In the Ozarks, cabins were often made from white oak, black walnut, shortleaf pine and sometimes Ozark chinquapin wood. In other areas of the United States, wood choices included cedar, spruce, cypress, American chestnut, redwood, and fir.
It helps to understand what a cabin builder looked for in raw material. First, the wood needed to be abundant near the construction site. The trees needed to be straight, tall and relatively limb free for about 10-15 feet. That is a tall order – pun intended.
The size dictated the age of the wood which had an added benefit. Older trees have more heartwood than sapwood. Many trees have heartwood that is rot resistant which fights off breakdown due to fungal infection. As a bonus, heartwood tends to shrink less as it seasons and is more stable to contraction and expansion with the climate. Those older trees, with greater amounts of heartwood, have more of what makes them valuable to a cabin dweller. Young trees have more sapwood which lacks the benefits of heartwood in cabin construction.

This explains why white oak and walnut were favored in pioneer home construction. Both have rot resistance, can grow straight and tall. To make them even better choices, the logs from each species have tyloses in their fibers which are cells that make the wood waterproof. Coopers used to make watertight containers like barrels, casks, mugs, butter churns and more from wood that had tyloses. Watertight wood is less susceptible to rot with water being the crucial element for bacteria and fungus to do their dirty work.

Today, it might seem unimaginable that Ozark chinquapins were used for home construction. Most trees are dwarfed by comparison to their 80 feet predecessors. Even the skeletal like remains on the forest floor are gnarly pieces of work. However, we know from scientists that pre-blight chinquapin trees were in the forest canopy with other species.

According to Fred Paillet in his book Ozark Forest Forensics, “…Ozark chinquapin was fully as large as surrounding trees on the relatively dry and exposed ridgetop habitats that the tree preferred . . .” Many of the chinquapin trees in Paillet’s research were crooked making a long straight log uncommon, but possible. Site conditions influence tree growth habits.
Paillet also indicates how land survey data mentioning witness tree information showed that the Ozark chinquapin was once as common as ash or maple trees in the nineteenth century.

When it comes to wood characteristics, the Ozark chinquapin worked well when “green” (unseasoned or undried) and was hard like oak when seasoned. Furthermore, the heartwood was rot resistant making it ideal for anything facing the weather. It wasn’t the only choice for Ozarks home builders, but it had a lot going for it. Another characteristic that favored its use was the potential to split the wood. Chinquapin wood splits well which made it useful for fence construction, and for shingles. Shingles in the Ozarks were typically made of Eastern red cedar, post oak or white oak. Ozark chinquapin wood was commonly used for shingles as well. Wooden shingles split and shaved to proper thickness were known as “shakes” with a cedar shake roof lasting roughly 10-20 years. The longer the roof lasted the better.