A hand-built log cabin on ten wooded acres near Daniel Boone National Forest

Some homes are built to impress the street. This one was built to slip into the trees. You reach it at the end of Tom Cat Trail, where the pavement gives way to a shaded approach and the first thing you notice is how quiet it gets.

The cabin was custom built in 1982 and it has aged the way good log homes do, settling into its setting rather than fighting it. There are 2,173 square feet of living space across one and a half stories, all of it sitting on 10.48 acres of private, wooded land in Laurel County. That combination of real square footage, real acreage, and a price just under the regional average is the part that tends to stop people scrolling. At 115 dollars per square foot, with no homeowners association and an annual tax bill under a thousand dollars, the math here looks very different from a tract house in town. If you have been weighing a place like this against building something new, our breakdown of what a barndominium costs to build is a useful comparison point.

What follows is a walk through the property the way you would actually experience it, from the road, through the front door, up the stairs, and back out across the land.

The approach and the setting

The lot is described as secluded and wooded, with many mature trees, and the photos back that up. The home sits well off the road, screened by timber on multiple sides, which is exactly what most buyers picture when they say they want land. There is chain link fencing in places, the property is cleared for horses if you want them, and there is enough open ground around the structures to garden, park equipment, or simply let kids and dogs run.

A metal roof tops the home, which is a quiet selling point on a rural property. Metal handles weather well, sheds snow and rain, and tends to outlast asphalt shingle by decades, so it is one less thing to budget for in the near future. The structure rests on a block and pier foundation over a crawl space, the traditional build for a cabin of this era.

Inside the great room

Step through the door and the house makes its case immediately. Rich hardwood floors run underfoot, authentic log walls wrap the space, and heavy wood beams cross the ceiling overhead. This is not a faux finish or a log look applied over drywall. The walls are the structure, and that texture is the whole reason to buy a place like this.

The great room is the heart of the home and it lives up to the name. At its center is a masonry fireplace fitted with an insert, which makes a real difference in how a cabin holds heat. An open hearth looks the part but loses warmth up the chimney. An insert turns that same fireplace into an efficient heat source, which matters on the crisp evenings this part of Kentucky is known for. The room is open and bright, with the kind of volume that beamed ceilings give you for free.

The kitchen and dining area

The kitchen carries the same handmade character as the rest of the home. The cabinetry is hand crafted rather than ordered from a catalog, and custom doors throughout add to that one of a kind feeling. A breakfast bar gives you a casual place to eat and gather, and the layout is set up as an eat in kitchen, so there is room to actually live in the space rather than just cook and leave.

Just off the kitchen sits a dedicated dining area, part of the open main floor that connects the cooking, eating, and living spaces into one easy flow. A dishwasher is included, and the laundry hookups for a washer and electric dryer are already in place. For a cabin, the kitchen is surprisingly practical, and the craftsmanship gives it a warmth that newer builds spend a lot of money trying to imitate.

A flexible main floor

One of the smarter features here is the den just off the dining room. It is a room that can become whatever you need it to be. Work from home and it is an office. Want a quiet second sitting room and it fills that role. Need a bedroom on the ground floor for a guest, a parent, or anyone who would rather skip the stairs, and it handles that too. Flexible space like this is what makes a modestly sized home feel much larger in daily use.

The main level also includes a utility room with a half bath, which keeps the everyday mess of coming in from outside contained near the door instead of tracking through the house. On a working rural property, where you are in and out with firewood, garden tools, and muddy boots, that placement earns its keep.

Upstairs bedrooms

The second floor was originally drawn as a four bedroom plan, but the current owner reworked it into two generously sized bedrooms instead. It is a trade most people will appreciate. Rather than four small boxes, you get two roomy, comfortable sleeping quarters, each with its own charming window seat and a large closet. The window seats are the kind of detail that does not show up on a spec sheet but makes a room memorable, a built in spot to read, watch the weather move across the trees, or just sit.

