Log Home Restoration in Crawfordville, FL

Log Homes in Crawfordville and Wakulla County

Wakulla County was established in 1843, and in 1866 the county seat moved from Newport to Crawfordville. After an arsonist burned the first courthouse in 1892, builders George Washington Tully and Thomas McGlynn built a new one from native heart pine. It's a wood-frame building, not a log one, but it shows how well local timber holds up: when a masonry courthouse was planned in 1948, the old building was winched about 500 feet across the site on giant roller logs, and observers noted it didn't sag, crack or show any strain. It still stands, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Those same pine woods drove the local economy for decades. From the early 1900s until the 1950s, Wakulla County depended on its longleaf pine forests to fuel turpentine stills and sawmills, and a few "cat-faced" trees cut for resin still survive in yards and fencerows. Log homes in Crawfordville, Woodville, Sopchoppy and Panacea sit in that same pine country, and closer to the Gulf than most.

What Crawfordville's Climate Does to a Log Home

• Heavy rain. There's no NOAA climate-normals station in Wakulla County. The nearest one, at Tallahassee Regional Airport about 15 miles north, averages about 59 inches of rain a year.
• Rain piles up in summer. June, July and August together bring about 22½ inches at that station.
• Storm surge. During Hurricane Helene in 2024, a USGS sensor at Shell Point Beach measured water 6.53 feet above the normal high-tide line, and surge flooding reached 5 to 7 feet above ground from the Econfina River west to the Ochlockonee River.
• Water reaches inland. NWS survey crews found Helene high-water marks 2 to 3 feet above ground in St. Marks.
• It's happened before. After Hurricane Michael in 2018, a USGS team measured a high-water mark 7.9 feet above ground in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, just southeast of Crawfordville.
• Termites. Native subterranean termites are found statewide, and they need moisture to survive.

What That Means for Your Log Home

Near the coast, water is the main enemy, whether it falls as rain or comes in with a storm. Wash your logs once a year with soft brushes and a low-pressure rinse, never a pressure washer, and plan on a UV protective coat about every third year, as appropriate. Keep bottom logs dry and off the soil, and keep mulch and plants back from the walls so the lower logs can dry out. After any hurricane or tropical storm, walk around the house and look for high-water lines, soaked or soft bottom logs, cracked chinking and debris against the walls. Rot starts in wood that stays wet, and termites follow it, so it pays to catch problems early.

Related services: Log Rot Repair · Log Home Inspections · Maintenance Plans

Climate figures: NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Tallahassee Regional Airport (nearest station). Storm details: National Hurricane Center. History: Old Wakulla County Courthouse historical marker, FNAI, Visit Wakulla. Termites: UF/IFAS.