Built From Memory
Log homes house many happy childhood memories for Charles and Margaret Ondrick. Margaret reminisces about visits to an aunt’s log home in Michigan. Charles remembers the great stone fireplace in the log cabin where his family stayed during fishing trips in Canada.
One day the Ondricks dreamed of owning a luxury log home their children and grandchildren could make memories in, too. Town + Country Cedar Homes helped make that wish a reality.
After searching five years for the perfect plot of land, the couple found five secluded acres flanked by a nature preserve along the shores of Lake Charlevoix on Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. It was there that the Ondrick’s built their 4,300-square-foot retreat that has become the center for family vacations and holiday get-togethers.
The Ondrick’s came up with a custom floorplan and crafted the home from White Cedar logs. The Town + Country wall system allowed for more interior space than conventional log construction, which the couple filled with special tributes to homes from their past. The Michigan home features radial bays, for example, that mimic the sea captain’s ship watches found in the Ondrick family home along New York’s Hudson River. Charles, a geologist, even rebuilt the massive, masterpiece fireplace from his family’s fishing cottage with Michigan glacial stone and a log mantel.
Some say you can’t go home again. Inspired by the log homes of their childhood, Charles and Margaret Ondrick have built a place of their own to make memories in for many years to come.
