What is a Sawyer’s Cabin?

Well, you’d think that a Sawyer’s Cabin would be the place where the sawyer lived…with his sawmill close by so he could do the grueling work and have a place of respite handy. And this is partially true in the historical context of this property. On this very piece lived Bob Barnwell for whom the road is named after. He built a house on the property in 1924…very modest, no plumbing, gravity feed spring water, a fireplace and a wood cook stove for heat and newspapers for wall paper to keep the drafts out. He chose a flat place next to road to put up a sawmill in 1948 in order to spend his “retirement” years logging and turning logs into lumber for the community which he did right up through the 1970s.

That was then, so let’s fast forward to what Sawyer’s Cabin means to us today as a vacation rental. The rotary sawmill is defunct and we tore the crumbling house down, saving any good lumber we could and built a new cabin in it’s place. And along comes Jeff, with his portable WoodMizer band sawmill. He’s the one to saw these trees which was a 2 year process when you have to log the tree, mill it and kiln dry it before you can build with it. Nearby Cloud 9 Farm is in Forest Stewardship where maintaining a healthy forest is done by crop tree release. That means cutting down trees that are crowding a “crop” tree that will grow with new found vigor. These 10″-14″ diameter hardwoods are not sought after by the logging industry (being too small), but for our purpose of producing quality lumber it is a win/win partnership.

Jeff, as the exclusive sawyer for this cabin knows every piece personally. After the lumber was kiln dried, he planed each piece and coated it with clear, satin polyurethane before using care to measure and place the wood artfully. We are thinking that by staying in Sawyer’s Cabin for your cozy vacation you can attune to the vibe of the wood, the smell of the wood, the ambiance of the wood and appreciate this generous gift from the forest. That’s what a Sawyer’s Cabin is.