There's nothing quite like enjoying a good fire. Humans have indulged in the experience for up to 1.5 million years, when the first remnants of human-built fires were found throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe, and staring into dancing flames, it's hard to deny the primal connection.
We've come a long way since the outdoor fire pits of our ancestors, and today, if you're lucky enough to safely host this element indoors, your wood stove or fireplace is probably an important gathering place for family and friends, just as the hearth symbolized the center of the home for centuries. Or at the very least, it's a nice-looking feature in your cabin and a good place for knickknacks.
In the early 1800s, the indoor wood-burning fireplace graduated from functional heating devices and cooking apparatuses to central, decorative elements featured prominently in the main living room. Today, we still treat home fireplaces as a point of pride, and often put a fair amount of TLC into their appearance, even if it's an electric fireplace, gas fireplace, or, as is the case in many apartments, a completely non-functional one.
