Little Log Cabin
OCTOBER 2024
A log home away from home
Little Log Cabin celebrates 30 years of learning, love and family
By Melissa James, York County Contributor
For 30 years, the Little Log Cabin has been a home away from home for hundreds of children in York County. Tucked off George Washington Memorial Highway, less than a mile from York High School, the center offers year-round programming for children ages 2½ to 12.
For Margo Bavuso, her dream of opening her own preschool became possible when she and husband Sal happened to drive by the cabin—formerly a wine and cheese shop—and noticed it was available.
“And that’s when Little Log Cabin was born,” said daughter-in-law Elyse Bavuso, who has been at the center for 20 years. “Margo loves to tell the story about driving by and seeing the foreclosure sign,” said Bavuso. “She loves children, and this was her dream.”
The Bavusos opened Little Log Cabin in the summer of 1994. At the time, Sal was employed with NASA and Margo was pursuing her graduate degree in early childhood education at Old Dominion University, while also working at a local preschool.
The building needed a lot of work before opening, and the Bavuso family leaned on family and friends to help. Acknowledging this help remains part of the story they share on the Little Log Cabin website:
“With a great deal of help and support from family and friends, the dream of establishing a quality preschool and child care facility became a reality.”
Within months, the Bavusos expanded the building’s size, created a large play area in the back, installed fencing and added some outbuildings, including an outdoor classroom. Little Log Cabin officially opened in June 1994 with 40 children enrolled. Three decades later, it’s a state-licensed facility with 80 preschoolers and 20 school-age children.
What might surprise someone who’s never seen it—it truly looks like a little log cabin from the entrance. Once inside, though, the expanse of the center is evident, with classrooms that serve age groups from 2½ to 5 years old. Each of the five classes has an animal name, including the Cubs, Koalas and Bears. The center also offers before- and after- school programs for kindergarten through 5th grade, as well as summer programming.
Even more expansive is the large backyard with four fenced-in areas. Each day, the children head outside for continued learning in an outdoor classroom, fun on the playground, visiting geese in the Grafton sinkhole behind the property and going on daily nature walks.
“They go outside every day, even when it’s cold, even when it’s hot,” said Bavuso. “It’s so important for them to be outside to learn about the different seasons.”
Margo stepped away from the day-to-day business in 2020 to take care of her ailing husband, who passed away in 2021. Elyse now runs the center with the help of two other longtime staff members. She didn’t always have plans to work in a preschool, but shortly after she married Anthony Bavuso, her mother-in-law Margo convinced her to bring her marketing and business background to Little Log Cabin.
You won’t find Bavuso stuck in an office though. She said she prefers to be out and about, visiting the classes throughout the center and interacting with the children.
“I don’t know that my 20-year-old self would have believed that this is what I would be doing, but I love it,” said Bavuso. “The kids make it interesting and amazing every day that we come to work, because no day is ever the same. You can be having the worst day, and then you see these children and their smiles and they just warm your entire heart.”
Bavuso believes that what sets them apart is that Little Log Cabin is a family business at all levels. They employ 27 teachers, some of whom attended the preschool as children and have now come back to teach a new generation of children. Susannah Jones, who has worked at the center for 25 years, enrolled all four of her children at Little Log Cabin. Her three daughters are now grown and have all worked there at some point—one is currently a teacher for the 3-year-old class, one is in college and works at the center during college breaks, and one is a teacher elsewhere but still comes back in the summer to help.
Another teacher has worked there for more than 25 years, and now her daughter works there as well.
Bavuso’s son Connor, now 16, also attended the preschool. In fact, of Margo and Sal’s six grandchildren, five went to Little Log Cabin.
“It’s a family here,” said Bavuso. “Children grow up here, and we care about them and their parents. We have a connection with them, and the parents have told us that they feel the warmth of the staff, and it’s more like a home here.”
Although Margo is no longer running the business side, she continues to come by for visits, and the children love it.
“It’s like Santa Claus coming to town when she comes by,” said Bavuso. “Not all the kids know her, but they can feel that warmth when she walks in. She has an aura about her that the children love.”
The year 2020 brought on unexpected challenges, as it did for every business at that time. Little Log Cabin was forced to close for three months at the start of the pandemic, but Bavuso credits York County staff for their help in securing grants to support the center while it was closed.
“At a time when finding childcare has become a challenge for so many families here and across the nation, we’re pleased to have Little Log Cabin providing this vital service to our residents,” said Kristi Olsen-Hayes, the director of economic & tourism development. “We’re thrilled to know that the County’s COVID assistance grants enabled them to stay afloat until they could reopen.”
Unfortunately, when they reopened in June 2020, Little Log Cabin—like most child care centers—faced reduced enrollment and staffing challenges.
“Our core group of teachers came back, but it became more difficult to retain supplemental staff,” said Bavuso, adding “we’ve continued to experience a higher turnover in support staff since the pandemic.”
Still, she feels that the change to smaller class sizes has been good in allowing for an even more personal touch than they offered previously. Before COVID, the center had 140 children enrolled in the preschool, child care and before/after programs. Today, there are just 100.
“It feels more quaint now and that’s actually good,” said Bavuso. “If we wanted to be bigger, we could be, but I’m enjoying the small class sizes for now.”
The pandemic also resulted in the cancellation of most of the scheduled field trips. Many businesses were no longer open to accepting large groups onsite—a trend that has continued over the last 4 years. But Bavuso and her team successfully pivoted and now bring many of the same activities to Little Log Cabin’s location.
“Instead of going to the pumpkin patch, we create our own out back for the children,” said Bavuso. “We have visits from the local fire department, complete with a truck to tour and firefighters to talk with the children; and a local dental hygienist, who comes to Little Log Cabin to share about the importance of dental health.”
The center also has developed a partnership with Rainbow Puppet Productions, whose team of oversize size puppets and their handlers come to Little Log Cabin every summer to put on a live show for the children.
A few field trips still remain on the books, including visits to the library and post office.
“Every February, we go to the post office, and the children mail valentines they have made to their family,” said Bavuso. “It’s a fun tradition that many kids remember many years later.”
But Bavuso said she still has a few items on her wish list. Before the pandemic, the center had a music teacher on staff for decades who decided not to return when it reopened. While the staff still incorporates some music instruction into their daily programming, it hasn’t been the same.
“I would love to develop an official music program, like the public schools have, as well as an arts program,” said Bavuso. “We do a lot of musical activities and arts and crafts, but if we could offer a designated time and space for music and arts, that would be my dream.” But athletics at the center have not slowed down. Some parents pay an extra fee for the soccer program offered twice a week onsite by the Little Lions Soccer Club.
“Sports activities are typically one more thing that parents have to work in to an already busy schedule,” said Bavuso. “But here they don’t have to worry with transportation and scheduling, because it’s held right out back.”
Recognizing needs like these and being sensitive to the needs of the families they serve are the cornerstone of their programming. The preschool program runs from 9 a.m. to noon every weekday, and then the majority of children stay the remainder of the day for child care. And in addition to before/after care for school-age children, they offer a full-day program on public school holidays.
As for plans to grow Little Log Cabin, Bavuso doesn’t feel the need.
“We don’t necessarily want to grow to be a big business,” concluded Bavuso. “I think it’s more important to be a good business.”