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Entire Home

Country Living in the City

“You will feel like you are on vacation all year long” is how the real estate listing described this property. And even if such a claim may sound dubious, it was no lie or exaggerated marketing slogan. Set in a quiet residential area of Ste-Julie and surrounded by tall mature trees, this pièce-sur-pièce log home does indeed look like a holiday retreat. Intrigued by the catchy slogan, Yves Leblond and Sylvie St-Pierre went for a visit and were immediately charmed by the look and setting of the house. Mor…

Green Before Its Time

The large sprawling farm with fenced, hilly pastures appears to be a large  ranch. In fact, it is home to Big Springs Resort, the idyllic site of five log homes built by partners Doug Spurber and Charles Rateliff in 2005.  These retired Wal-Mart executives each owned a good bit of land near Gravette, Arkansas, and decided to join forces and create a low-impact cabin community. Rateliff had built a Satterwhite log home several years earlier and knew that this company could delive…

A Sense of Place

It can’t really be said anymore that Montana is a well kept secret. The state has boomed with tourism and a thriving vacation home industry for well over two decades. Montana’s ski resorts, national parks, and trout fishing industries allocate substantial funds for out-of-state advertising to attract year-round visitors and would-be residents alike. “We got really lucky,” says Jason, one such would-be resident, “when we ventured into Red Lodge for a day of sightseeing.” Jason’s mother had grown up in ne…

Back Home in the Northeast Kingdom

They say a man’s home is his castle. Such is the case for Mark Robbins, a Vermont native who after many career years as a pilot was happy to reset roots in northeastern Vermont, also known as “The Northeast Kingdom,” referred to by most Vermonters as simply “The Kingdom.” “My home sits on a prominent feature in the middle of my father’s farm,” says Mark. “It’s well back from the town road and, with its elevation, provides 360 degrees of incredible views and vistas of northeastern Vermont’s mountains and…

Generational Appeal

When Allen Morris’s father first purchased vacation property and built a cottage nestled in the hills of Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1970, it was with the hope that his children and their children would gather there for years to come. Little did he know then that more than 40 years later, the family’s retreat would grow to encompass five homes, including Allen Morris’s log home and corporate retreat. “As our family grew we built a second cottage and a third cottage and a fourth cottage,” says Mor…

Cabin Crazy

Every home is special, for the simple reason that the people who dwell in them are unique. In the case of homeowners Dan and Suzann Maughon, creating a one-of-a-kind home was a priority. “A long time ago,” begins Dan Maughon, “before Suzann and I were even married, we had a romantic dream of living in a log home in the woods, on a lake, of course.” The couple kept their eyes and ears open for that perfect 10-acre lakefront parcel of land, and then Suzann learned something that resulted in a manifestatio…