September, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



373 



" The Terraces " Is a Stucco House, Treated with a Pure Whitewash 



The Bark Cabin 



Durable, Attractive and Inexpensive Summer Homes 



{Concluded from page 368) 



upon its parts, causing the external joints to open and the 

 roof to leak. 



"There was a mode of framing invented by our pioneers 

 with a view to obviating this difficulty, in which the green 

 timber was so manipulated as to avoid shrinkage; and by a 

 nice calculation of its bearings all the strength of the heavier 

 method was attained with a small amount of timber. Advo- 

 cates of the unscientific mode ironically styled it the balloon 

 system. Yet, notwithstanding all the ridicule to which it 

 was subjected, it has steadily grown in favor, and is now, in 

 a modified form, accepted by many builders of mountain 

 cabins. The system upon which it is based is simply to 

 avoid, as far as is possible, resting the frame on girders. The 

 sill, instead of being set on edge, is laid flat, reducing its 

 shrinking properties to three inches instead of ten. This 

 method has also the effect of distributing the weight over a 

 greater surface of the foundation and supplying a sort of cap 

 or binder to the wall." The construction, therefore, is as 

 simple as it is inexpensive; no part offers any difficulties. 



With these practical suggestions for the timber construc- 

 tion there is no possibility of "frailty" being suggested in 

 the cabin building, even if the outer bark should be inclined 

 to peel from the clapboards with age; and the entire exterior 

 is now finished with the novel bark effect, with the exception 

 of the shingle roof. The porch posts are usually the simple 

 rough-barked logs of the tree branches that are too thin 



for clapboards. Frequently several of the more slender logs 

 will be bound together for a novel rustic post. The porch 

 railings are also constructed of rough-bark rustic branches. 

 Window shelters and porch ornamentation invariably pre- 

 sent the same rough material, and even the house founda- 

 tions are walled up with the bark-covered clapboards set 

 vertically in short lengths. 



When the bark begins to peel with age, as it sometimes 

 does in exposed positions on wind-blown mountain slopes, 

 there is still the knotted and rough surface of the clapboard 

 beneath, that quickly becomes weather-stained, until it re- 

 sembles the surrounding surface, and makes "patching" 

 unnecessary. 



The picturesque bark cabins that are found on stonv hill 

 slopes of Pennsylvania are made still more charming bv 

 massive chimneys of the rough stone, in appearance carelesslv 

 thrown together, yet in reality firmly set in cement and built 

 to last. 



Travelers who have noted this fad for bark cabin build- 

 ing in different sections of Pennsylvania's mountain slopes 

 have predicted a very short life for the quaint and frail- 

 looking structures, but the initiated know that the structures 

 are built for good long life, and ideal usefulness in calling 

 city residents to inexpensive summer sojourning in the moun- 

 tains, and to arouse enthusiasm in country living, and the 

 much-desired "home of one's own." 



