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Homeowners team up with Barnwood Builders to rebuild historic log home

Out of 38 antique log cabins in the Timberidge community, only 8 survived the Sevier County wildfires.  But thanks to some help from the DIY Network's Barnwood Builders, a family is rebuilding their cabin and its history beam by beam. 

Only 8 out of 38 homes in the Timberidge Community survived the Sevier County fires.

They were brought to Sevier County in the early 1980's and made into larger homes all made out of authentic antique wood.

"There are still some pegs that you can see from the old farmers and people who built this structure," said Mark Carter as he toured his new home.

Carter and his wife are moving to Gatlinburg full time from Ohio and are rebuilding with the help of DIY Network's Barnwood Builders.

"I wish the walls would talk. If they could, they would tell an unbelievable story," he added. "We wanted to see the logs. We didn't want to cover any up that's the beauty of the whole house."

The wood is special for so many reasons.

"We didn't want a new log home, we wanted a log home that looks like it's 100 years old," Carter added.

Every beam is antique and authentic.

"They are all from the 1800's so every log that's in this place are old antiques and it's a deed restricted community that says if we rebuild we need to use old logs," he said.

Tom Howard and his family developed Timberidge in the early 80's. They moved old cabins from one of the first settlements west of Appalachia.

“They just came from all over this area and we tagged them and marked them and put them on a truck and put a new foundation in and restacked them and put a roof on them and turned them into a new home," Howard said.

Carter said working with Barnwood Builders has been a pleasure.

"It's just been awesome, they are a great bunch of guys, the film crew is great. The whole process was just A-1," he said.

Each beam brings back the history that once stood here.

"Everything we are putting in there we are trying to do with antiques so if you come here to stay here you've walked back in history 150 years," Carter added.

The history and feel of the community is what draws them back every time.

"We just love the place, we love the mountains, we love Gatlinburg," Carter said with a smile.

The Carter's expect to move into their home by fall which is also when the DIY series plans to air their segment on their new home.

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