When a woman spied a tiny advertisement in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that read,”Log Cabin: $25,000,” it was kismet. Her husband had dreamed of retiring to a log cabin in the mountains of north Georgia. The ad led them to Clyde Smith, a skilled craftsman with a knack for buying older cottages, carefully disassembling them and putting them back with all the owners’ property. The cabin from the advertisement was constructed in 1809 in Jasper, Georgia, just a couple of miles away in the couple’s site in Talking Rock.

They snapped up the rare two-story dogtrot log cabin, which includes all the stone you will see from the chimneys, piers and steps. While they were in it, they bought an old barn value of wood out of Smith to use for developments. These included a new staircase, a large eat-in kitchen, a master suite, a guest suite and a music room. They had a garage and desired a deck off the rear of the house, which drops down a steep mountain and loves expansive Blue Ridge mountain perspectives.

The customers were collecting salvaged fixtures, doors, windows and a variety of things for years, and they desired them worked into the layout too. They discovered Atlanta architect Alan Clark, of Clark Zook Architects, who had been well versed in historic architecture. Here is how he put each the pieces of this giant puzzle together.

in a Glance
Who lives here: A retired couple
Location: Talking Rock, Georgia
Size: About 3,400 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths
That is intriguing: The cabin’s logs were hewn by Cherokee workers in the early 1800s.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

The cabin sits on a 57-acre wooded site that overlooks the Blue Ridge mountains. Clark designed the garage to have a barn-like hay loft on top. He utilized the reclaimed barn wood and some windows that the customers were saving.

“My customers had a lot of things they’d salvaged and saved for a long time they wanted to use on this house,” Clark states. “For example, all the interior doors are salvaged.” While the directive was hard, in addition, it made the job unique and rewarding.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

This entry was the open dogtrot breezeway. When Clark was figuring out how to match all the pieces together and integrate everything the customers desired, he decided to fill it all in.

The customers found the front door, transom and sidelights in an architectural salvage yard in Atlanta. They were out of the first house constructed in Social Circle, Georgia, after the Civil War. The couple stripped, sanded and finished them then had Clark figure out how and where to place them.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

The lean-to porch is original to the cabin, but the railing was Smith’s notion. “Clyde Smith is just one of those rare men and women who will do this wonderful quality of work,” states Clark. “He approached me with the notion of producing the porch railing from dogwood trees in the property, and that I told him to go for it. He also came up with quite interesting ways of building things that I would not have thought of.” The railing is just one of the many ways that the team attached the cabin to its site.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

After the stone craftsmen arrived, they were amazed by the amount of stone the couple had out of their log cabin buy, along with the customers realized they’d saved a lot of money in stone alone.

“You can find bits of old tombstones inside the stone combination,” Clark states. “Back then when they had a busted piece of tombstone or spelled a name wrong, they made sure to use that reject stone one way or another.” It is similar to the strategy that the team took to your house, using whatever materials they already had in fresh ways.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

This staircase, crafted from the reclaimed barn wood, occupies the former dogtrot space. The picture was taken from the border of the new kitchen, which extends off the rear of the house.

New walnut floors have been utilized through the first floor, among those few items not reclaimed. Clark used the wood in the barn to get the flooring joists, porch, stairs, flooring and some ceilings across the old and new parts of the home.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

The customers love to have their kids and grandkids upward from Atlanta, particularly for big holidays like Thanksgiving. Thus they desired a huge kitchen where everyone could hang out.

Clark constructed the kitchen off the back of the Home. It accesses a deck with spectacular mountain views.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

The dining room retains the original texture of the log cabin. “My customers had lovely, Williamsburg-esque colonial furniture,” states Clark. “I am glad they went with that instead of overdoing the mountain-twig-moosehead kind of theme.”

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

When you look closely at the ideal side of this photo, you can observe some notches from the logs over the secretary — that the owners decided not to extend the initial second floor within this part of the living space, leading to a light and open space.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

The customers already possessed this antique dresser, which serves as a dressing table.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

Repurposed barn wood gives the new master bedroom ceiling a sense of history.

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

Simplicity and a mix of old and new carry through to the new master bath. “The claw-foot bathtub is an old bathtub from the 1920s the customers bought. They took it to some business in Alabama that reglazes old baths, where it had been stripped to the metal and refinished,” states Clark. “The fittings/fixtures are all new, but the customer always desired a claw-foot tub. It is a bathtub and shower combo”

Clark & Zook Architects, LLC

Because of the slope of the site, it was impossible to get a clear photo of the rear of the house. To the left would be the garage; off the rear you can see the large kitchen windows and the deckto the right is your master suite addition, which has its own covered porch.

“My customers not only constructed the house to enjoy their retirement and spend some time with family,” Clark says,”but to leave as a legacy for generations to enjoy.”

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