HOW 1800S PIONEERS TURNED TREE STUMPS INTO COZY HOMES Frontier Ingenuity at Its Finest
Imagine wandering through a dense, misty forest when you spot a cozy little home carved into the base of a towering tree stump. It sounds like something straight out of a fairytale, but in the rugged 1800s, it was everyday reality for some of America’s earliest settlers on the West Coast. Back then, before the lumber industry toppled millions of ancient giants, the forests were filled with trees so massive their trunks could measure 20 feet across or more. Once felled (a task so intense it could take a month), these colossal stumps were too big, stubborn, and abundant to remove easily. Rather than blowing them up (though some tried with dynamite), the pioneers did what pioneers do best: They got scrappy. They turned the stumps into homes, post offices, barns, and even dance floors! One of the most legendary stump homes was the Lennstrom Stump House in Edgecomb, Washington. Crafted from a cedar stump 22 feet wide, it sheltered three adults and three children, proving that creativity could turn leftover lumber into a home. Though the original Lennstrom house met its end in 1946, you can still marvel at an 18-foot stump house today at the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Museum nearby.
dance hall and hotel. Guests waltzed under twinkling candlelight and cedar boughs strung high above the forest floor. As one 1850s newspaper gushed, it was “romantic and beautiful beyond description” ( although the ladies did wish the stump-turned-dance floor had a little more bounce )!
The Lennstrom House ca. 1901
In a time when luxury was a warm fire and a sturdy roof (or stump) over your head, these quirky homes captured the best of pioneer spirit: grit, resourcefulness, and a little bit of magic.
Next time you pass an ancient stump on a hike, imagine what stories it might hold. In the right hands and with a bit of imagination, it might have been the coziest home on the frontier!
But stump houses weren’t just for surviving; they were for celebrating, too. In Calaveras, California, settlers turned a massive hollowed-out tree into a grand
FAMILY COMES IN ALL FORMS Let’s Celebrate the Connection and the Fun!
August is Family Fun Month, which provides a great opportunity to spend quality time with your loved ones participating in your favorite activities. It’s important to remember that all of our families look different. Not everyone has the same core nuclear family of parents and two children; your family could consist of you and your spouse, a house full of pets, or just you and your kids. Regardless of your family make-up, take the time this month to enjoy your experiences together and do something fun!
fortunate to have extended family nearby who provide an incredible support system as well. We love to spend time together playing games! Hide and seek, card games, board games, video games, sports — really anything. We love competition, but having fun together is the best pastime.” Andrea Whittam: “My husband and I are empty nesters. We have two wonderful daughters: one married with a delightful 2-year-old grandson, and our other daughter is unmarried. Family time is incredibly important to us, and we cherish every moment we can spend with them. One of our favorite ways to create lasting family memories is out on Taylorsville Lake with our pontoon boat. When our children are busy, we enjoy our hobbies at home. We love tending to our koi ponds and
spending quality time with our three beloved fur children — Daphne, Daisy, and Frankie!”
Dianne Larson: “I’m a single parent who is all about family. I enjoy attending my grandchildren’s events and spending time with my family in Massachusetts. I fly back twice a year to be with family: once in the summer to attend graduation or a vacation in Maine with family and friends, and again at Christmas.” Claudia Cruz Perez: “My family is structured by my girlfriend and our dog. We love taking Coco to parks and rivers where he can run, swim, and get closer to his wild nature. When it’s ‘just the two of us,’ we love to take a walk by Waterfront Park, cross the Big Four Bridge, and finish the day by eating pizza and drinking beers at Parlour at Jeffersonville, Indiana.”
Here’s a glimpse into our team’s favorite ways to spend time with their loved ones.
Jaymar Bonet: “Our family is a close-knit, single-parent household made up of myself, my 4-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter. We are
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