Backcountry Notes

Click on any image for a larger viewThe 1850s American Farm exhibit at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia, features vintage structures including a sheathed log house.  The buildings were located originally near Eagle Rock in Botetourt County, Virginia, and were moved to the Museum grounds and reconstructed as one of the original exhibits in 1988.

The original builder was John Barger III, who purchased 187 acres on Patterson Creek in 1832.  The log house, a threshing barn, and a tobacco barn were built during Barger's tenure. After the Civil War the farm had several owners until it was purchased by Lucian and Catherine Riddlebarger in 1884; it remained in the Riddlebarger family until 1986 when it was sold to the American Frontier Culture Foundation, Inc.

Above: An end view of the house showing the lap siding used on surfaces exposed to the weather.  The lower runs of siding have been recently replaced.  The image on the left gives a closeup of the beaded siding boards and the corner boards.

Below: A view of the front of the house.  There are two cribs or pens; on the right is an older one-story-and-loft unit and on the left is a full two-story addition.

Where the sheathing is under the porch roof, it consists of wide boards nailed on edge-to-edge, while narrower lap siding is used elsewhere. Below: This image of the back porch illustrates the use of wide boards installed edge-to-edge on the exterior wall and also the ceiling of the roof.

Shown in the center of the image (above), a cutaway has been made which shows the dressed logs used to construct the house. On the right is a closeup of the cutaway.  The older 1-1/2 story crib is to the left, the newer 2-story structure is to the right.  The logs in the left have been pegged into an upright timber; this does not appear to have been the original cornering method and probably was done when the 2-story section was added.  Pike joints are used the form the corner of the newer section.

Above: From the back porch, a view of a doorway and window, with the front-porch counterparts in the background.  Very squared-off and mirror-imaged architecture.

Above: Two museum guides giving a quilting demonstration a room featuring a cut limestone fireplace. Pictured on the right, a door and interior walls made of wood and painted white.

Above: Cooking fireplace and utensils.  Right: In the nook beside the fireplace are a cupboard and places to hang more utensils.

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

1820 Log Farm House at the Frontier Culture Museum