (it could have been strawbale type), or how safe from fire it was/wasn't. I was, however, very impressed by the efficient way to live for such a crude structure. It spoke to me how they valued family/community so much they built a life around it.

Another option, depending on culture and time period for your novel, is to consider the documented existence of Henry David Thoreau. Try this on for size..
Henry David Thoreau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you notice the common theme between awakenthesuns post for log cabins and the above- living small is key. Less to maintain, and heat, and cool, etc

Essentially, self reliance is the name of the game. Being apart from civilization, all things you own must serve a purpose, sometimes many purposes all at once. Survivalists will tell you they couldn't make it without a knife. Old school farmers think in terms of purposeful use and may offer you insight to the mentality of waste not/ want not.
I only know these things because I've gone wilderness camping for 3 months at a clip, gratefully being intercepted by some locals from my naivete, who schooled me before I could get myself in too much trouble (bless them!). Direct experience will be an invaluable reference. Find out first hand what life is when mother nature plans your day for you. Maintaining basic health and hygene for a week can occupy 3/4's of your time. There is a price to be paid for thoughtless/obliviousness.