About Smith Mansion
Along the highway between Cody and Yellowstone, a towering log structure rises above the Wapiti Valley like a cabin that never received instructions to stop growing. Smith Mansion is a maze of stacked rooms, balconies, stairs, platforms, and enormous log supports built largely by one man over the course of decades.
Francis Lee Smith began the project as a family home in the early 1970s. After completing the basic house, he continued adding to it. New levels rose above old ones, stairways connected increasingly complicated spaces, and the building eventually reached roughly five stories without ever settling into anything resembling a conventional finished design.
Smith and his family lived in the house during part of its construction. The home lacked many ordinary utilities, but that did not slow the expansion. Smith kept salvaging timber and adding to the structure until 1992, when he died after falling while working on the building.
The mansion is now private property and is not open for public exploration. It can be viewed from public areas along the highway, but visitors should not trespass or attempt to enter the site. That distance does little to reduce its impact. From across the valley, the house still looks like one person’s building project escaped every normal stopping point.