Dogtrot at Hightop

[CWhite]

I sure enjoyed looking through much of your projects and seeing all of the pictures.   I hope your back heals up soon. 
I think the most amazing thing about having your kids grown up and leave home is when they come back and are proud of where they came from.  I think you have that one accomplished already, John.
It sure looks like a fine place.   I know you're proud. 
Christina

[considerations]

Redover...would you help me remember the size of your battery bank? I am learning the nuances of my new one and for me, more comparison info is helpful.

[Redoverfarm]

Redover...would you help me remember the size of your battery bank? I am learning the nuances of my new one and for me, more comparison info is helpful.

It is 48V.  8- 6V Golf Cart batteries.

[considerations]

Thank you

[Echos67]

Another new person here, and like all the others I would like to say what a beautiful place you have created over the years. This is a very interesting thread as I was able to see your family go through many changes and thank you for sharing that.

I have recently acquired some property in WV (Hampshire County) on Branch Mountain and it has one of these hand hewn cabins on it, it looks like the shell of a cabin you have at the early parts of your thread. I have not given up hope of doing a cabin myself such as you have but it is a long process when my drive is 3 hrs one way. I am making progress and just got my 5th wheel camper set so I can cut my driving time down and increase my build time.

Your thread is a great inspiration and if your close to Hampshire County I would welcome your input and advice. Your chinking recipe is how I found this site.

Keith

[Redoverfarm]

Another new person here, and like all the others I would like to say what a beautiful place you have created over the years. This is a very interesting thread as I was able to see your family go through many changes and thank you for sharing that.

I have recently acquired some property in WV (Hampshire County) on Branch Mountain and it has one of these hand hewn cabins on it, it looks like the shell of a cabin you have at the early parts of your thread. I have not given up hope of doing a cabin myself such as you have but it is a long process when my drive is 3 hrs one way. I am making progress and just got my 5th wheel camper set so I can cut my driving time down and increase my build time.

Your thread is a great inspiration and if your close to Hampshire County I would welcome your input and advice. Your chinking recipe is how I found this site.

Keith

Keith thanks for the comments and your patience in reading about the cabin.  I am somewhat familar with the general area as I lived in Hampshire county ( Between Springfield & Greensprings on Middle Mountain) in the early 70's.  The area you describe as Branch Mountain I take is betwen the north and south branches of the Potomac but I could be wrong as there a lot of people claim residence on Branch Mountain as far as Capon Springs.  I guess I am about 2.5 hours south of Romney now.  Have a daughter in Burlington headed toward Keyser on Rt 50 so I get up there some. 

Are you doing a hewed cabin or framed cabin?  There is a guy that lives close to me now that sells the restored shells many of which he will cut into what ever configuration you would like or from blueprints.  He has even shipped to Hawaii.  Does exceptional work such as the restoration of Abe Lincoln's homeplace.  If I can every give you any advice as it relates to your build just PM or E-mail me.  Check your PM messages as I have sent you one.

[Echos67]

Thanks for the link John, I am going to be reading that for sure.

Our cabin is Hewn I believe, it looks and the ends tie together as yours does. Mine is a story and a half measuring 18x24, another cabin to join to this one as you did would be great but I am having a hard time just doing this one  .

Keith

[Redoverfarm]

Another little project that I can mark off my list.  Finished the handrail to the front steps.  Other than wrestling the heavy post it was no biggie.  The finish is slightly off from the porch post but I had to change manufacturers to get something that closely matched.  I did have enough of the original stain that I found in the basement but given the time lapse ( July 2008)  even them had changed color as well.  I will wait until it dries thoroughly and if need be I will use the new darker stain to closely match the porch post.

