Dave’s “ManCamp” in the Ohio woods

Where we are, the morning air is crisp, there is a thick layer of leaves underfoot, and the days are getting short. On cold rainy days, we’d like nothing better than to stay inside by a warm fire, sheltered by a cozy cabin. Reader Dave Fosson and his son Nic also dreamed of having a cabin:

I was recently asked where we found our cabin plans. The simple answer: we didn’t have any plans, we only had our dreams. It’s been about 3 years since Nic and I visited this site and stepped off what we thought would be a good cabin floor plan. I was thinking 16’x16′ but Nic was adamant that this would be too small. As we increased the size by placing sticks at each corner, now satisfied, Nic began sharing his ‘must have’ cabin list; 1) a manly fireplace; 2) a sleeping loft; 3) skylights; 4) a kitchen; 5) a porch; 6) lots of windows; 7) a metal roof; 8) a screen door to slam shut in the summer. His vision was much more elaborate than mine; I was just thinking about a simple, rough, single room cabin. With nothing more to go on but his wish list and vision, we began to build…

The ManCamp is reached by a 4-wheel drive only trail. The small cabin greets human and canine visitors alike with a welcoming front porch, providing a place to hang out while enjoying the view of the forest and observing the abundant wildlife.

The entrance door leads into the dining area of the cabin. Adjacent to that is a kitchen, spanning the years with both a cast iron cookstove and a microwave oven. At the other end is the living room, centered on the fireplace. Between the living room and the kitchen is a bathroom with a camp toilet. There is a cozy sleeping loft over the kitchen and bathroom, where a skylight offers a view of the night sky. The cabin is off-grid, with rainwater collected from the metal roof into a cistern and electric power coming from a small solar system and a generator. The electricity is a convenience but not necessary as the cabin is also equipped with oil lamps and Dave usually cooks on the wood-burning cookstove.

Dave has documented the construction of the cabin on his ManCamp blog.

Do you dream of a cabin or other getaway? Tell us all about it in the comments!

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Photographs courtesy of Dave Fosson.

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