diff --git a/config/default.rb b/config/default.rb
index 99608ea22..e8c34c204 100644
--- a/config/default.rb
+++ b/config/default.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Vagrant::Config.run do |config|
   config.vagrant.log_output = STDOUT
   config.vagrant.dotfile_name = ".vagrant"
   config.vagrant.home = "~/.vagrant"
+  config.vagrant.host = :detect
 
   config.ssh.username = "vagrant"
   config.ssh.host = "localhost"
diff --git a/lib/vagrant.rb b/lib/vagrant.rb
index 790c2b94d..17e0a0ee2 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ require File.expand_path("util/glob_loader", libdir)
 # Load them up
 Vagrant::GlobLoader.glob_require(libdir, %w{util/stacked_proc_runner
   downloaders/base config provisioners/base provisioners/chef systems/base
-  commands/base commands/box action/exception_catcher})
+  commands/base commands/box action/exception_catcher hosts/base})
 
 # Initialize the built-in actions
 Vagrant::Action.builtin!
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/config.rb b/lib/vagrant/config.rb
index b1593ff61..0bfbc89e0 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/config.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/config.rb
@@ -193,6 +193,7 @@ module Vagrant
       attr_accessor :dotfile_name
       attr_accessor :log_output
       attr_accessor :home
+      attr_accessor :host
 
       def home
         @home ? File.expand_path(@home) : nil
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/environment.rb b/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
index 0ec2ff2c8..e691a9da7 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ module Vagrant
     attr_accessor :cwd
     attr_reader :root_path
     attr_reader :config
+    attr_reader :host
     attr_reader :box
     attr_accessor :vm
     attr_reader :vms
@@ -137,6 +138,7 @@ module Vagrant
       load_root_path!
       load_config!
       load_home_directory!
+      load_host!
       load_box!
       load_config!
       self.class.check_virtualbox!
@@ -237,6 +239,11 @@ module Vagrant
       end
     end
 
+    # Loads the host class for this environment.
+    def load_host!
+      @host = Hosts::Base.load(self, config.vagrant.host)
+    end
+
     # Loads the specified box for this environment.
     def load_box!
       return unless root_path
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/hosts/base.rb b/lib/vagrant/hosts/base.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..554de307a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/vagrant/hosts/base.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+module Vagrant
+  module Hosts
+    # Base class representing a host machine. These classes
+    # define methods which may have host-specific (Mac OS X, Windows,
+    # Linux, etc) behavior. The class is automatically determined by
+    # default but may be explicitly set via `config.vagrant.host`.
+    class Base
+      # The {Environment} which this host belongs to.
+      attr_reader :env
+
+      class << self
+        # Loads the proper host for the given value. If the value is nil
+        # or is the symbol `:detect`, then the host class will be detected
+        # using the `RUBY_PLATFORM` constant.
+        #
+        # @param [Environment] env
+        # @param [String] klass
+        # @return [Base]
+        def load(env, klass)
+          klass = detect if klass.nil? || klass == :detect
+          return nil if !klass
+          return klass.new(env)
+        end
+
+        # Detects the proper host class for current platform and returns
+        # the class.
+        #
+        # @return [Class]
+        def detect
+          # More coming soon
+          classes = {
+            :darwin => BSD,
+            :bsd => BSD
+          }
+
+          classes.each do |type, klass|
+            return klass if Util::Platform.send("#{type}?")
+          end
+
+          nil
+        rescue Exception
+          nil
+        end
+      end
+
+      # Initialzes a new host. This method shouldn't be called directly,
+      # typically, since it will be called by {Environment#load_host!}
+      #
+      # @param [Environment] env
+      def initialize(env)
+        @env = env
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/hosts/bsd.rb b/lib/vagrant/hosts/bsd.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9aa02dd62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/vagrant/hosts/bsd.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+module Vagrant
+  module Hosts
+    # Represents a BSD host, such as FreeBSD and Darwin (Mac OS X).
+    class BSD < Base
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/util/platform.rb b/lib/vagrant/util/platform.rb
index 303a7559c..74f37134d 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/util/platform.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/util/platform.rb
@@ -7,10 +7,28 @@ module Vagrant
           RUBY_PLATFORM.downcase.include?("darwin9")
         end
 
+        [:darwin, :bsd, :linux].each do |type|
+          define_method("#{type}?") do
+            platform.include?(type.to_s)
+          end
+        end
+
+        def windows?
+          %W[mingw mswin].each do |text|
+            return true if platform.include?(text)
+          end
+
+          false
+        end
+
         def tar_file_options
           # create, write only, fail if the file exists, binary if windows
           File::WRONLY|File::EXCL|File::CREAT|(Mario::Platform.windows? ? File::BINARY : 0)
         end
+
+        def platform
+          RUBY_PLATFORM.to_s.downcase
+        end
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 751b53394..142293ca1 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ class Test::Unit::TestCase
       config.vagrant.home = '~/.home'
       config.vagrant.dotfile_name = ".vagrant"
       config.vagrant.log_output = nil
+      config.vagrant.host = :detect
 
       config.ssh.username = "foo"
       config.ssh.host = "baz"
diff --git a/test/vagrant/environment_test.rb b/test/vagrant/environment_test.rb
index 68c6f458d..53ab5ad96 100644
--- a/test/vagrant/environment_test.rb
+++ b/test/vagrant/environment_test.rb
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ class EnvironmentTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
         @env.expects(:load_root_path!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
         @env.expects(:load_config!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
         @env.expects(:load_home_directory!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
+        @env.expects(:load_host!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
         @env.expects(:load_box!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
         @env.expects(:load_config!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
         Vagrant::Environment.expects(:check_virtualbox!).once.in_sequence(call_seq)
@@ -447,6 +448,19 @@ class EnvironmentTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       end
     end
 
+    context "loading host" do
+      setup do
+        @env = mock_environment
+      end
+
+      should "load the host by calling the load method on Host::Base" do
+        result = mock("result")
+        Vagrant::Hosts::Base.expects(:load).with(@env, @env.config.vagrant.host).once.returns(result)
+        @env.load_host!
+        assert_equal result, @env.host
+      end
+    end
+
     context "loading box" do
       setup do
         @box = mock("box")
diff --git a/test/vagrant/hosts/base_test.rb b/test/vagrant/hosts/base_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dbba39701
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/vagrant/hosts/base_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', '..', 'test_helper')
+
+class BaseHostTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  setup do
+    @klass = Vagrant::Hosts::Base
+  end
+
+  context "class methods" do
+    context "loading" do
+      setup do
+        @env = mock_environment
+      end
+
+      should "return detected class if klass is nil" do
+        Vagrant::Util::Platform.stubs(:platform).returns("darwin")
+        result = @klass.load(@env, nil)
+        assert result.is_a?(Vagrant::Hosts::BSD)
+      end
+
+      should "instantiate the given class" do
+        result = @klass.load(@env, Vagrant::Hosts::BSD)
+        assert result.is_a?(Vagrant::Hosts::BSD)
+        assert_equal @env, result.env
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "detecting class" do
+      should "return the proper class" do
+        Vagrant::Util::Platform.stubs(:platform).returns("darwin10")
+        assert_equal Vagrant::Hosts::BSD, @klass.detect
+      end
+
+      should "return nil if no class is detected" do
+        Vagrant::Util::Platform.stubs(:platform).returns("boo")
+        assert_nil @klass.detect
+      end
+
+      should "return nil if an exception is raised" do
+        Vagrant::Util::Platform.expects(:darwin?).raises(Exception)
+        assert_nothing_raised {
+          assert_nil @klass.detect
+        }
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end