Eeeek-lipse!
This afternoon, we were more interested in boxes than a crew of cats. We spent lunch hour hand-crafting the finest eclipse-viewers in all of Berwick.
Lickety Lantern Brasen Hill Barn
Hey, real quick! We’ve been cutting scarf fixes for enormous post feet, and fitting teleport pads for octagonal lanterns. Updates on Chestnut St Lantern, Brasen Hill Barn, and Jennison Barn, below. Teleport Pad, Photo by Jacob Imlay Chestnut St Church Lantern, Camden, ME: This cute little lantern was cut and fit at the shop, and is…
‘A Distant Holla’ opens at the Abyssinian Meetinghouse
This Friday, May 5, do yourself a favor and attend the opening of ‘A Distant Holla,’ Daniel Minter’s art exhibition at the Abyssinian Meeting House. The work will showcase Maine artists of color including Daniel Minter, David Driskell, Elizabeth Jabar, Rafael Clariot, Ebeneza Akapko, Titi de Baccarat and Derek Jackson. Michael Wingfield, Samuel James and Ahmad Kalari…
Paper Beats Rock
We all have illusions about longevity. Many people think that a building’s strength is derived from its foundation, made of stone, or brick, or concrete, but that’s only partly true. A good foundation is a blessing, but a bad foundation is not damning. We’ve seen so many foundation failures that in a well-designed timber frame, we…
Bread and Butter Barn
I write a lot about our unusual jobs: a deserted island, an elevated dance floor, or a building-sized jewelry box, but most of us got into this to do jobs like the Jennison barn. The job incorporates so many of PTF’s defining motifs: barn preservation, adaptive re-use, local history and creative clients. The Jennisons called in early…
The Rosenthorns
Over New Years, my intentional friend likes us to sit in a big group and practice “Rose, Thorn and Rosebud.” We say the best thing that happened to us this past year, and the worst, and the thing that we’re looking forward to in the coming year. My rose took so much time that it’s been…
Winter Street Center Ceiling, guest post by Jacob Imlay
(Hey readers, this was a cool job we completed over the summer, and Jake Imlay wrote up a nice blog post about it. Enjoy!) The Winter Street Center in Bath ME, home of Sagadahoc Preservation Inc., is striking at first glance. Sitting near the top of a hill, its gleaming white tower is outlined sharply…
Good Day, Bad Blog
This blog goes dark when it’s sunniest. Seems like every day this summer has been a good day to be working outside. We’re installing the last repairs to the undercarriage at East Derry First Parish Church, installing electricity for the clock at Hampton Town Clock Tower, waiting for the last of the ceiling to…
Meeting Housing
The Lewis Conservation Center will be made up of five connected timber frames, a “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn” where the Big House is a reproduction of the 1722 East Derry Meetinghouse. One frame, the Gallery, re-uses the Green Barn, a scribe rule frame from the 1740s. The Education frame has the same…
Freedom Mill in Food & Wine
Last Month’s Food & Wine featured The Heartbreaking Story Behind The Lost Kitchen about Erin French’s revived restaurant in the restored Freedom Mill. The author was especially charmed by her surroundings: …Take a quick left on Main Street, and there’s The Mill at Freedom Falls—The Lost Kitchen’s once crumbling, now beautifully renovated home. Cross a narrow bridge…