[MountainDon]

looking nice John

[Redoverfarm]

Well seems like winter is almost here (December 21st) but someone forgot to tell Mother Nature as here she kicked it in a several weeks ago.  With the dropping temperatures I decided to winterize the cabin a few weeks ago.  I managed to get the battery bank up to a exceptable level maybe to withstand the winter.     I took the 4 wheeler up yesterday to check on things.  About 6" of snow on the road.  I am sort of relieved that I am not still trying to work up there during the winter and maintain keeping the road open.  The main floor temperature was at 33F with the basement and crawlspace at 39F.  The last snow was pretty well hanging onto the snow guards what the sun had not hit on the southeast facing.  On the north west facing (back) the snow had slid off at the valleys from the earlier snows onto the deck and piled up about 2 feet. But the roof is still covered from the subsequent snowfall.   Another wise move I think was installing the security (storm) doors which keeps the snow at those places away from the main doors. There was no way I could install the snowguards in the valley with the fear of penetration of an already fragile area for leaks so they stop short of the valley area.

Although closing it was bittersweet it just wasn't worth the effort of keeping it open.  Lets hope for an early spring.

[MountainDon]

I'll second the early spring part as long as we get some decent snow by February.

[Redoverfarm]

Well I went up to the cabin to check on things since late fall.  To my surprise someone had shot through one of the front windows.  Vandalism is really not that common but does occur from time to time.  The trajectory (note the lampshade penetration above the point of impact with the window) appeared to have originated from the main road or the entry to the driveway.  So it's hard to tell whether it was on purpose or maybe just an accident while someone was road hunting for squirrels.  Throughout the years I learned that vandals shot at the center of mass on windows so that leads me to believe it was accidental as it was near the edge.  If it would have been just a couple inches toward the end of the cabin the locust porch post would have stopped it. I did retireve the bullet (.22 cal or close) but it looks too distorted for ballistic but I will keep in just in case the incident reoccurs.   Either way it is upsetting.   



On an upside they missed the fiddle hanging on the wall. The bullet is lodged just above the corner of the window trim. Just goes to show there is no stopping good music.   

[TGunnell]

Your place is incredible! One of the first builds I have followed after finding this site. (years ago, haha) Super unfortunate about that gunshot - I'd be pissed! Time to chase some hoodlums out of your neck of  the woods 

[MountainDon]

Sorry to hear about that. Let's hope it is the worst thing that ever happens.

[Redoverfarm]

Don the worst part is getting someone to repair the glass.  As you know there is not alot around here that would do vinyle window repair.  Hopefully this is an isolated incident.  Haven't checked the camera but I would imagine it would not provide anything significant.

TGunnell kind of hard to chase when the road is a USFS road and open to all.  Not being there on a permanent basis doesn't help either.  If I had been things may have had a different outcome.

[ben2go]

Glad no one was around when the bullet came through.Place is looking good.Winter hit us hard.We had 1.5 inches of wet snow that turned to ice as soon as it hit the roads.Luckily we were prepared and didn't have to get out in it.

[Redoverfarm]

Glad no one was around when the bullet came through.Place is looking good.Winter hit us hard.We had 1.5 inches of wet snow that turned to ice as soon as it hit the roads.Luckily we were prepared and didn't have to get out in it.

You are correct. Doubt that they would have shot if the gates would have been open for fear that there was someone occuping the cabin.   I would say that it had occurred before the snow began to fall.  We have gotten several inches of snow.  Up until the temperature rose we had roughly 12" on the ground.  No footprints other than deer tracks. 

Regarding the snow I would say that the ice guards on the roof seemed to have worked.  Normally with this amount of snow there would be a large mound in front of the porch and the back decks from the slidding snow.  There was none after this round just noticable that it had gradually came off mostly in the form of melted and refrozen slush. 

[rick91351]

I'm so sorry to read your report from Dogtrot at Hightop.      That place means a lot to many of us; even though we will never see it first hand.  What you have done there is very remarkable.  Theft and vandalism both hurt deeply but I think vandalism weights deeper.     

[Don_P]

I started work on this springhouse today and thought you might enjoy it John. It's 10x20, the log pen is 10x12 and back in the day the 8x10 area over the spring was just an open roofed cover, pretty common here. There are several with a chimney and washpot facilities as well as a springbox cooler area in the building part. Half dovetailed, chestnut rafters. The 20' long top plates that extend over the logs and spring that carried the roof were recycled, apparently from the center aisle of a previous barn. One would be a good summer project at Hightop 

[Redoverfarm]

Looks like a  project.  But then I look at some of the sill logs that most likely will have to be replaced it also looks like a lot of restoration.  I have wanted to build a log woodshed at the cabin eventually if I can scrounge up enough logs.  But that is on the back burner.

