Survival certainly trumped style back in the 1630s, when the Finns and Swedes began building some of the United States’ earliest log cabins in New Sweden — today’s Delaware, New Jersey, and parts of Pennsylvania. Sure, there were open floorplans, but only because the houses comprised a single room. Low ceilings, few windows, and even fewer amenities didn’t exactly make them fit for entertaining. But they were easy to build—a single person could construct a cabin in a week or two — and they lasted for generations. In fact, the clever notched construction has made the homes ripe for restoration and renovation, and over the last century or so, the words “luxury” and “log cabin” have become synonymous in mountain resort towns like Big Sky, Beaver Creek, and Jackson Hole.
Take the Jackson cabin that
