Bridgeton
Evening News 
March 16, 1988

Master Architect Oversees
Building of Swedish Cabins

Building a 17th century Swedish log cabin has never been an easy task, but reproducing an exact replica of an early settlement is the project that Swedish architect, Gunnar Zetterqvist, has been charged with.
He takes on the assignment just in time for the April 14 visit to Bridgeton by King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden to commemorate 350 years of Swedish settlement in the Unated States.

Apprentice Åke Frank, one of the three Swedish builders working on the construction of the 17th century farmsteads in preparation for the royal visit April 14, chips away at a stone to be used in the building of the six historic structures soon to be open for the celebration of the 350th annivercary of Swedish settlement in the area.

The six log cabins taking shape off Mayor Aitken Drive include a smoke house, a stable, a barn, a threshing barn, a storage house and the main livin quarters. But not only has Zetterqvist reproduced the cabins, he´s also duplicated the process of hand-selecting the logs and building the historic homes.
Zetterqvist said he did that by researching what type of building materials was available to the first settlers in the Delaware Valley and used the same steps to select the logs for the roof, sides and door of the modern-day cabin.
That resourcefulness of using available, natural materials, Zetterqvist belives, is why the the Indians got along well with the first Swedish/Finnish settlers. Nails weren´t used then, the cabin door is split from the log and mounted on wooden pegs. He and his apprentice, Åke Frank use only basic tools - an ax, hatchet, handsaw and a bark spud in their construction of the farmstead.

By Jo-Ann Williams. Staff Writer