| Mountain Madness is located just 90 miles from Atlanta, nestled in the Northeast Georgia mountains, only 4 miles from Alpine Helen. Our sixty acres border the 700,000 acre Chattahoochee National Forest. Privacy and seclusion are the products that Mountain Madness offers. Each cabin is located on at least one full acre of property that has been left as natural as possible. Mountain Madness maintains an "adults only" policy at our primary location. |
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Mountain Madness is the largest collection of Timber frame structures in the area. Timber framing is a construction technique that originated in the earliest times of the building of human dwellings. Huge trees were felled, dragged from the forests and hand hewn into square and rectangular shapes. Massive timbers are joined into a structural framework without using metal fasteners of any kind. Hand cut furniture quality mortise and tenon and dovetail notches were anchored with wooden pegs to create both beautiful and lasting buildings. As the craft progressed each geographical area developed its own unique style of timber framing. By the 1600s the heart of timber framing, wooden joinery, was a secret profession of the craft guilds. Only apprentices who would dedicate many years of their lives were taught this centuries old art form. Unlike the frame carpentry of today, the work of timber framers remain visible for all to see.
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The success of this form of construction is evident in the millions of timber framed buildings around the world built in the Middle Ages and still in use today. Many have noticed sturdy timbers providing a sense of strength and warmth in many colonial homes and churches of New England. In the mid-1800s the craft of timber framing began to disappear as a means of mass-producing nails was invented. This, combined with community sawmills that produced small pieces of lumber that could be easily fastened together spelled the demise of the craft. The shortage of timber joiners brought about the lightweight construction system known today as platform framing of "stud construction". |
In the early 1970's the task of rediscovering the craft of timber framing began as old buildings were dismantled and joinery secrets were revealed. The new popularity of this ancient art seems due to folks looking for the Old World quality and attention to detail found in a finely crafted timber frame home or cabin.
We at Georgia Mountain Madness are proud to display the quality craftsmanship found in traditional timber framed cabins.
