Polk County
Living
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 24, 2015 7A
From the great room to
the bedrooms, the the-
ater room and gas fire-
places, Fern Hill Lodge
offers an escape from
everyday life. Guests
may choose to unplug
and enjoy the wilder-
ness of the foothills of
Monmouth, or connect
to the free WiFi and keep
current on the world
outside this magical
place. The lodge is avail-
able as a vacation home
and sleeps up to 20. It is
perfect for any group
gathering, from family
reunions to business
trips, from wine tours to
athletic team getaways.
EMILY MENTZER
/Itemizer-Observer
Log cabin vacation home
Fern Hill Lodge has the amenities you need for a short trip or long stay
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Tucked
away in the hills of the out-
skirts of Monmouth lays a
paradise years in the mak-
ing.
Fer n Hill Lodge sits
serenely on the top of a 25-
acre property that expands
out into an open valley.
Everywhere you turn — out-
side or inside the log
home — has been lovingly
crafted into a welcoming,
peaceful space.
Polly McCrea and her hus-
band, Jerry, built the 5,300-
square-feet log cabin from
the ground up. It wasn’t an
easy task from the start.
“I tell people it was a real-
ly big craft project,” Polly
McCrea said, smiling.
First, the McCreas had to
design the home for the nar-
row stretch of property. De-
signing a home was not
something Polly McCrea had
ever wanted to do because
“you have to live in it,” she
said. Often, something you
think would be nice in a
home turns out not to be
great to live with afterward,
she noted.
After studying thousands
of designs in magazines and
online, she and her husband
decided to do something
different.
“This hillside has such a
nice view, we needed a long
skinny house to take advan-
tage of that,” she said. “We
came up with this (floor
plan) on our own.”
Next came trips to Mon-
tana, where the logs were
cut and assembled into the
home. Contractors built the
first and second floors sepa-
rately in Montana, disas-
sembled and labeled them,
and sent them to Mon-
mouth via log trucks to be
reassembled.
“A log truck came every
day for three days,” McCrea
recalled. “We hired all our
neighbors. They were like
boys with Lincoln Logs.”
All the logs from one truck
had to be pinned — or
placed — before the next
truck arrived the next day.
“The logs went up in
about a week,” McCrea said.
“Then the real work started.”
Once the logs were in
place, Jerry cut doors and
windows with a chain saw
while Polly got to work
staining and chinking — the
sealing of the space between
each log, inside and out. The
process is similar to grouting
tile, on a much grander
scale.
When Polly’s husband got
cancer and died in December
of 2013, Polly didn’t want to
live in the large home alone.
Her sons suggested turn-
ing it into a vacation rental
home.
“We thought, who would
come out to the boonies?”
Polly recalled. “I put it on the
Hand-built
home away from
home
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Polly McCrea and her husband Jerry built the 5,300-square-feet log cabin home in the
summers of 2007 and 2008. She lovingly refers to it as “a really big craft project.”
market on VRBO (Vacation
Rentals by Owner) and im-
mediately started getting
bookings. We were booked
through the summer. I
thought, I guess people do
want to come out to the
boonies.”
Turns out, Monmouth is
the perfect location for a lot
of reasons. In addition to
being fairly close to the
beach, shopping in Salem or
Portland, Willamette winer-
ies and hiking at Silver Creek
Falls State Park, many peo-
ple planning vacations enjoy
the solitude.
“A lot of people want to
play games, eat and recon-
nect,” Polly said. “They tell
me, ‘if we’re out at the beach
or Disneyland, everyone
takes off.’”
But at Fern Hill, a large
hot tub, fully stocked pond
and outdoor fire pit — with
wood for each night — in-
vite groups to be still, enjoy-
ing each other and nature.
Inside sleeps 20 people. A
great room features a river
rock fireplace and comfort-
able seating. The kitchen is
cleverly designed to accom-
modate large groups coming
and going.
A home theater room in-
cludes a projector, screen,
hookups for a laptop, VCR
and DVD players, and, of
course, a popcorn machine.
Guests vary in where they
come from and why they
choose Fern Hill, ranging
from family reunions, busi-
ness meetings, wine tours
and retreats.
No matter what your rea-
son for staying, everything
you need or might want is at
W hat: Fer n Hill
L o d g e , Va c a t i o n
Home.
Where: 6000 Fern
Hill Road, Monmouth.
Amenities: Six bed-
rooms plus loft, four
bath, 5,300-square-
feet home for vacation
rental on 25 acres.
Beds for 20. Wifi, gour-
met kitchen, gas fire-
places, theater room
with 10-foot screen
and seating for 18, Wii,
exercise room, Ping
Pong table, games,
large hot tub, fire pit,
stocked fishing pond
with row boat.
Rates: $500-$600
per night, two-night
minimum. Varies with
holidays.
Of note: Don’t for-
get to say hello to Jere-
miah the bullfrog, who
has made the goldfish
pond his home for
four years after being
hand-raised by Polly.
More information:
www.vrbo.com/55759
8, or find the business
on Facebook. Email
Polly at fernhillpol-
ly@gmail.com, or call
her at 503-930-3080.
Fern Hill Lodge.
“All you need to bring is
food and clothes,” Polly said.
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
A large fireplace is the centerpiece of the great room. It
is hand-crafted with river rock and adorned with various
keepsakes from Polly and Jerry McCrea, including fish
and other items collected by the husband and wife.
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
A fully-stocked fishing pond waits for guests to explore on row boats. The pond is catch-and-release.