(a 5 minute read)

A photo-essay for readers who frequently ask about Pinebox, my North Georgia mountain cabin.


A Visit to Pinebox: My Mountain Cabin 1


Pinebox: My Mountain Cabin


I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.

—Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek, 1942

UPDATE: Pinebox was sold in July of 2022, after serving 19 wonderful years as my mountain getaway. This post will remain live for memories and posterity.

The road trip I have made more than any other averages nine and a half hours one way. That drive is from my home in Central Florida to Pinebox, my log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. As I write, I can hardly believe it has been almost eleven years since God blessed me with my own little piece of heaven, and for that I am eternally grateful. I first fell in love with the mountains in childhood when my family would travel to my grandfather’s cabin in Franklin, North Carolina, for summer vacation. It was not until adulthood, however, that I realized a mountain cabin was the one thing I wanted most in the world.

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I looked at properties off and on for several years in both North Carolina and North Georgia, but was never able to find anything I could afford. Finally, in November of 2003, we found a built-on-spec log cabin sitting on a wooded one-acre mountainside lot that appeared to be tailor-made for me. I believe it was. We closed on New Year’s Eve 2003, and they handed me the keys to my own “small place of enchantment.”

Pinebox Log Cabin

This post is a photo essay primarily for our readers who are also friends and family members, who frequently ask about the cabin but have never seen it in pictures nor visited in person. So, let’s begin the grand tour . . . .


Outdoors


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Welcome to Pinebox!

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My lot sits in a mixed pine and hardwood forest.

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Sunset through the trees.

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Let’s go inside.

 


Indoors Main Floor


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The Rawlings quote hangs on my kitchen wall.

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The kitchen area.

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My soda bottle collection.

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The living area from the loft.

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Wood-burning fireplace and entertainment center.

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Master bedroom.

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Mountain memorabilia, including my grandfather’s box camera.

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Master bath.

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My antique medicine bottle collection.

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Laundry area.

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Now, let’s head upstairs.

 


Indoors Upstairs


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Guest bedroom.

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View from the upstairs bedroom.

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Guest bath.

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My favorite secluded toilet niche.

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The loft.

 


Upper Porch


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Let’s go out on the upper porch.

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Nothing like rocking and relaxing on the porch.

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The Georgia pines are filling in, making the mountain cove even more secluded.

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Hummingbird feeders make the porch even more engaging.

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Who feels like a nap?

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Porch time with my best buddy Axle.

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View from the opposite end.

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A summer flower box brightens the porch.

Pinebox Log Cabin Scripture

Working on re-burning the cabin scripture from a decade ago.

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One of the custom screen doors.

 


Basement and Garage


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Let’s go check out the basement.

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Yep, it’s a basement!

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I only park the car in the garage for packing the night before I head south.

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The lower porch.

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My nephew. Can’t believe it has been ten years . . . .

 


Seasons


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Naturalized daffodils in the spring.

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The upper porch in autumn.

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Snowed-in December 2010.

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“We’ll leave the light on for you . . . .”


We Would Love to Hear from You!


I enjoy dialogue with my readers, especially when they share their favorite spots off the beaten path. So where is the “small place of enchantment” you turn it? Even if it is a spot hidden in plain site, I would love to hear about it! I invite you to leave your comments and questions below, and I always respond!


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A Visit to Pinebox_ My Mountain Cabin-3

A Visit to Pinebox: My Mountain Cabin 2
 Howard Blount is founder and co-owner of the travel blog BackroadPlanet.com. He has traveled internationally since boyhood and lived abroad in Mexico, Chile, and Paraguay. Now his passion is navigating the roads-less-traveled of this amazing planet in search of anything rare and remote. On the stuffy side, “Mr. Blount” has been a writer, consultant, and published author with the likes of Simon & Schuster and McGraw-Hill. Although his road trips are financed by his day job as a middle school teacher, Howard would much rather be doing anything that includes mountains, waterfalls, dachshunds, gospel choirs, books, restored classic movies on Blu-ray, HDTV, autumn, sandhill cranes, hot springs, Florida springs, rain and other gloomy weather, log cabins, cracker shacks, abandoned sites, unearthed history, genealogy, museums, documentaries, To Kill a Mockingbird, scenic and historical sites, castles, cathedrals, the Civil War, cold sheets, National and State Park Passports, quotes, the Rambos, Dionne Warwick, Steely Dan, Doobies, Diet Pepsi, Fish City Grill, anything Apple, all things British, Jesus, and lists. And on a random note, Howard is a fourth cousin once removed to Truman Capote.

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