Ode to a Tennessee Cabin

the cabin in it's "hey day"

Over fifteen (possibly twenty) years ago, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Varnell stopped by to build a cabin. Our first "cabin" was a pop-up camper, until Dad convinced his friends to construct a proper cabin for our farm.
Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Varnell were mountain men from Tennessee. Mr. Lawrence was famous for calling Dad in the evening to say "Nighty-Night". He lived on the side of steep mountain in the microscopic community of Flagpond. We visited him every year on our annual trip to fetch Christmas trees. After we ate lunch in a roadside cafe, Mr. Lawrence would let me and Grant ride with him in his conversion van, driving over sixty miles per hour on the winding mountain roads. We were amazed at his incredible ability to engage himself in conversation (completely turning his head to talk to us) while taking the ninety degree turns at record speed. Mr. Lawrence died several years later, and we still stopped by to visit his grave in his front yard.
Mr. Varnell lived just up the road a piece in a small, log cabin built by himself and his sons. Dad always did his best to talk Mr. Varnell and Mr. Lawrence into building a replica Tennessee cabin for him...and it finally worked.
Our farm gatherings always centered around the cabin, where everyone would congregate around the porch on summer evenings, or around the woodstove in the winter.
We eventually made some additions, and put in a bathroom. As the years rolled on, Mom and Dad built a home on the farm and the cabin became more of just a forgotten structure near the wood line. After much debate, Dad finally made the bittersweet decision to demolish the cabin this weekend. A final farewell to our mountain men friends, Terry, and Preacher--who all enjoyed the cabin.