Chester’s Retreat Cabin

. . . an appalachian cabin

CRC Exterior 01AA

I love this cabin, partly because of its rusticity, so genuine in its appalachian styling, but also because it is the first dollhouse that my brother, Chester Guy, built. He has referred to this one as an “accidental dollhouse”, and I will share, with you, the story of how it came to be . . .

Like myself, my brother likes to “make things”. Apparently, this little cabin was one of the things he created while “playing around in his shop”. During a routine phone call, he mentioned that he needed to make some room in his shop and was, therefore, planning to toss this charming little cabin onto the bonfire. Despite the fact we were geographically many miles apart, I made my horrified shriek heard over the phone lines as I most emphatically directed him to do no such thing!!! After some degree of wheedling, I managed to convince him that if he would JUST take the back off, I could take it from there to modify it into a dollhouse which I would cherish. That turned out to be something of a challenge, as he had built this with the Guy family tendency for sturdiness. After much sweat (and probably curses directed toward me, chuckle . . .), he had the cabin opened up and I was the grateful recipient. I laid the puncheon-style flooring and under-roofing before starting on the fun part . . . turning the interior into a cozy little cabin that an adventurer such as my brother might enjoy using when on a trek. I even used many of his lovely photographs (in miniature, of course) inside. Since those were all places he has visited and photographed, it seemed like a nice touch.

CRC Interior 01AA

After the interior was finished, I enjoyed adding Kentucky-appropriate landscaping, including wildlife.

CRC Curious Critters 01AA

Don’t you agree with me that it would have been a travesty to destroy this lovely little cabin? At any rate, this is the cabin that led my brother down the road to building dollhouses, and you can get THAT story when you visit Coppertop Cabin!

Last modified on: January 24th 2013.