Log Cabin Living

Foreword: Once upon a time… I lived in a log cabin on a mountaintop overlooking a peaceful valley. Abe Lincoln never had it so good. That time has passed, but the memories persist. A lucky few of you readers will remember the cabin I describe below. Many others had experiences at a family vacation home in the mountains or at the shore, and have similar memories of family get-togethers.

This essay is intended to revive and sharpen those memories as well as to describe what it was like to live in a genuine log cabin. Readers who are too young to have these experiences can find in these lines some background to the family folklore they may have heard over the years. So, read on. I hope you enjoy it and if you have recollections and experiences of your own, then by all means post an e-comment. It will add your contribution to this essay.

Origins

It was the time of World War II and I think the war was a factor in my parents’ decision to buy the cabin. My immediate family consisted of parents Adlai and Elizabeth Magee and seven children (two sons were lost). I was the youngest. Our home was in Chevy Chase, Md. Dad owned a radio store in nearby Bethesda. In the early 1940s our family had made numerous weekend visits to Braddock Heights, Md., a community of boarding houses and a locally popular amusement park. WWII meant restrictions on travel and that improved business at the little resort. Although Braddock was in decline compared to earlier decades, patronage was good enough to keep local businesses going. The park had several rides and slides, a fine merry-go-round, a roller skating rink and a miniature train to ride. A nearby swimming pool completed the amusements available. A trolley brought day visitors from nearby Frederick, five miles east. A small store doubled as a post office. Jim Crow was alive and kicking in those days. I clearly remember a sign at the entrance to the park that included the admonition, “This park is for use by white gentiles and their servants only.” I recall staying at several different boarding houses, one of which was the Coblentz Mountain House. The appeal to us was that the altitude was a blessing for me (I was prone to bronchitis) and for my Father (also troubled by respiratory problems). Alas, Braddock Heights gradually deteriorated over the succeeding years. (Braddock Heights was named after Gen. Braddock, a figure in the French and Indian War. He led a force of soldiers west along route 40, an early national highway, marching over Braddock mountain, as it came to be known.)

The Cabin

It was about 1942 when my parents decided to buy a vacation home near Braddock mountain. I was seven. The spot they selected was pretty remote. If you travel north along the crest of Braddock mountain you will be driving on Ridge road. A little over a mile up the road they bought a small, two-room, tin-roofed log cabin on three acres. The lot had a west view of Middletown valley. The Potomac river gap near Harper’s Ferry, W.Va. could be seen from a corner of the lot. There was only a scattering shenandoah valley cabins houses along the road in those days. The pavement ended a hundred yards before the cabin, turning into a dirt road. Farther along the dirt road on the west side were the Clipp farm and then a small dairy farm, where, in later years, I was sent from time-to-time to buy fresh milk. I suppose my parents (particularly my Father) saw the potential that the cabin and it’s location had. To a seven-year-old it was the start of a great adventure. Dad rather grandly named the place “Catoctin Oaks,” for the four beautiful oak trees on the lot, and the Catoctin mountain chain which included Braddock. This was in the Blue Ridge mountains. I can’t shed any light on who built the cabin and when. I believe my parents bought it from the Malones, who lived just south on Ridge road and who owned many acres in the area.