For the past several years, Decorah native Paul Cutting has driven the back roads of Winneshiek County in search of Norwegian-built log houses. Join Cutting at 7 p.m. Monday January 9 at Decorah Public Library to learn the basics of Norwegian-American building tradition through a lively discussion and slideshow highlighting some of the area's last remaining structures. Of the many hundreds or perhaps thousands of log buildings constructed around Winneshiek County, only a small fraction survive today. Learn about the geographic areas with high concentrations of log buildings still extant, and conservation strategies that may be used to preserve them.

Presenter Paul Cutting has located and documented dozens of log houses in the Decorah area. He has deconstructed several such buildings and is currently in the process of rebuilding his fourth: a large Norwegian-American three room house taken from outside Rushford, MN. For the past two years Cutting has worked for Colorado Preservation, Inc. of Denver rehabilitating several log houses and outbuildings on US Forest Service lands.