The Log House Suite

 

Oakland Green is a great weekend getaway spot for couples or families. The cabin is private and guests are welcome to enjoy silence on the front porch or explore the farm. We can accommodate kids and the farm is often a wonderful place to get them out in nature. They might enjoy watching chickens or learning about cows and food production (or maybe that’s a lofty goal, but, cows!) 

History buffs will enjoy staying in the log house. The house has been in the family since it’s original construction in 1730. The main house was added on to over the generations and the original structure was …dilapidated by the time William Holmes Brown Jr., took over the farm from his aunt, Helen Brown. 

In 1969, the logs were taken down, numbered, treated with preservatives and some replaced. A few were either too far gone for re-use or were too heavy to lift back into place, so that new logs were used as replacements where required (there is an obvious one over mantel). About 3/4 of the original logs were used in the restoration.

The original beams on the ceiling of the first floor were turned and re-used, with an enclosed steel beam to support them. The original floors were far too warped to be usable, so the present floor, which came from an old church in the Shenandoah Valley, was added. The closet and rear doors are part of the original structure; the front door is a reproduction, using old wood. The windows, which had been of nine panes, were enlarged to 12 to give more light in the room. The fireplace, with its large lintel beam, is the original.

This room was used as the kitchen for the rest of the house until the Civil War; although the large fireplace in the stone wing was also used for cooking. It was also a separate structure until the restoration when bathrooms were added upstairs and down and joined to the stone wing.

The Log House is furnished throughout with family antiques, including two 18th century tables handcrafted locally. Although it is part of the rest of the house, the available private entrance adds to the sense of solitude at Oakland Green.

When Bill and Jean married in 1971, Jean wanted a door through to the stone wing; Bill (who didn’t readily take to change) resisted, so Jean took matters into her own hands. She took a screwdriver (very large) and hammer in hand to commence chipping away at the stone until daylight could be seen. When Bill arrived home, he realized she had been very serious about wanting a door, so he had no choice but to have a professional stonemason come and finish the door.

There is lore and more!