As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary in July, one Welches cabin will celebrate 90 years of connection to the Hoodland forest in the form of a family home nestled securely in the heart of the forest.
Four of the cabin’s current owners — siblings Dave and Linda Atiyeh (ah-TEE-yub) and their respective spouses Darlene and Rainse — are seated around the family dining room table inside the historic cabin. They’re a friendly group who are eager to point to any one of the numerous historical family photographs that line the wood-paneled walls.
The entire house is a family heirloom. Ownership has been passed down through three generations. The current owners consist of a litany of cousins spread across the country. Quality-of-life improvements have been made over the years, but there’s been a clear effort to preserve the charm that drew in the cabin’s original owners, George and Linda Atiyeh.
The couple began summering in the cabin in the early 1930s. As Linda explains, her grandmother “was born in Beirut, Lebanon … and her family had a summer home in a little town called Aley, up in the mountains, and they would go there to be cooler in the summertime.”…