FRONTIER INGENUITY AT ITS FINEST How 1800s Pioneers Turned Tree Stumps Into Cozy Homes
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.
Humans are a lot kinder than you think. Yet, most of us have seen studies and books that promote the idea that human nature is inherently bad. It turns out that many of those studies were rigged, news reports sometimes used bad data, and some of those stories were just interesting fiction. Be Kind to Humankind Week takes place August 25–31, and it’s an excellent opportunity to explore the giving nature of human beings. The Stanford Prison Experiment was an influential study in which one group of people portrayed inmates and another their prison guards. It didn’t take long before those with power oppressed those without, or so it seemed. It came out later that the researchers had to really push to find the right people to be bullies. Early results from the study found that the “guards” and “inmates” got along and played cards together. The researchers coached the “guards” to turn to brutality. Similarly, the famous novel “Lord of the Flies” leads us to believe that young boys shipwrecked on an island would turn savage against each other to survive. There was, however, a real-world instance of this scenario. The boys actually cooperated quite well ensuring everyone’s survival. Bad things happen in the world, but there’s far more news coverage of those things than of the truth of human kindness. As a lawyer, kindness gets you further in your cases and in life. There are simple things people do regularly to help others. I like carrying $1 bills and water bottles to hand out to people experiencing homelessness. It’s easy for me to do if I’m at the stoplight already, and it gives me a chance to practice being kind to somebody without judging. You are rewarded for kindness, emotionally and spiritually. You reap what you sow; when you plant seeds of generosity and care, they return to you. It can be as simple as smiling at someone, opening the door, wishing someone “good morning,” or letting someone go ahead of you in line. If we can all live with the mantra, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle,” it makes the world that much better for all of us. And, more people are living by that code than it may seem. Humankind Is Kinder Than You Think WHAT IF WE’RE WIRED FOR COMPASSION, NOT CRUELTY?
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. 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 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)! 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!
– Michael Packard
2 PACKARDFIRM.COM
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