A full bathroom serves the upper level, joining the half bath downstairs to give the home its two bathrooms. Heating is handled in a practical, zoned way that suits the layout. The main floor runs on forced air propane heat, while the second level uses efficient electric space heating, so you can keep the bedrooms comfortable without overworking the whole system.

Porches for every part of the day

If the great room is the heart of the home, the porches are its soul. A covered front porch runs the full length of the house, long enough for a row of rocking chairs and a porch swing with room to spare. It faces shaded, serene views, and it is built for the slow part of the morning, coffee in hand, before the day gets going.

Around back there is a cozy covered rear porch as well, a quieter spot to wind down in the evening and listen to the sounds of the woods. Between the two, you can follow the shade and the breeze around the house through the day, which is one of the real luxuries of owning a place with this much surrounding land and so little surrounding noise.

The detached garage and workshop

Beyond the house, a detached two car garage building does a lot of heavy lifting. It is not just covered parking. It includes a dedicated workshop area and extra storage, which gives you a real place to keep tools, work on projects, and stash all the gear that comes with country living. For anyone who tinkers, builds, or maintains their own equipment, that separate workshop is a feature worth paying for on its own.

The property also lists additional structures, including a shed and other outbuildings, so there is room to store a mower, a tractor, seasonal equipment, and the overflow that never quite fits in a garage. Add the driveway and uncovered parking, and you are not short on space to keep vehicles, trailers, or a project or two.

Ten acres to call your own

The land is the headline here, and ten and a half acres is enough to do real things with. It is enough to keep horses, which the listing confirms is allowed. It is enough to plant a serious garden, build out trails, run a tree line for privacy, or simply hold as a buffer between you and the rest of the world. Much of it is wooded, which means shade, firewood, and the steady backdrop of birdsong that pulls people out of the city in the first place.

Utilities are set up the way you expect on rural acreage. The home is on public water and connected electricity, with a septic tank handling waste and a leased propane tank fueling the forced air heat. That mix gives you the reliability of public water with the independence of being on your own land, without the surprises that sometimes come with a private well.

Living in Laurel County

The location is the rare kind that gives you privacy without isolation. You are minutes from the pristine 5,600 acre Laurel River Lake and the hiking trails, fishing spots, and recreation of the Daniel Boone National Forest, so the kind of weekend that other people drive hours for is essentially in your backyard. At the same time, easy access to Interstate 75 keeps the shopping, schools, and services of downtown London within reach.

For travel further out, the property sits roughly one hour south of Lexington and about thirty minutes north of Corbin by way of I-75. That puts a regional airport, a university town, and a full slate of city amenities within an easy drive, while you come home to ten acres of quiet at the end of the day. It is the balance most land buyers are chasing and rarely find at this price.

4497 Tom Cat Trail, London, Kentucky 40741

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The details that matter

Meet your agent

Dr. Misty Lewis

PharmD, MHA, BS · REALTOR® · CENTURY 21 Advantage Realty

More than a move. A trusted partner every step of the way.

Dr. Misty Lewis brings a rare mix of academic depth and client-centered care to real estate. With a Doctor of Pharmacy, a Master of Healthcare Administration, and a Bachelor of Science behind her, she works every transaction with the same analytical rigor and patient focus that defined her healthcare career, helping buyers, sellers, and investors across southeastern Kentucky.

Her deep roots in the region give her a real feel for its communities, landscapes, and opportunities. As a certified Military Relocation Professional she guides active-duty members, veterans, and their families through VA loans and time-sensitive moves. As a Senior Legacy Partner she serves senior clients with patience and respect, and as a Client Protection Expert she puts safeguarding buyers and sellers from wire and real estate fraud at the center of how she works.

PharmD MHA BS REALTOR® MRP Senior Legacy Partner CPE CENTURY 21 Advantage Realty

Call 606-521-1361 mlewis@century21advantage.com Read full bio

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