Company Summary
Often we are asked how we got into the log home business. It happened quite by accident. When Jimmy Carter went into the White House, I had been a developer and builder in Northern Virginia for several years, with my office on the top floor of the Bank of Vienna building. Four years later, the interest rates had soared, and the economy had soured, we both were looking for a job. I retured to my roots, Lee County, Virginia.
I always knew that someday I would build a log home and it looked like now was as good a time as any. The more brochures I looked through, the more confused I became, with each manufacturer claiming to be the best - I quickly saw their best just wasn't what I wanted, so I decided to build my own.
My dad's Great Grandfather Ambrose Eagle and both his grandfathers, Emmett Eagle and Joseph Williams, were handcrafters and builders of log homes. "Logsmiths", as they were called in those days. With this in mind, Judy and I simply took a framing square, level and common sense and went up the hill to an old log house which had been handcrafted by Ambrose Eagle, and studied the technique he had used - integrating modern technology and a few modifications of our own, devised a near perfect system. Later, it seemed fitting to call our improved design "The Eagle System."
My dad, "Babe" was a retired coal miner and my uncle, Bob Williams, a retired carpenter. Combining their knowledge and expertise in hewing and handcrafting and my experience in construction, we began to build our first log home. The handcrafting was done on site, next to the foundation. The logs were hand hewn, the dovetail corners were notched, then the logs were placed in the wall, one at a time.
When folks saw the handcrafting, hewing, dovetail notches and workmanship, word got around. The response was unreal!! Before our house was finished, we had orders for other log homes, and the rest is history.
Old Virginia Hand Hewn Log Homes, Inc. was born in 1981 with the goal to continue an American heritage - handcrafting authentic, Appalachian style log homes - continuing a family tradition.
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