Log construction began in the Scandinavian region before the Bronze Age. The first structures were simple rectangular buildings made of horizontally-laid round logs with corner notching. This Basic form known as “Single Crib” or “Single Pen” has remained unchanged from as early as 10,000-8,000 BC and is ancestor to all of today’s log constructions.

The log-based structures were unknown in America until Europeans began to settle in Delaware and Maryland in 1638. The first log structures to be erected in the American Colonies were the English “Garrison houses” and Dutch “Blockhouses” of New England. Horizontal log houses, traditional in northern Europe, were well suited to the new, heavily-timbered American landscape, and were quickly adopted by other colonists and Native Americans.
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In the 1920s, the first milled log houses appeared on the market, using logs that were precut and shaped, rather than hand-hewn. Most log homes today are of milled variety mostly because they require less labor intensive field work and there are many more options available than with handcrafted alone. [Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_home]