The First Parish Meetinghouse of East Derry, NH is preparing for a big anniversary, its tricentennial. What does one even get for a church on its 300th? Wood? Copper? Both, as it turns out. Beginning with a thorough assessment and rehabilitation plan in 2011, the congregation has been working steadily to repair extensive damage throughout…
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…
“They still call it Black Monday,” says Don Pendergast, standing over a 10″ x 16″ timber, 48′ long. He’s trying to grade a yard full of timbers destined for the Lewis Conservation Center while a wannabe April O’Neil peppers him with questions about his 20 year career grading wood for NELMA, the New England Lumber Manufacturer’s Association. He’s…
New Hampshire Preservation Alliance recently released an inspiring video about the restoration of the Acworth Meetinghouse. Built by Elias Carter in 1821, the Acworth Meetinghouse, with its double lantern spire, is a masterful representation of historic building craft. In 2008, the steeple and undercarriage were repaired by local craftspeople trained and supervised by PTF in techniques unique to steeple repair,…
Middleton, NH is one of those friendly, tightly-knit communities where folks meet weekly for a potluck at the old town hall. The center of town is at a place known as Four Corners, at the intersection of Kings Highway and New Durham/Ridge Road. Our subject, the Old Town Hall, stands at one of the corners;…
Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced it’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Properties. The Abyssinian Meetinghouse had the dubious distinction of making it on the list. Inclusion on the list indicates the importance of the third-oldest standing African-American meetinghouse in our nation’s history, but also sheds light upon the lack of…
Built by Elias Carter in 1821, the Acworth Meetinghouse, with its double lantern spire, is a masterful representation of historic building craft. But by 2008, the building was in desperate need of repair. PTF was called in to give an estimate, but Acworth, NH is far, and endowed already with a number of seasoned carpenters. Arron,…
In 1900, Charles Goodhue drew this sketch from the memory of an elderly parishioner. This is one of the only remaining images that depict the building from this era. Fortunately, evidence within the building has proven this sketch to be remarkably accurate. From the beginning of our involvement in the project, we have been looking…
The most interesting part of working on the Abyssinian has been the process of discovery. When we first started working on the restoration, we encountered dank apartments and the absence of much of the original truss framing. There was little architectural documentation of the building at the height of its use, except for a turn-of-the…
Abyssinian before: Abyssinian after: