This was a cool place. It happened to be right on my way. I decided at some point to expand my trip to include historic sites related to the civil and revolutionary wars. So the birthplace of the man who beat the traitors seemed like a perfect spot to stop and see. They even had a replica of his childhood home housed inside a giant monument. Very cool spot to stop and see.
It was really cool to see the construction methods they used. It would be really easy to build a structure like this today. Just stack the logs and then fill in the gaps with dirt.
It reminded me of the adobe structures in Taos. It was interesting to hear from the ranger that the people who lived in these homes would often punch out holes in the walls during the summer to increase airflow, and then fill them back in with mud when it started getting cold again.
If you watch the video above you will also see that the chimney of the fireplace is slightly set back from the wall of the house. The ranger explained that this is done so that you can pull out a keystone log at a certain point and cause the chimney to collapse away from the house in case of a flu fire. As someone who survived a flu fire in my own childhood, this seems like a good idea!