German immigrants constructed their own variants, independently, from about 1710. It is a term that is often bandied about and misapplied.īut when was the log cabin first seen in the New World?įrom current evidence we can deduce that the first dwellings built of round or square logs was raised by the earliest Scandinavian settlers in 1638 – primarily Swedes, but also Eastern Finnish, bringing with them the skill-set of the Savo-Karelian culture (Jordan Kaups, 1992). This is important, especially when considering Walden (it was not). At the risk of seeming disingenuous, I think it’s necessary to remind ourselves of what a log cabin is defined as: ‘a small house made from tree trunks’ (Cambridge Dictionary online). Let us look at the history of the Log-Cabin. Shurtleff defined it in his 1939 S tudy of the Early Dwellings of the English Colonists in North America) is ‘an American belief that is both deep-seated and tenacious’ (Shurtleff: 5). It needs interrogating and deconstructing somewhat – but not to undermine Thoreau’s achievement or legacy – but to examine the foundations of this most enduring and beloved icon. And live there he did, for a couple of years, cultivating his legumes and legend but the nature of his dwelling – now enshrined in American culture and replicated countless times across the nation – is not exactly what it seems. Perhaps the most hallowed of these was at Walden Pond, in Massachusetts, where, on the 4 th July, 1845, Henry David Thoreau went to build a cabin. How has it become the crucible of the American Creation Myth? Every state seems to have at least one of these iconic structures where their most famous son or daughter started out. Synonymous with self-reliance, hard-work, and grit the cabin has a taken on a metaphorical dimension. The homely shack hacked out of the primal wilderness, or so the myth goes, the log-cabin has been called ‘a symbol of democracy’ (Shurtleff: 5). Photograph by Daniel Schwen, via Wikimedia Commons. His practice-based research is a novel set in Appalachia & Scotland.Īs an historical artifact and as a cultural meme I set out to explore the phenomenon of that quintessential icon of American pioneering spirit, the log cabin.
He is currently undertaking a Creative Writing PhD at the University of Leicester. Kevan Manwaring is an Eccles Centre Postgraduate Fellow and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
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