All About The History Of The Settler’s Cabin

In the early 1800′s the first settler’s cabin was being constructed in East Charlotte, Vermont. These temporary homes were used by logger, trappers and American settlers while they trekked across the country. Some of the earliest and first cabins were made from hand hewn, pine and beech timbers. If you visit the right areas of the country you can find cabins with history dating all the way back to the 1750′s.

The structure of these cabins was not meant to last more than three winters. A settler’s cabin was only designed to fit a pioneer’s family through the winter, in between moving across the country to another area. It almost looked like the settlers threw some logs and sticks together to make a shelter. These cabins would resemble more of an overnight structure to the outdoors adventurist today. Some of the earliest cabins from the 1800′s were not photographed so the only documentation is by descriptions passed down from ancestors.

Some of the late 1800′s French Canadian cabins can still be found standing in some areas of the United States. A couple of places you can visit and even tours these cabins built during the Wild West movement are; New York, Iowa and Vermont among others. So many events and people have been around with the settler’s cabin and they store so much amazing history that it will keep you in awe for hours.

You could find these cabins in the Midwest and East Coast but the true History of the settler’s cabin is unknown. There are dozens of countries, provinces, and states that lay claim to the creation of the cabins but since there was no documentation until the early 1900′s, it is hard to say who coins the creation. The outdoor structure itself most likely dates back to the time of American Indians and even cave men! The only difference in these structures and settler’s cabins is that the cabins were only intended for very short use.

There is a Settler’s Cabin Park in Pennsylvania where you can experience the closest thing to the pioneer’s life back in the earlier days. Actual archeologist from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History have even visited this park and verified all of the cabins dating back to the 1780′s. The history is really rich here and it is one of the few places you can see the cabins and how they were set up when the settlers were using them.

You can take advantage of the Burning Settler’s Cabin tour as well if you really want to see how to how the housing life was in older times. In this demonstration you will take a train ride to a time where Indians were for you or against you, and the burning cabin shows some Indians were against you. Even though it is safe and controlled the cabin appears to be engulfed in flames. You can walk around inside and outside of the burning cabin as well to see how the pioneers lived their lives, all after the flames have been extinguished of course.

It is so hard to tell what tools and techniques were used to build the settler’s cabin because the records were so poorly kept during the early years. We can only help recreate the structures and their known history with the information that has been passed on through many generations. If you do a thorough search on the internet, you can see photographs and pictures of what these cabins looked like when they were being used.

Ian David is the owner of Crafy Design. Crafty Design is located in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada and specializes in Toy Settlers Cabins.

categories: settlers cabin,pioneers,housing,history,american settlers,wild west,frontier