I will be lucky to get what has to be done in the short summer to come let alone take on another project.  My mind works faster than my hands.  

[ben2go]

I started work on this springhouse today and thought you might enjoy it John. It's 10x20, the log pen is 10x12 and back in the day the 8x10 area over the spring was just an open roofed cover, pretty common here. There are several with a chimney and washpot facilities as well as a springbox cooler area in the building part. Half dovetailed, chestnut rafters. The 20' long top plates that extend over the logs and spring that carried the roof were recycled, apparently from the center aisle of a previous barn. One would be a good summer project at Hightop 

We still have a few of those hiding around here.They are pretty neat old structures.Surprising they last as long as they did with all that water and humidity around them.

[Redoverfarm]

I have a friend that has a spring house but being that it was on a sizeable farm the original owners were one step ahead.  They poured a large concrete walls/floor.  Rough forming mind you as it was done back in the 20's but it still contained the water without damaging the framed walls and roof.  But it didn't keep the fish and frogs out.    Sign of a good spring is salamanders and frogs. 

[Don_P]

There was years of neglect/debris inside. I pulled out 3 pumps, a couple of old pressure tanks and a bunch of junk, there used to be a large barn up the hill that I guess they had pumped up to at some point, but when I got the spring uncovered a frog hopped out from under a board and the salamanders were slithering... I was a little suprised to see them moving it was blue sky but about 25 (my favorite for grubbing around piles of stuff in snake country) and a brisk breeze but I guess the spring is really deep ground temp.

I've been denailing and wirebrushing lumber today. I've made some metal tags to label the logs and we had talked about me bringing it home, resetting it and replacing the bad logs while they repair the foundations. Just got an email that it might go back in full stone... which would be really cool and would be good around the damp. I was looking harder yesterday and planned on remaking about half the logs. A good bit of the demise of this one has been letting the cows use right up against it. They've pugged it up all around until it sank and fell into the muck. We've got a new exclusion fence staked out to prevent that from happening again and to help with water quality downstream.

One of the nicest springhouses in the neighborhood is a 2 room brick one with cooling troughs built along the wall that the water flows down. That place has a brick root cellar built into another bank as well, both very nice.

[pocono_couple]

What is the next best thing  to  gathering your tools and jumping into a new project?    How about visiting someone else on the forum and being totally inspired by their hospitality  as well their craftsmanship!   That is exactly what we did this past week.   On my way home from WV, I had plenty of time to think about the time we spent at Redoverfarm, and the word  "confluence"  kept coming to mind..    John has been a contributing member here for quite some time, and I have been somewhat active on the site since beginning our house in the poconos  5 or so years ago,  but things really came together in just the past few weeks..   

I really just became active on the site again last month as a result of this new tiny house project.    And, we just happened to be headed to WV as a result of the request by a student last september  that I consider chaperoning a habitat for humanity trip.   And, I happened to mention that trip on this thread.   Having read that post, John extended an invitation to get together when we were in the area..    And,  what turned out to be an erroneous weather report, spurred us to leave a day early, leaving us with an unexpected  entire day to fill  before beginning our mission.    And all of that, coming together, led to a trip to visit John and his family  and a chance to see the dogtrot  cabin that he built at the top of a  wild and beautiful mountain..   ( also got to inspect his current apartment project - very cool - although i still can't imagine what he will do with all of that extra storage space    )



it was a rainy day, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm  for the trip..   we were totally impressed with the work at  Hightop.    And,  I look forward to someday visiting again for  a musical gathering!   

We are home, safe and sound,  but this next week will be consumed by a trip in the opposite direction..  VT , here I come!   After that,   construction on the tiny house begins     

[MountainDon]

We're glad you got to join the group of CP members who have got to see Hightop up close and to meet John and his family members. We had a great time when we were there.    We love that front porch!