The log cabin is situated in the dense forest. The cabin itself is "a fair house;" it is made of carefully hewn logs of spruce, whose notched ends are fit together "as snugly as though they had grown that way." The roof is constructed from cedar splints fastened down with long poles; the whole covering is protected by a layer of pine boughs. Behind the cabin are a small cornfield, and pumpkin vines growing between stumps of trees.
The cabin has only one room at the beginning of the story; a loft would be added later for the children to sleep in. Inside the cabin are shelves along one wall, and the only piece of furniture is "a sturdy puncheon table with two stools." There are no windows in the cabin as yet. Later, Matt's father had promised he would cut one out and "fasten oiled paper to let in the light;" eventually, the paper itself would be replaced with real glass. Against one wall of the cabin there is a chimney made of logs, "daubed and lined with clay from the creek." The chimney, which is not as safe as a stone chimney, is only temporary. As with the loft and the window, a better one will be made later, but for now, as long as Matt is careful to watch out for flying sparks, the log chimney serves its purpose (Chapter 1).
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