People who come to a concert at the cabin almost always ask the same thing shortly after they arrive… where did the cabin come from? It looks old, but then it doesn’t, and that’s a little confusing.
The cabin was built in 1981 or so by a craftsman from Uniontown, Kentucky. His name is Alan Vail. He’s built about twenty similar cabins in the area over the last couple of decades. The construction technique and the style is a pioneer style from the mid-1800’s. In cabin-speak, it’s called an “enclosed dogtrot”. That is, it’s basically two boxes, connected by a common roof and then closed up to look like one building. That’s why both the kitchen and the livingroom have log walls on all four sides. The logs came from a mill in Bean Blossom, Indiana, as well as the wood used to build the cabinets and doors. The wood is mostly poplar, cherry and walnut. Those nails you see with the round, protruding heads are called rosebud nails. They’re handmade by a blacksmith. I’ve never counted how many were used, but I’m sure it kept someone busy for a while! The spaces between the floorboards upstairs help promote air circulation and allow the entire cabin to be heated from a woodstove. I don’t fire up the stove that much, because it really dries out the air, which isn’t good for the music instruments. Yes, most all of the instuments you see are playable, though some haven’t been tuned in years and could use new strings. A few need a visit to Tim’s woodshop, where they’ll get lovingly prodded into usefulness once again.
I’m not the original resident of the cabin. It was previously owned by a creative couple who teach at the University of Southern Indiana. They resided in the home for about 15 years, and why they ever sold it is beyond me! They had purchased it a couple years after it was built, and raised two children here. What a great place to grow up!
The other building you see is the barn. It has horse stables in the open back, (presently unoccupied, and no, we don’t board horses) and the front part is home to a wood shop and recording studio. Why a recording studio? Why not? We see it as just another way to support the acoustic music community while being involved in something that I enjoy doing. It’s up and running now, but I’m still learning the myriad tricks of the trade, and therefore, rates are cheap! Let me know if you have a project that you would like some help with.
–Tim