blockhouse

The blockhouse was taken down for restoration in December. The Preservation Commission has design review authority but it has taken some gentle prodding by the Commission to be put into the loop on the project. Fortunately the Chair of the Blockhouse Committee, Lou Hart, and the contractor doing the work, Rudy Christian, are both in tune with appropriateness and preservation concerns. Some of the aspects of the restoration that have surfaced to date:

• The ugly colored stain used on the logs is not removable... will have to be covered with something more suitable.
  
• The current chinking is portland cement which has prevented proper drying of the logs after rains, resulting in rot. Lime mortar will be used in the restoration.
• The interior will no longer include the metal stairs, jail, and other Boy Scout stuff.
  
• The exterior stairs will be built in a more appropriate manner for the time period. That stairs was added along with a door and window when the original blockhouse was converted to a jail and court house use.
  
• A puncheon floor will be installed on the first floor and a board floor on the second. This is consistent with the historical record of the conversion.
• A structural alteration will add hewn floor joists under the upper crib to carry the weight along the length of the two cantilevered support beams. This will allow the restoration without the ugly braces that were added when the support beams broke and sagged years ago.
• A record of each log will be produced that identifies the source and time period. The interior of the lower level will have a display that chronicles the blockhouse history and the data on the logs and restoration.
• The blockhouse will be rebuilt across the park road and on a little higher ground, giving it a better location; more visible.
• Inappropriate memorials and artifacts such as the civil war cannon, bricklayers monument, etc. will not be moved to the new location.
• The Historic Preservation Commission will exert some authority to thwart future siting of monuments and memorials, or inappropriate landscaping elements in the vicinity of the blockhouse.