Disaster avoided
by Bobby Maynard
Worsham family credits their log home’s solid construction with saving their lives.
Linda Worsham knew that severe storm warnings were in effect on the night of Feb. 5, 2008, for the Macon County area of Tennessee. But safe and secure inside her Honest Abe log home outside the city of Lafayette, she never thought she would be in the destructive tornado’s direct path.
“Before the tornado, I used to love storms,” said Worsham. “I loved being in my cabin and hearing the rain and wind outside. With our home nestled in a valley, it never occurred to me that we’d take a direct hit. But all at once that night, the pressure inside the house changed, and the wind sounded different.”
Worsham’s log home, which was located in Macon County about 50 miles northeast of Nashville, was in one of the hardest hit areas of the string of storms that killed nearly 60 people nationwide.
“My husband, adult son and I were in the home on that night,” recalled Worsham. “When the storm hit, I braced myself in the enclosed hallway holding onto a doorframe. My husband, who is disabled, was in one of the bedrooms in a hospital bed, and our son was in the basement. It happened so quickly that we didn’t even feel the house move.”
The Worshams’ log home was lifted off of its basement foundation and moved 12 feet to the right and 4 feet forward. The home’s wraparound porches were detached, and the large stone fireplace and chimney collapsed. The log walls and heavy timber roof system remained intact.
“When the tornado moved the house, the basement garage walls and decks collapsed, and the back portion of the house fell to the ground,” said Worsham. “The doors and windows blew out, and the inside of the house looked like the contents had gone through a blender, but all of the log walls held together.”
Before the tornado, the Worshams’ log home was a gorgeous 2,000 square- foot custom Honest Abe model that was completed in 1998. The home featured three bedrooms, a large cathedral ceiling in the living room and custom kitchen cabinetry fashioned to look like antique furniture. Constructed out of solid Eastern White Pine logs with an interlocking dovetail design, Worsham said the log home’s sturdy construction and materials saved her and her family’s lives.
“A frame house would have been a pile of splinters,” said Worsham. “Three people and a cat came out of the debris with nothing more than a few scratches and bruises. I haven’t yet been able to grieve for the loss of our home – I’m just so grateful that no one was seriously injured. I truly believe that the solid log walls saved us.”
With the home not habitable, Worsham said she and her family have no immediate plans to rebuild and have since relocated to Sumner County. However, they are retaining their property in Macon County and the log home’s foundation in case they decide to rebuild in the future.
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