Meet the Experts - November 6 2018

The roof was still in reasonable shape, but the back wall was gone, the side was bowing out dangerously, the second floor was sagging, and the lower floor partially collapsed. Eliot Lothrup and his team from Building Heritage brought in beams through the upstairs windows, strengthened the roof with cripple beams, held the second floor up with scaffolding and used a tie to hold the wall back.  

Paul Ruta, from Black Horse Farm in Marshfield, brought his two beautiful Percheron draft horses (Jesse & Babe) to demonstrate logging techniques. Workshop participants learned how to set the horses up with straps and chains to distribute the weight of the logs; how to fell and buck a tree; and help bring the logs out of the woods. 

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A day spent with Mike Baker (aka The Ring Finder) metal detecting around the cabin site turned up some interesting things, including a couple of axe heads, a lead cross, and many square nails. Subsequent searches added a harrow, a plow, a part of an oil lamp, a pocket watch, an old bicycle crankset, part of an 1880's Johnson & Lord medicine bottle, an antique railroad padlock, and lots more square nails. 

Miles Jenness (Vermont Heavy Timber) explained some of the construction techniques used to build the cabin. Even though it was probably built in the 1830's, the simple style was that of the early pioneers, using rough hewn lumber, held together by the corner notches, with many gaps between the logs. Miles demonstrated how to hew logs  using a broad axe, and participants had a chance to try their hand at hewing too. 

Over the summer of 2020, Miles Jennes (Vermont Heavy Timber) and his assistant carefully dismantled the entire structure. The walls were shored up before the roof came off. The rafters were exposed, and details of the construction came into view. The gable ends were taken down in their entirety. Each piece was carefully labelled, and photographs and notes were taken for later reconstruction.