Old-fashioned lumberjack hut - Laforêt

This old-fashioned lumberjack hut was built in 2022 on the village square. The hut was on display at the “Lafôret à l'ancienne” festival.

Lumberjacks built huts to sleep in while cutting wood and to protect themselves from bad weather. They could stay for several days or weeks without returning home because they could live 50 or 60 km from the logging site, which was a long way away at the time.

The hut was built using the same methods as 100 years ago. Robert Dinant, a local worker in Laforêt, is the man behind the project. He has been organizing an old-fashioned party for the fight against cancer for years. The hut was built to celebrate this. It is a personal initiative that is close to his heart:

The workers built the hut in the traditional way. Only the tools have changed: a mini excavator to remove the sod and a chainsaw to cut the wood. Everything else was done by hand in less than three days. Starting with the construction of the structure, which requires a certain precision. After the wood pieces were installed as a “teepee,” workers covered the entire base with sod blocks to keep the inside insulated. Tourists are amazed at the quality of the insulation : it works really well, despite temperatures above 30°C it remains cool inside.

The workers then added gorse to make the hut waterproof. The materials, both wood and turf, come from the village.

Although the hut was built in the old-fashioned way, it was preferred to secure the top of the hut with nails and wire so that it would not be dangerous and would last as long as possible.

If the hut does not fall prey to bad weather, it should last a year or two.

This year the festival focuses on old crafts and the hut will be used for a day by the old woodcutters. The entire village will be filled with actors dressed as they were at that time, with their own profession. If you want to discover the village of Laforêt at the end of the 19th century, chat with the old woodcutters, learn about the way farmers worked or buy something in the smugglers' hut without being caught by the gendarmes: then come along on August 21. All in support of cancer research.

Willem Vandenameele