This past week my wife and i drove to Tenn. and spent a day in the park. Up in the mountains is a old settlement called Cades Cove. It has many old cabins and buildings. At one little clearing these was a small cabin with a couple of out buildings. Back at the edge of the woods I could see a lean-to with 3 stumps under it. I went back to see what they were and discovered that they were old bee gums. They were hollow logs about 24" in Dia. and 24" high with a wood bottom and a pc of board over the top. They each had a small notch enterance cut in the bottom edge. There was not info anywhere on them and only a beekeeper would have known what they were.
Well I DO hope you took pictures of these ?? Every winter when Ann and I go South on vacation we try to visit a different part of the park. Beautiful area.
Get the Foxfire book that has beekeeping in it. I don't know what number it is, but it's around the house somewhere. It tells how to make them and how to harvest them. Really good stuff. I reread it this summer when I first started beekping.