Backcountry Notes

Click on any image for a larger versionThe 1820s American Farm at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia, features a log house which incorporates an original log cabin built in 1773. The two wings of the house, which are joined by an enclosed dogtrot, demonstrate the progression in log-structure building techniques from colonial to early American times.

This log farm house is a Shenandoah Valley original, moved from northern Rockingham County to the Museum and reconstructed on a hillside site. Called the Bowman House, its older wing was built by a German immigrant named Georg Baumann who came to America in 1751, lived for a time in Berks County, Pennsylvania, then relocated to Virginia with his son John in 1772. Baumann's name was soon transliterated to “George Bowman.”

View of Bowman House -- original section is on the left, addition is on the right John Bowman expanded and renovated the structure circa 1820. The 1773 cabin was a two-story building with well-cut dovetail joints. The 1820 expansion is also two stories and is made with Pike joints (also called V-joints or steeple joints). During the expansion, the windows and doors of the original cabin were re-sized and the original window sash replaced to match those in the addition. Full-length porches were built on both the front and the back of the house. A number of interior construction details are visible in the interiors of the two cribs, including different treatments for the timbers supporting the second floor.

View of Bowman House from the back, on the side of the original sectionOn the right, this view of the house shows the dovetail joints used in the original 1773 cabin.

Below: View of the new section, from the rear, which shows the cut limestone chimney.

On the left: This view shows the Pike-joint construction of the 1820 addition.

Below: This view of the back porch shows some of the tools and implements of everyday life on the 1820s farm.

The image above shows a window in the original 1773 section; the window opening was re-cut and patched, so that the replacement windows matched those in the 1820 addition. Note that the original window opening had its long axis running horizontally, in contrast to the vertical axis of the replacement.  The space to the left of the replacement window has been left open to reveal the lath-and-plaster used to finish the interior; the lath was nailed vertically to the inside of the timbers.  On the right is a picture of a window in the 1820 addition.

On the left: this view shows how a doorway in the 1773 section was re-cut and patched during the 1820 expansion.  The original doorway was wider and shorter than the replacement, which adds a transom window to admit more light.

Kitchen fireplace with cooking pots and tools.  The kitchen is located between the 1773 and 1820 log structures; it may have been original to the 1773 cabin but its configuration is unknown.

Interior of the 1773 cabin; on the right, the apron wall encloses a sleeping chamber.

Interior view of the 1820 addition.  Note the different construction of the timbers carrying the second floor, with a massive central beam holding the smaller timbers.

OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES:

Virginia's Frontier Culture Museum

Reconstructing and Replicating Vintage Log Buildings

Frontier Culture Museum -- 1600s English Farm

Frontier Culture Museum -- 1700s Irish Forge

Frontier Culture Museum -- 1700s Irish Farmstead

Virginia Frontier Culture Museum 1700s German Farm

Frontier Culture Museum -- 1740 Log Cabin