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The Log Man: Part II

From Fear for Your Life to
Light of a Community

By Shane Gilreath
[email protected]

Call it coincidence or call it providence, but there are moments in life that arrive without warning – quiet in their approach, profound in their impact, and utterly transformative. For Jim Barna, those moments came early, shaping not only his life but ultimately an entire region of his adopted homeland. When his brown Mercury Maverick broke down in Winfield in 1976, it was a strange case of serendipity. There was no way that Barna –a naturalized American from a far-off shore – could have known that instead of setting out to seek purpose, his purpose had suddenly found him. Frustrated, bewildered by circumstance, and unaware of the turning tide, he had arrived at the crossroads of his destiny. Before him lay the very landscape he would shape for generations.
By then, Barna, just 28, had already lived many lives, each packed with its share of challenges and purpose, overcoming circumstances that few others – now or then – could appreciate. Rather than surrender to adversity, however, each step of the journey became a piece of the puzzle, a building block of the man he would become.
Born in 1947 in the tiny town of Balastya, Hungary, as Europe seized from the wreckage of the Second World War, thge Barnas made a daring escape from the grips of Communism – Jim, aged only 9 – as his country erupted in revolution, and arrived in the United States in pursuit of the dreams and freedom that were denied under Soviet rule. To honor that freedom, just a decade later, he assumed a new role – not as businessman or as immigrant, but as solder in the United States Army. It came just as the conflict in Asia was coming to head. Timing for Barna was everything.
When the Vietnam War draft began officially in the aftermath of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to commit American forces in Southeast Asia, the large-scale conscription that followed was deeply divisive. “Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation,” noted broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, himself gaining fame for his rooftop broadcasts as bombs rained down on London during the Battle of Britain.
When the Selective Service System – which maintains conscription eligibility – required nearly all American men – aged 18 to 26 – to register, broadly expanding the pool of draft-eligible individuals, many – some urged by families, some out of fear, others in ardent protest – fled the country, vowing never to serve. Sources – some Canadian and beyond – estimate that between 20,000 and 125,000 draft-eligible Americans chose to leave the United States. Most went north to Canada. Others to Sweden and other nations extending asylum to war resistance. Their departure marked one of the largest migrations in modern American history. For some, resistance defined a generation – but it would not define Jim Barna.
“It was at this point he made a very important decision,” said his son, Jimmy Barna Jr, proud of the man his father became. “He would not choose to wait to see if his number was called. Instead, he dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Army, knowing that he would almost certainly be sent to the front lines in Vietnam.”
It was a formative decision, yet one equally deep rooted. Those closest to him said he never lost the discipline, resilience, and quiet strength forged overseas. Now, it would be tested as an Army Airborne Ranger.
“He later said he felt this country had given so much to he and his family, that he felt obligated to give something back in return,” Jimmy confided.
After his service, Barna returned to the farmlands of Ohio, where the Barnas had settled in America. Having been commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant during his tenure of military service, he ultimately married – a fellow Hungarian refugee – and began running a small dairy farm, but the economic downturns of the 1970s did not make life easy. The dairy industry particularly was wrought with hardships, and Barna was once again forced to start over. With only $500 in his pocket – an amount borrowed from an aunt – and a week’s worth of clothes, he headed south, traveling Highway 27 with a destination of Sunbright, Tennessee. He planned to look at a farm the following day, believing the entire trip that Morgan County would the sight of a new beginning. Instead, perhaps much to his chagrin, his future found him on the side of the road.
“Sometimes when we think we have it all figured it, God steps in with His plan” Jimmy said of the providential way his father stepped foot in Scott County.
With no money but unshakable resolve, Barna spent a night in a small lodge – the B&Z Motel in Oneida – and began taking whatever work he could find – odd jobs, here and there – until a local sawmill owner, Everett Danner, gave him the opportunity that would change his life. Danner offered both employment and lodging in a small mobile home that Danner owned. Jim poured himself into the job with the determination he had shown on dairy farms and in military service. It wasn’t long before his eye for innovation became a catalyst. From there, the sky was the limit.
