Lives and Legacies

Tag: Historic Preservation

  • Photos: Building George’s House – Shingling the Roof

    This past autumn, workers from Peter Post Restorations lead by Peter himself added the shingles to the roof of the Washington house at Ferry Farm. The handmade riven shingles were sawn from a tree trunk, smoothed on one side, and decoratively scalloped. Because they were handmade, each shingle was a different width. The roofers laid the shingles in a pattern to compensate for the different sizes and then nailed them into place.

    The most challenging aspect of roofing the Washington house was shingling where the roof met the dormers.  In the 18th century, roofers curved the wood from the roof to the dormers creating “swept valleys” that are gorgeous examples of historic craftsmanship.

  • Video: Building George’s House – Laying the Stone Foundation

    In this video, we see how stonemasons Ray Cannetti, Robert Hall, and Kevin Nieto laid the handmade Aquia sandstone foundation stones around and on top of the Washington house’s concrete cradle foundation, which protects original architectural remains underground.  Watch these videos about the concrete cradle and the oyster burning process.

    Learn more about the Washington House here and view other videos, photos, and blog posts about the project here.

  • Video: Building George’s House – Timber Framing in the Shop

    In June, we visited Blue Ridge Timberwrights in Christiansburg, Virginia. We saw skilled craftsmen fashioning the timbers for the Washington house frame and talked with Sandy Bennett, president of Blue Ridge Timberwights.

    Learn more about the Washington House here and view other videos, photos, and blog posts about the project here.

  • Photos: Building George’s House – East Chimney

    building-the-east-chimney-18

    Brickmasons Ray Cannetti, Robert Hall, and Kevin Nieto recently finished building one of three chimneys for the Washington house at George Washington’s Ferry Farm. Located on the house’s east side and made from hand moulded brick by the Old Carolina Brick Company, this chimney is the smallest of the three.  The brick-laying work took about two weeks.

     

  • Video: Building George’s House – Timber Frame Timelapse

    The timber frame – from floor joists to roof sheathing — of the rebuilt Washington house at Ferry Farm was recently completed.  The work was done by tradesmen using a mix of 18th century building methods and 21st century equipment.  The timbers were fashioned by Virginia-based Blue Ridge Timberwrights.

    Learn more about the Washington House here and view other videos, photos, and blog posts about the project here.

  • Photos: Historic Kenmore Behind-the-Scenes Tours

    On rare occasions, Historic Kenmore offers special behind-the-scenes tours that take visitors into portions of the home not usually open to the public during regular tours. Additionally, Meghan Budinger, Aldrich Director of Curatorial Operations,  leads the tour and shares her expert insights and knowledge into the mansion’s history, furnishing, and ongoing preservation. This past weekend, visitors once again got to go behind-the-scenes!

    Visitors prepare to go inside Historic Kenmore.
    The tour included familiar rooms like the master bedchamber.
    Visitors entered spaces not usually open to regular tours. Enslaved people used this narrow passage to travel between the bedchamber, where Betty Washington Lewis ran the household, to the dining room and outdoor kitchen.
    The slave passage features original paint and wallpaper. A message in chalk orders staff and future preservationists to save the 240-year-old wallpaper in place.
    Meghan explained how archaeological excavations informed the choices of 18th century ceramics displayed on the dining room table.
    The group visited the cellar that was used as storage during the Lewis’s days. Educational programs for visiting field trips take place, in part, in this space today.
    Visitors in the attic heard about how dendrochronology, the dating of timber using tree rings, helped determine that Kenmore was built between 1770 and 1775.
    In the attic there is a rowing scull left behind by late 19th century resident William Key Howard, Jr., who also repaired the house’s plaster ceilings after extensive damage during the Civil War.
    Leaving the attic down a narrow staircase.
    Descending a winding, narrow staircase into the underground HVAC control room.
    Inside the geothermal HVAC ‘vault’, visitors learned how 21st century technology preserves and protects an 18th century home and its artifacts.

  • Photos: Building George’s House – Timber Framing Finished

    Expert craftsmen from Blue Ridge Timberwrights recently completed constructing the timber frame of the Washington house interpretive replica at Ferry Farm.  This collection of photographs documents the their work and begins a week into the process. You can see photos from the first week of work here.  What’s next? Shingles!

    Adding rafters.
    Sunlight between posts.
    Wooden pegs.
    Chiseling a peg.
    Tools.
    Joists above and below.
    Sawing.
    Second floor rafters in place.
    Visitors hear about the timber framing work.
    Rafters and shed roof beams all in place.
    Placing roof sheathing.
    Framing and roof sheathing complete. Shingles will come next.

    Learn more about constructing the Washington house interpretive replica here, here, and here.

  • Video: William Key Howard, Jr. – Saving Kenmore’s Ceilings

    In this video, learn about William Key Howard, Jr., who lived in Kenmore with his family in the years following the Civil War and repaired damage to the house’s plaster ceilings in the first restoration of Kenmore.

    You can learn more about William Key Howard, Jr. and why his boat is still in the attic while visiting rarely seen rooms and spaces during a special behind-the-scenes tour at Historic Kenmore on October 22-23. Reservations required. Details at http://kenmore.org/events.html.

  • Video: Building George’s House – Lime Rick Burn

    In this video, you’ll see a lime rick burn that recently took place at George Washington’s Ferry Farm and expert artisan Kenneth Tappan will explain the ins and outs of building and burning a lime rick.

    Learn more about the Washington House here and view other videos, photos, and blog posts about the project here.

  • Photos: Building George’s House – Lime Rick Burn

    Recently,  expert artisans Bill Neff and Kenneth Tappan along with staff from The George Washington Foundation built a lime rick — a large crib of wood and oyster shells — at George Washington’s Ferry Farm.  This past Saturday, the rick was lit on fire to produce lime for stone and brick work as part of constructing the Washington house.

    In eighteenth-century Virginia, near the coast, oyster shells were abundant and commonly burned in one-time-use oyster ricks – different than lime kilns constructed of brick – to yield the lime required for brick and stone masonry. After heating, the burnt shells are slaked with water, causing them to break apart into lime. Mixed with sand and water, as well as sometimes brick dust, clay, charcoal, and bits of shell, lime was the binder in early mortar.

    Here are photos of the building and the burning of the lime rick.

    Bill Neff bundles together small branches and other kindling into the lime rick’s wick around which all the larger wood will be placed.
    Firewood ready to be assembled into the lime rick.
    The oyster shells that will be burned.
    Placing the wick.
    With the wick set, work to build the rick itself began the next morning before dawn.
    The first layer of wood is placed.
    The first layer of shell is added.
    Kenneth Tappan throws a log…
    …onto the rick.
    Bill Neff adds some smaller firewood.
    Spreading out the top layer of oyster.
    9:50 a.m. – The lime rick is ready to burn.
    10:05 a.m. – The wick is lit and slowly burns down lighting the ends of the logs on fire.
    10:40 a.m. – A lot of smoke at first.
    10:50 a.m. – Flames appear.
    Burning a lime rick of oyster shells to make mortar.
    11:30 a.m. – As the rick burns, it collapses in on itself.
    12:30 p.m. – As the wood burns, the pile gets ever smaller.
    3:00 p.m. – The shell would smolder for hours and remain hot into the next day.
    On the next day, the burned and brittle shells were ready to be sifted to remove the ash and stored in barrels. Water must be added to break the shell down into lime.

    Read more about the lime rick burn in this article by The Free Lance-Star.  Learn more about constructing the Washington house interpretive replica here, here, and here.