Breckinridge County KyArchives History .....Building The Home 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 September 16, 2006, 9:25 pm

Book Title: A Glimpse Of The Past

In the late 1700s and 1800s the westward movement began.  The early settlers of 
the East Coast colonies started their long journey west to explore and stake 
claim to the new frontier.  Many of the explorers such as Daniel Boone did not 
get grants for their claims nor did not register them with the land office.  
They did not get deeds or patents to cover their land claims.  Shrewder men who 
had counterclaims beat them out of their land.

Many of the early settlers were granted land for their service in the 
Revolutionary War.  A lot of the settlers traveled in-groups.  These were very 
courageous people; men women and children.  A lot of thesea brave people did 
not make it to their destination due to illness, Indians, etc.

They crossed the rugged hills and mountains.  Some on foot, some on horseback 
and some in crude wagons.  They only brought with them the bare necessities.  
The food supplies were slim and they depended on nuts, fruits, berries and wild 
animals that they found along the way.

These settlers came here with a dream of a free country and nation to be.  Most 
Indians did not welcome them for this was their hunting ground.  Many fights 
erupted between the new settlers and the Indians resulting in the killing of 
several on both sides.

Once the new settlers got to their destination they were than faced with many 
jobs.  One of the first things to do was to build a shelter of some type, which 
was built of logs.

The homebuilder usually used trees no more than two feet in diameter; the size 
after being hewed into the right shape with sapwood removed.  They were cut to 
about twenty or thirty feet in length, about as big as could be conveniently 
managed.  Once the trees were down and the proper length cut it then had to be 
barked, a job usually done as a part of the hewing.  Other time's homes were 
made of round green logs thrown up in a day.

In general the logs for the home were hewed square and true as if sawed.  The 
hewing was done with the broadax, an old, tool long known in Britain.

The working farmer seldom hewed all four sides of the logs before building as 
he was pressed for time and by the Indians.  Some of the homes may have been 
floorless with no foundation as they were built in a hurry and would be used as 
a temporary home.

During the years of warfare with the Indians some were built on a high 
foundation of post or racks' a few of the boards in the floor were left loose 
in case of attack.  The boards could be lifted and the occupants could slip 
through with a better chance of escape than when forced to go through the door.

The better homes had basements or cellars as such as commonly know.  The cellar 
of sorts was reached by lifting a wide floorboard.  Here were stored cabbage, 
turnips, Irish potatoes and other foods unsuited for the smokehouse or a warm 
loft.

Some cabins had windows and doors covered only by cloth or animal hides and may 
have had shutters on both that could be closed when need be.  The better-built 
cabins had windows with glass in them.

The roof of some of the cabins were often built on the shanty order, with only 
one slope to the roof but the most common roof for the log house was that with 
a comb and a triangular-shaped gable at either end.  The early cabins were 
usually covered with boards instead of the more time consuming shingles.

The shutter boards, facing and roof poles were held in place with wooden pegs.  
The woodworkers did not go to the trouble of boring holes and fitting in pegs, 
sometimges wedged, and sometimes square for tight fits.  Most were too poor or 
unable to get nails and screws.  A peg would never split the wood, held firmly, 
never rusted nor made an ugly blemish on the wood.

The Chimney with fireplace was often the last thing to be finished.  The 
chimney was made of available stone.  The art of stone cutting was much more 
common that today.  Many of the Scottish and Irish were familiar with tools for 
cutting rock.  Most farmers built as much of the chimney as possible as stone 
masons were expensive.  Limestone was more fire resistant than others were.  
Fine-grained sandstone was the preferred rock.

Chimneys and fireplaces were built of many patterns, but as a rule all were 
large, and skillfully made so that the smoke from embers drawn out to bake 
bread would go up the chimney instead of into the room.  Many of the stones 
were very large requiring skids and horses to get them into place.

One or more flat stones formed the hearth section, behind which, the opening 
jambs and arch were built.  The arch formed by a curved bar of metal upon which 
the arch-tones rested.  MEtal hooks hung downward from the arch upon which pots 
and vessels were hung for cooking the family meals.  It's design and 
construction added dignity to every pioneer home.  The mortar for holding the 
masonry in place was made from clay and water.  The hearth was used for frying 
and baking.  Live coals were drawn in clusters from the fireplace, over which, 
dutch ovens, skillets and bakers were placed for this type of cooking.  Hanging 
vessels from the arch were used for boiling and stewing.  The tasty meals 
prepared and cooked by these pioneer methods are unbelievable to modern-day 
cooks.  Without cookbooks to guide them, these early housewives could take a 
spoonful of this and that, a smidgen of this, a pinch of that, and stir into a 
cooking of farm products and prepare a meal to the liking of any king.

Homes were not the only things the first settlers built.  The needed mills, 
stables, outhouses, smokehouses, spring houses, loom house, corncribs, various 
barns and some of the later homes had separate kitchens and a still house.  The 
larger homes had fireplaces in each room.

The average farmer most always had a separate kitchen, sometimes connected to 
the house by a covered passway.  It gave extra room for storage, and in the 
long hot summers, kept the cooking heat and odors out of the main house.

In later years many of the earely log cabins were added on to and around and 
covered with weatherboarding.  Most of these homes had steps down or steps up 
when another room was added.  Just by looking at one of these homes from the 
outside one would not know it was built of log.  Once inside you might find the 
wide windowsills and very wide door frames.  Once these homes were floored, the 
walls properly chinked and sealed, such a house was warm in the winter and cool 
in the summer and safe as a rockhouse in a high wing.





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