Getaway Cabins: Eastern White Pine Retreats in Charlotte, North Carolina

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With the global pandemic limiting travel, domestic vacations and road trips are the way to go – for now, at least. A company called Getaway makes it easy and affordable to escape into nature for some relaxation or reconnection with a loved one. They have 80 small cabins situated in clusters of 20-30 on woodlands outside major cities like Boston, New York, Washington DC, Charlotte and Los Angeles. 

Eastern White Pine Getaway Cabins

Their newest cabins, Getaway Asheboro, are set in North Carolina and made with Eastern White Pine. All feature giant picture windows, kitchenettes, private bathrooms, campfire circles and views of the trees. Each cabin is set at least 40 feet from the next, offering a place where guests can immerse themselves in nature as effortlessly as possible. There’s no wifi, so you’ll want to bring your books, art projects, notebooks or just your desire to veg out in a distraction-free space. In fact, a latched box inside each cabin encourages you to put away your phone for the duration of your visit.

Eastern White Pine Getaway Cabins bed

Inside, all that Eastern White Pine creates a space that feels clean, airy and harmonious with the setting. You’ll find a dorm-size refrigerator, two-burner stove, cookware and some basic grocery items like oatmeal and pasta, a shower, a toilet and a comfy bed. Each cabin measures about 8 by 20 feet and costs $100-$200 per night, and access is provided by a punch code received online prior to your visit.

Eastern White Pine Getaway Cabins loft

Cabins are available with enough space to sleep two to four people, and you can reserve several adjacent cabins for larger groups, though founders Pete Davis and Jon Staff say this isn’t the place for parties; the use of “indoor voices” is recommended.

Check them out at Getaway.House.

This Tiny Pine-Lined Cabin is a Haven for Alpine Hikers

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Living full-time in a tiny house isn’t for everyone, but there are lots of opportunities to see for yourself what it feels like to stay in one overnight. Once rare, tiny house rentals are available just about everywhere now. But would you have imagined that you can hike to one hidden all the way up in the Italian Alps?

Architects Andrea Cassi and Michele Versace built a modern black mountain shelter with a prefabricated metal exterior and all-pine interior, designed to shelter hikers in an extreme landscape. Because its exterior is black, it will stand out even in high snow levels in the winter, so it’s easy to find. The color also helps heat up the interior.

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The designers chose pine because it’s easy to work with, affordable, readily available and infuses the interior with a fresh, pleasant scent. It’s also the material traditionally used in the Alpine tradition to make cradles and bedroom surfaces. The inside is simple and minimalist, featuring stepped surfaces on either side of a table that can be used as seats or beds.

“In physics a black body is an ideal object that totally absorbs the energy, re-irradiating it in the surrounding environment. Leaning on a small pass beneath the last slopes near the summit,  Bivacco Matteo Corradini is a dark prism with an hexagonal profile, nestled in the alpine landscape. A metal shell capable of protecting it from high altitude extreme weather conditions and absorbing the maximum solar radiation. Materials and volumes have been designed in relation to the landscape: steep crests of dark rock from which grassy slopes and rocks develop, completely covered with snow in the winter season. A discreet interference that, like an inhabited land art work, defines unexpected points of view in the natural landscape.”

“The interior of the bivouac is composed of a system of wooden steps that develop on the two short sides of the building, around a central table. The six wooden steps, three on each side, become beds for the night while, during the day, they define a system of seats overhanging the slope of the mountain. A cosy, welcoming, and convivial nest: a meeting place at 3000 meters above sea level, for the community of mountaineers.”

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Designed as modules that can be easily assembled on site, these wooden elements were built and partially pre-assembled in the workshop, then transported by helicopter and reassembled on the mountain. The shelter, known as the Matteo Corroding bivouac, is located a few meters from the Dormillouse summit in the upper Valle di Susa. It’s a popular destination for ski mountaineering and offers incredible views year-round.

Custom Adirondack Cabins: Eastern White Pine Tiny Houses

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The popularity of so-called ‘tiny houses,’ compact residences that are typically cheap to build and don’t require a mortgage, is more than just a passing trend. Thousands of people around the world are realizing they can live with less, downsizing into a small home to avoid the stack of bills that usually comes with home ownership. But we’re not talking about synthetic factory-produced trailers. Tiny houses can be even more impeccably crafted than conventional homes.

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Adirondack White Pine Cabins is one of many companies building tiny portable cabins that are easy to ship to your desired destination. Made of Eastern White Pine, they’re designed to withstand the harsh climactic conditions of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, and can be completely customized in terms of window layouts and styles, door locations, fixtures, stain colors, flooring and appliances.

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Just a few of these cabins are hand-crafted each year in the company’s New York facility. Optional features include full lofts with stairways, porches, gable roofs, built-in furniture and electric fireplaces. Most cabins start at roughly 400 square feet, with porches adding additional space.

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The cabins come fully equipped with four axles and a removable toe tongue so you can have it professionally moved at any time. Prices start at just $30,000.