Two's Better Than One

Maryland family treasures their log cabins in Ohio.

- Janice Brewster

One weekend trip to the Hocking Hills area of southeastern Ohio set Maryland residents Elizabeth and Vince Fortunato on their way to owning not one but two getaway cabins.

They loved Hocking Hills for its natural beauty, outdoor activities – and the break from their hectic lives as IT professionals near Washington D.C. On their Ohio visit, they stayed in a log cabin built by The Jubach Company, a nearby developer and log home builder. “We’d already been toying with the idea of buying a cabin,” Elizabeth says. Before the weekend was over, they were touring cabins and ready to own one themselves.

In 2012, the couple purchased a spec cabin with one bedroom and a loft that Jubach had already built. Once they were settled in to their new cabin, they noticed the land adjacent was sitting empty. “We didn’t want anyone to build there,” Elizabeth recalls, so they notified The Jubach Company, which was developing the area, that they would buy the property if it ever became available. When it did in 2014, the couple purchased it, but their plan to leave the site untouched changed.

“We were hosting Thanksgiving at the initial cabin, and it was a tight fit,” Elizabeth says. Eight people spending the weekend meant someone had to sleep on an air mattress and another on the sofa. She and Vince considered adding a very simple cabin – just an extra bedroom, really – to the property. “That’s how it started …,” she says.

To the drawing board

The simple bunkhouse idea morphed into a full-blown cabin that would be 2,000 square feet and retain the casual feel of a hunting lodge. “This one is more cozy,” Elizabeth explains. “We wanted it to be more traditional.”