Pedrick Store House Update

There’s been progress over at Salem’s timber-frame project on Derby Wharf. Since I last wrote about the Pedrick Store House, much of the two-story, six-bay structure has been raised. It still awaits the rafters and ridge. A close look reveals where the more than 200-year-old, hand-hewn timbers have been patched as part of the National Park Service’s conservation efforts. Despite a little twisting here and there, the structure appears remarkably square overall. Stop by and take a look.

Also, if you're free Saturday, October 4 at 1:00 or 3:00 pm attend a timber framing demonstration on the Wharf. 

Web tour: NYT: Meadow marvel

My photo of a meadow on Martha's VineyardThe New York Times highlights the hard work that goes into creating a perennial meadow and speaks with Larry Weaner of Larry Weaner Landscape Design Associates about the process. Weaner has been designing meadows for over two decades and is the founder of New Directions in the American Landscape, a nonprofit. Weaner explains that a newly planted meadow will take years to mature and “is not a thing of beauty in its first year.” With proper planning, preparation, upkeep, and patience it can become one though, as the photos that accompany the article can attest.

My mother designed and created a meadow in her backyard around the time Weaner began to study them in the early 80’s. Her meadow was a lush mix of hardy blooms and field grasses, billowing beyond the increasingly smaller area of lawn near the house. Though it probably occupied less than an acre, when you wandered through her meadow you were sure it was larger. It felt wild, free, and exhilarating. I’d like to create a meadow too; wouldn't you?

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Web tour: Yankee: Beachfront homes in distress

In the September/October Yankee magazine Ian Aldrich writes about all that is eroding in Nantucket. While the sea devours beachfront property, stakeholders squabble about a solution. The latest proposal put forth by the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund (which would also foot the bill) is “a $20 million beach-nourishment project that would dredge the equivalent of some 200,000 dumptruck loads of ocean sand and pump it onshore to build out ‘Sconset Beach.” Many object to the proposal, including the local fishing community whose livelihoods could be put at risk by it. “…The exact degree of opposition to the proposed nourishment project was revealed, when voters came out overwhelmingly against it, 2,986 to 483, in a non-binding ballot vote...” writes Aldrich.

It’s an intriguing article beautifully illustrated by Dana Smith’s distressed photographs. Smith says in a contributor’s note, “…I have a fascination with the physical decay and decomposition of images... When Yankee brought this story to me, I immediately thought the look and feel would be perfect for the subject, especially since erosion is just another form of breakdown.” I wish Yankee had included a little more about Smith’s process. In any case, the images share an exquisite, aged, worn patina.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Pedrick Store House

Salem, Massachusetts has a lot to offer besides witch kitsch. The National Park Service is doing their part to turn attention to Salem’s unique maritime and architectural history. They’ve acquired the 1770 Pedrick Store House from Marblehead and are reconstructing it on Salem’s Derby Wharf. They’ve sited it near the Friendship (the replica eighteenth century trader ship) so that once construction is complete, the two-story, timber-frame building and neighboring ship will suggest the way the wharf looked back in its heyday.

Thus far, the Store House foundation sills and deck pilings are in place. Several structural bents have been assembled, though not yet installed; they lie temporarily atop the foundation in the photo above. A free, public demonstration of traditional timber framing techniques was scheduled to be held at the Wharf yesterday, but was cancelled due to the stormy weather. Visit the National Park Service website to find out when it will be rescheduled. If you can’t make the demonstration, drop by anytime this fall to check on the status of the reconstruction. It’s a great alternative cultural activity for those daunted by Haunted Happenings.