“His work ethic and ingenuity quickly caught Mr. Danner’s eye and he quickly learned how to make Mr. Danner’s sawmill more efficient,” his son told SCN.
Barna not only saw the abundance of timber in the hills around Scott County, but in it, he saw potential. In the land. In the people. In the progress they could make. He suggested to Danner they should try their hand at building log homes. To his credit, Danner agreed, but only if Barna would lead the effort. Another providential chance. From that spark of ingenuity– rooted in Barna’s vision and creativeness – came Barna & Danner Log Homes in 1977. Two years later, it would change again. Young, spirited, determined, and undeterred, Barna made the decision to strike out on his own, forming Jim Barna Log Systems in 1979. What began as a modest operation in Oneida quickly began to grow, eventually becoming a worldwide enterprise – maybe bigger than he even dreamed, distributing homes into 38 states and exporting to Europe and Asia.
“As the company grew in the late 1980s, Jim Barna Log Systems added distributors in several other states and was recognized as one of the top log home manufacturers in the country – and people started to take notice,” Jimmy said. “Who was this high school drop-out, foreigner running this company in Scott County, Tennessee, building log cabins? I laugh when I recall that, because he never liked calling them ‘log cabins,’” Jimmy said. “He thought that by calling them ‘cabins,’ people would envision rustic little hunting cabins—but he wanted to use logs to build anything: from cabins to luxury homes, restaurants, hotels, and maybe even football stadiums. And that’s exactly what he did.”
Though the business continued to expand nationally and internationally – even today, homes stand in Denmark, England, Germany, Russia, France, China, and Japan – Barna’s loyalty never left Scott County. He appreciated what the county had offered him. What it had helped him build. His devotion was important. Advisors consistently urged him to relocate to Knoxville or Nashville, closer to major transportation hubs, simplifying his company’s operations, but he wouldn’t budge from Scott County. “No, we’re good,” he would always say. Instead of leaving the county that had made him – where his car had providentially broken down – he invested in the land, the economy, and the people. From the early days, they were his and he was theirs.
“As the company grew, he handpicked employees from the community and over the years gave hundreds of Scott Countians – and others – quality, stable careers,” Jimmy told SCN.
Today, decades later, those people – who raised and fed families through Jim Barna – and the buildings they constructed still dot the landscape. They’re visible across the region. The Scott County Welcome Center. Timber Rock Lodge. The Children’s Center of the Cumberlands. Winfield Town Hall. The Scott County Museum. The list goes on and on. That generosity helped make Barna a local hero – and example of business acumen – and helps extend his legacy even today – a name of significant importance far beyond business. He donated log buildings and structures to schools, civic groups, and local governments, including community centers in Paint Rock and Elgin, playgrounds, picnic shelters, walking bridges, gazebos, and even a log football stadium believed to be the only one of its kind in the entire world.
But now, long after Barna’s death in 2004, they stand not merely as structures but as symbols of the man who gave so much. Each one – logs intricately laced, one on another – reflects his eye for craftsmanship, his vision, and the faith he placed in Scott County. Even as his company achieved international success, it never altered his motivation nor the man. If anything, he remained grounded in the soil of Tennessee. Scott County was home. Despite the global recognition, his proudest accomplishments were born there.
“Over the years, he received countless awards for his community service and donations from across the country,” his son said. “The award that was one of the most special was being inducted into the Scott County Hall of Fame as their first-ever inductee for Business Leadership in 2003.”

For Barna, it wasn’t merely the accolade that mattered, but what it meant. “The community considered him one of their own,” Jimmy said.
To get there had been a journey – one that crossed thousands of miles. To the residents of Scott County – and to those just passing through –Barna’s presence remains an intricate part of the area, repeatedly woven into the landscape, as present today as it was in 1976. From public buildings to private homes, from gathering spaces to places of worship, it’s a legacy literally built into Scott County’s story. Each log is a testament to a determined immigrant – an impressionable 9-year-old boy, who crawled through a wheat field to find freedom from Communism – who found a home in the meandering Tennessee hills, a business leader who magnanimously chose to give back, and a man who proved what one person can achieve when a community simply offers them a chance. In an era when its reality is often questioned, Jim Barna built the American Dream.