If a Tree Falls in the Woods, Does it Disturb John’s Rest?
Lee Howard and Stephanie Richard
Blowdowns are a common occurrence in the PATC trails world, but when they fall on a PATC cabin, repairs require some creative thinking. In January 2025, an ice storm took out a tree near John’s Rest Cabin, partially damaging the porch roof. Lee Howard, the newly appointed Cabins Operations Committee Chair, and Stephanie Richard, the new Piedmont District Cabins Supervisor, became aware of the situation after reading a newsletter article and renting the cabin later that year (see Tree Work at John’s Rest Cabin), and discussed the situation with cabin co-maintainers Nick Green and Rheannon Burns at the annual Cabin Maintainers’ Meeting. After a lively brainstorming session, the group quickly agreed upon a plan of action to fix the roof and decided that the repair should match the structural and aesthetic integrity of the existing building.
John’s Rest is a reconstructed log cabin on the PerLee/West Tract in Greene County, Va. The cabin was completed and dedicated to the late John Fishbach in 2001, who was an avid hiker and club member from 1976 until his passing in 1992. With financial assistance from the Fishbach family, John’s Rest was built by luminary Robert Humphrey and his crew from logs salvaged from two structures in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A trail along Entry Run connects the 196 acres of PATC-owned land to the Shenandoah National Park, and John’s Rest and Rosser Lamb cabins to hiking trails and the history of Pocosin Mountain.
The first step was to identify a source for the pine log rafters. They say timing is everything, and fortunately, Argow Cabin Co-Maintainer
Bill Bunting had recently mentioned that Po’ Critter Lumber Company in Barboursville, W. Va. wanted to donate some wood to the club. Lee contacted Po’ Critter Proprietor Larry Sappington to explain what was needed and make arrangements, and on Juneteenth, Lee, Stephanie, and Merritt’s Mutton Top Cabin Co-Maintainer
Rob Gilchrist met Larry at his farm to pick up the materials. The lumber yard was a pastoral fever dream—fields carpeted with milkweed and wildflowers, monarchs and swallowtails on the wing, and a soundtrack of birdsong; even the forks of the tractor used to move the logs and lumber had a nest of baby birds in it! The interior of the barn was full of a variety of local woods from Ash to White Oak—all dried onsite in Larry’s kiln—which may be a source for future projects. The team of volunteers thanked Larry for his generosity, loaded up, and left with a trailer full of Maple planks, three 12-foot Shortleaf Pine logs, and various other boards.
The second step of the journey was sustenance. Larry recommended a local soul food restaurant called Coopers Cookin and Catering in Orange, Va., which did not disappoint. Coopers is a living legacy that goes back 200 years in this area. The team didn’t waste the opportunity, and enjoyed a bounty of fried catfish, fried chicken, fried okra, cole slaw, cornbread, and sweet tea.
The third step was to visit Craig Jacobs at Salvagewrights Ltd., an architectural salvage and building company down the road from Coopers. The team suspected he might have some standing seam roofing material that could be used in the John’s Rest repair. Craig is a true craftsman, and has been building log cabins and timber-frame structures for many years. He knows Larry, and the team mentioned picking up a few planks of American Chestnut while at Po’ Critter. Very intrigued, Craig asked to see one and offered to run it through his 24 inch planer. The grain of the chestnut plank was revealed after a couple of passes removed “the consequences of time” from the surface. It was quite an exciting reveal, given the rarity of this species of wood.
Next stop was John’s Rest for the main event. A team of six PATC volunteers worked all day Saturday. John’s Rest Co-Maintainer Nick Green and his brother, SNP Cabins District Supervisor Noah Green, led the demolition of the broken rafters, while Rob Gilchrist and Trout Run School Maintainer
Kent Query debarked the logs with drawknives, and Stephanie used a hatchet to hew the logs. While inspecting a rotten sill log, Lee discovered some extra roofing material that was stored under the cabin, which allowed the project to be done without an additional trip to Salvagewright. A quizzical black rat snake joined the party, although it became apparent she was more interested in rodent control than construction. Our ophidian friend wasn’t the only exterminator on the scene, as a very unnerved wood thrush alerted the team to the presence of a barred owl perched above a little bridge below the cabin when we sat down for dinner.
While the owl and snake were pleasant surprises, a couple of other incidents were received with mixed emotions. On Saturday afternoon a large tree came crashing down somewhere above the cabin. While no one saw it fall, and that tree didn’t present any danger to the cabin, it was a reminder of why we had come to the cabin that weekend. Early Sunday morning Kent was standing on the aforementioned bridge and was astonished to witness two American black bears pop out of the ferns, glance at him, and saunter up the path. These two events had the team pondering old aphorisms such as, “If a tree falls . . .” and “The early bird gets . . .”.
After the excitement of the bears sighting, work resumed with cutting deck boards and slight adjustments to the rafters so that everything fit together nicely, as well as, reinstalling the standing seam roof. Lambert Cabin Co-Maintainer
Forrest Yeager arrived at the perfect moment, as a number of the team members had to pack up for the day. After spending his weekend backpacking in Saint Mary’s Wilderness, he decided to drop by and see how things were progressing. He helped take the project across the finish line by helping Noah tie the roof panels together—seamlessly.
After a very productive weekend, the John’s Rest porch roof has been repaired and this popular cabin is better than ever. John’s Rest is located near Stanardsville, Va., sleeps six, and is situated next to a small river (Entry Run), which is ideal for a primitive cabin getaway. To learn more about this cabin, and how to rent it,
check out this page.