The A.D. Thompson Cabin was constructed in 1906. A.D. Thompson was a wealthy grain broker and director of the Northern Railroad from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Seeking a summer vacation home in Wisconsin’s North Woods, the log cabin near Gordon in Douglas County provided a perfect haven for Thompson and his wife and son. As the logging and lumbering business began to decline in northern Wisconsin beginning in the late nineteenth century, recreational opportunities provided by the area’s abundant rivers, lakes, and forests led to the birth of the North Woods tourism industry. Wealthy businessmen like A.D. Thompson from cities like Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago began buying land to build summer retreats.

The Rustic style of these vacation homes drew inspiration from the pioneer-era log cabins that had become an integral part of the national identity. Though constructed with local logs and stone in remote and natural settings, Rustic summer cabins of the early twentieth century expanded upon these characteristics, and often featured more distinctive architectural details as well as larger and more complex floor plans.

The A.D. Thompson Cabin is an excellent example of a recreational retreat in the Rustic style; constructed of heavy logs laid in a Scandinavian saddle notch with a massive central stone chimney, the cabin also features curved corner notching, a screened veranda that wraps around two sides of the cabin, and an open floor plan which emphasizes both the raw materials of the building as well as the meticulous craftsmanship used to construct it. The site also contains a children’s bunkhouse, a woodshed, and an outhouse, which further demonstrate the property’s historic use as a recreational retreat.

The home is privately owned; please respect their privacy.