This vintage guide from over a century ago offers timeless, practical advice on building log cabins. Plans and directions for simple structures are easy enough for amateurs to follow; time and inclination are the only necessary elements. Each of the designs has been tested and allows numberless alterations to suit the builder's tastes and requirements. Instructions range from selecting a site and safe, efficient methods of cutting down trees for building materials to building an ice house and boathouse to furnishing and decorating interiors.

Photographs and drawings provide clear images for a variety of wilderness homes, including floor plans for The Block House, Wildwood, Crow's Nest, Idlewild, and other rustic retreats. Rich in nostalgic charm as well as useful applications, this manual offers priceless guidance to handymen, woodworkers, and hunters as well as those interested in small houses, construction, and home history and seekers of off-the-grid, environmentally friendly living.