If you have a summer home, it may seem counterintuitive to plan to have an outdoor fire pit. After all, it is summer why have a nice warm fire on a summer day? However, Henry David Thoreau once said, “The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another.”
I used to have a summer home in Florida where we built a fire pit and frequently had evening fires for delightful visits with friends even on the warmest of days. Now we live in CT where some of the evenings can be chilly so a fire pit for our summer home is a welcomed way to bring friends together. Nothing can replace the warmth of joining others around a flickering fire.
Most of us have a summer place for friends and relatives to get together to reminisce and share tall tales. A fire flickering in a pit on a quiet evening makes a wonderful catalyst to make those stories start flowing. And as an added benefit, an evening fire will keep the bothersome bugs like mosquitoes from annoying everyone.
You can make a simple fire pit just by using a ring of stones. Make sure to clear the grass, leaves, and other burnable stuff away from the pit. And place your pit close enough to a hose to handle any unforeseen emergency flair-up. And whether you use chairs or logs for seating, keep them far enough away from the pit so they don’t accidently get charred. Also, don’t forget that your visitors need to be able to scoot their seats back as the fire warms them.
You can also get a less rustic fire pit if you prefer. If you check the Internet for furniture for summer homes, you will find there are plenty of self-contained fire pits that let you set them out on your pato or back yard for the evening of socializing. Then when you are done or the season is over, you can bring it back in. This is ideal for summer cottage rentals where you can’t dig up the grass to create a fire ring.
A tranquil evening, a flickering fire, and close friends and relatives… it doesn’t get any better! With all the modern technology available for us to avoid face-to-face chats, a well used fire pit will enlighten your younger visitors of the pleasure of true conversations. And some long sticks with marshmallows roasting on the end can only make it better.
Jim Smith built his own summer house and has created a website for others wanting tips to build a summer house or enhance the summer home they already have.