My Cabins in the Woods

My recent trip to the country was awesome, but not so restful as you might imagine.  While it was certainly beautiful, and quiet, I actually went out there to work. About 6 years ago, my husband and I bought 60 acres of forest on the Kinneyconnick Creek in Lewis County, Kentucky. The original cabin on the property was built by the man who owned the place in 1959, from redwood that he had shipped from California.  When we purchased it, the cabin was in terrible shape, complete with a partially rotted roof.  Since then we have been renovating it, and it's now structurally sound and looking pretty good, but not completely finished.

Then, I guess because I missed the two log houses we had built and just sold, or possibly because of incurable insanity, I decided I wanted a log house.  So we found one somebody wanted taken down, and moved the logs- several times.  Then we started construction. Believe me, none of this is as easy as it sounds; sometime I'll gather all my photos and give you all a more detailed account.  This picture shows how far we got on our own, before we had to enlist the help of a crane to put up the second floor logs.  This is actually the second time we did this, because the first time, it sort of... fell down.  But that's a whole other story.

Anyway, I thought I'd give you a little tour of the "yard", and the progress made this past week.  The redwood cabin is on the right, and at the time this was taken (2005), had been stained, a new roof put on, chimney repaired, etc.  For directional reference, you (and the photographer) are standing in the driveway.   Let's come back to the present, and walk down to the redwood cabin's nice shady porch.

We're looking at the porch, or side view of the cabin.  Let's step onto it and turn around to look out toward the driveway.  You're now seeing the only (that I know of) redwood tree in Kentucky.  It stands just between the driveway and a very steep drop to the creek.

Planted in 1958, it's just a little baby, for a redwood.  It's a bright yellow-green color in the summer, and I believe it's about 100 feet high, give or take.

 Here's the path leading down to a huge part of the Kinney that everyone calls the "swirl hole".  It starts behind the redwood cabin, so step off the porch and turn left.  This is so pretty, with lots of lush mosses and ferns.

Oops, I forgot, we're not going to the creek right now.  We have to work on the log house!

Due to the magic of the internet, and you not really being here and stuff- voila!  We finally put the doors on the log house.

We're now standing in the "back yard", looking at the french doors we just put in, and the opposite end of the redwood cabin.  Let's walk around to the front and check out the other door, which we put on yesterday.

Doesn't the door look nice?  And to think, only one person was injured putting it in (guess who?).  Let's go inside.  Wow!  It's starting to look like a house in here!  There's still some chinking to be done, and of course, the floor...


Finally, after a dip in the swirl hole to cool off, we're sitting down under the big pine in the front yard to admire our handiwork, and maybe have a beer.

It's a beautiful evening; lean back and relax, enjoy the peace and quiet.

Isn't it great that the sky has been this color the whole time we've been here?

Shabo Mekaw

My series of Lewis County wildflowers has brought up some questions; the most common of which is: where is this place? No one has ever heard of it, even in Kentucky. There is really nothing there, except for a few farms, lots of trees, and LOTS of rocks. It's at the edge of the Appalachian plateau, among an area of hills called the Knobs. The 60 acres that I'm fortunate enough to call mine is a place called SHABO MEKAW, which is Shawnee for "end of the trail". I suppose this name comes from the fact that it lies in the bend of the Kinneyconnick Creek, and so is bounded by water on three sides. Kinneyconnick is also a Shawnee word, but I have no idea of the translation. A man named Ken Lobitz, now deceased, built the redwood cabin and planted the acres of white pines up by the field and pond; apparently it was to be a tree farm, but I'm happy that no one ever harvested them. Someone commented that it was like Oz, and I have to agree, because it is in fact quite a magical place. Here's a brief tour.

Looking down at Kinneyconnick Creek from what I guess you could call the side yard; some might call it more of a cliff.

Looking up the creek from the "Swirl Hole", a very wide and deep pool right below the cabin. You can see a bit of our little "beach" on the right side.

This is a view of the pond from the ex-blueberry field. Unfortunately, the blueberry idea didn't pan out- they died.

A telephoto view of the field from the hill on the other side of the creek. The pines are directly behind the field.

Another view, from along the the creek in the other direction from the cabin. This one shows the bank of the island, which is also part of the property. The creek splits and goes around it, then comes back together further downstream.

Again, from the top of the hill across the creek, here is part of where the creek goes around the property. I couldn't get a view of the entire curve, because my wings are in the shop.

The log house in it's present state of progress. The floor joists are almost all in, just a couple more to go. After that, the doors and windows can be put in, and it will start to look more like an actual house. Eventually, the logs will be sandblasted and coated with waterproofing.

Back view of the log house.

Here are both cabins; the one on the right is the original redwood cabin built by Ken Lobitz fifty-some years ago. It has undergone a great amount of restoration, including a new roof and complete overhaul of the stone fireplace and chimney. The long range plan is to one day connect them with a middle room.

Arlo says, "Wait, wait, where ya goin'?" I will post future progress as it's made. Come back any time.