Log Cabin Days returns to Hochstetler Log Homes in Loudonville, Ohio, on Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12.
For anyone thinking about building a log home, it is a chance to see finished homes, learn about the building process and talk directly with people who know log construction. There is plenty to experience beyond homebuilding too, with traditional crafts, homesteading seminars, food and activities for the whole family.
Step Inside Finished Log Homes
One of the highlights of Log Cabin Days is the self-guided Log Home Tour.
Eight Hochstetler log homes are scheduled to open their doors for the 2026 tour, giving visitors a rare opportunity to see how different plans, finishes and ideas come together in finished homes.
Even better, you can talk with the homeowners themselves. Ask about their building experience, what they might do differently and what they enjoy most about living in a log home.
The complete driving tour can take at least six hours, so plan accordingly if you want to visit every home. Registration is available at the Log Home Tour booth during the event, with a suggested donation of $25 per person benefiting the American Cancer Society.
Learn How to Plan and Build a Log Home
If building a log home is somewhere in your future, spend some time at the Log Home Academy.
Workshops throughout both days walk through the major decisions that come with building, including:
- Financing
- Finding property
- Choosing a home style and size
- Arranging your home on the property
- Designing your floor plan
- Choosing the right design
- Understanding the construction process
- Log home maintenance
You can attend the sessions that are most useful to you or work your way through the entire series.
It is a good opportunity to move beyond looking at beautiful finished homes and start understanding what it takes to get one built.
See How Logs Become a Finished Home
New for 2026, visitors will have the opportunity to watch Hochstetler's sawmill and planer in operation.
You can see how the material for a log home moves through the process, beginning with a tree and continuing through sawing, air drying, kiln drying and final milling.
For someone considering a log home, seeing that process firsthand helps put the finished product in perspective. The logs and timbers you see in a completed home begin with careful material selection and preparation long before construction starts.
Watch Traditional Crafts in Action
Log Cabin Days also brings together craftsmen demonstrating skills that would have been familiar around a 19th-century log cabin.
Watch broom making, pottery, wool spinning, rug braiding, wood carving and period furniture making. Craftsmen will also demonstrate traditional woodworking tools and techniques.
You can see logs being hand-hewn and hand-peeled, watch a blacksmith work iron and see vintage steam engines powering a shingle mill and sawmill.
There are opportunities to get involved too. Try your hand at throwing an axe, using a crosscut saw or other lumberjack activities throughout the event.
Learn a Few Homesteading Skills
The Homesteading Tent returns with seminars for anyone interested in becoming a little more self-sufficient.
Topics scheduled for 2026 include gardening, fermented foods, eating from the land, honey production and maple syrup production.
Horse-drawn hay wagon tours add another way to learn. Herb identification tours explore useful plants, while forestry tours offer a closer look at managing your woodland.
Whether you have several acres or simply want to learn a new skill, the seminars offer plenty of practical ideas to take home.
Bring the Family
Log Cabin Days has plenty for younger visitors as well.
Kids can visit the petting zoo, ride the pony-pulled barrel train, sift through shavings for nickels and candy or take a horse-drawn covered wagon ride through the woods.
Food is a big part of the weekend too, with barbecue chicken, the Log Cabin Burger, baked beans, homemade ice cream, fresh apple cider, fry pies and other baked goods.
Come early Saturday and you can start with the Early Bird Breakfast before the day's activities begin.
And at 4 p.m. Saturday, up to three prebuilt cabins and a 16x20 timber pavilion are scheduled to be sold at live auction.
Plan Your Visit to Log Cabin Days
Friday, September 11, 2026
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, September 12, 2026
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Hochstetler Log Homes
552 State Route 95
Loudonville, Ohio 44842
Admission is $5 for adults, with children 12 and under admitted free.
Come for a few hours or make a weekend of it. You can tour homes, learn about building, see craftsmen at work and get a much closer look at what goes into the log home lifestyle.
