McCall's Real Estate : The Bostic Log

The Bostic Log – Cabins and Homes

(A Series on Mountain Living in Bostic, NC)

By McCall’s Real Estate, J. Wessier

Over the next few months, McCall’s Real Estate will offer a series of short articles on Mountain living in Bostic, North Carolina. These articles will address real estate issues like buying and selling mountain homes and land, decorating and maintaining log homes, and the dream of owning a cabin verses the reality of living in one, to name a few. Join us often. It will be like a chat by the fire in an open hearth; warm, engaging, and always inviting you to stay awhile.

2. The Pros of Log Cabin/Home Living

Do you still believe log cabin/home living is residing in a drafty space no larger than your living room with a door in one wall, a window in another, a stone fireplace on the third, and a bed against the fourth? Do you think cabin life means living low tech and sans creature comforts? Not in this corner of the Carolinas. Here in Bostic, NC, home of Yellowtop Mountain Estates, Golden Valley Estates, The Summit, and South Mountain Peaks, log cabin living is luxury living. Here, there are quite a few high-end cabins for sale, but buying land and building your own dream home is also a great option. Here are some of the pros of building and living in a log cabin/home:

1. Concerned about your carbon footprint? The materials used to build log homes are environmentally friendly – think trees, they’re the ultimate in “green”. Log cabins can also be built faster than standard houses. That can save a whole lot of energy. And . . .

2. Log homes are well insulated. Compared to a wood-frame home of comparable size, a log home with conventional heating and air conditioning is 2.5 to 20 percent more energy efficient if built and caulked properly.

3. Log walls are natural sound insulators. You may close out the sound of wind whistling through the trees if like, but falling asleep to the soft rustle of leaves and crickets chirping makes for peaceful rest. Consider opening your windows.

4. Split white pine, which is used to build many cabins, is relatively inexpensive.

5. People who suffer from allergies or environmental sensitivities find living in a log home beneficial. There is less humidity in log cabins/homes so the interior air quality tends to stay healthier. Lower humidity levels also means less mold and mildew issues.

6. They’re cozy and comfortable. The heart of many log homes is the hearth, the fireplace. There are few things more settling and soothing than a cup of comfort by the fire.

There’s a joke about log cabins: One day a man and his wife got lost hiking in the deep woods. The husband tried the usual tactics to determine direction - moss on the trees (there was no moss), direction of the sun (it was an overcast day), etc. Just as they were beginning to panic, he spotted a log cabin off in the distance. He pulled out his binoculars, studied the cabin, then turned and led them right back to their car.

"That was terrific," the wife said. "How did you do it?"

"Simple," he replied. "On this side of the mountain, all TV satellite dishes point south."

This brings me to the main argument against mountain cabin/home living – you have to sacrifice technology. Not true. Satellite and internet are both available in all the gated communities. Cell phone service is also available, but not consistently. There are some areas where cell signals are weak or unattainable – in those areas, a landline is recommended.

If you want the little cabin in the woods with no amenities and no tech services, those charming dwellings are out there, but if you want the best of both worlds – a world where mountain serenity and comfort meets real world luxury and necessities like internet and satellite, we have a log cabin/home for you or the land to build one on. Come see us!

Below is a beautiful log home currently on the market. Take a look to see one version of what mountain log home living looks like.

Nurturing By Nature