2007 Conferences

16th Annual TTRAG Symposium

March 23-25, 2007
Old Salem, North Carolina

The annual TTRAG symposium will head south to focus on conservation of timber buildings in the Carolina backcountry.

The Guild’s Traditional Timberframe Research and Advisory Group (TTRAG) makes its deepest foray southward to explore historic Old Salem, North Carolina. We will have on hand some of the region’s top professionals in the conservation of timber buildings in the Carolina backcountry along with some of TTRAG’s own authors and experts. Together we will examine the history of our craft in the unique environs of one of the most authentic restored villages in the U.S. Old Salem was begun in 1766 by the Moravians and includes dozens of timbered homes and barns as well as gardens, greens and a brand new Visitor’s Center where our meetings and meals will be held. (Photo credit: Will Beemer)

Schedule This year’s Conference will open on Friday afternoon with a construction/ roof tour of the 1788 Gemeinhaus (German for “People’s House’) at Bethabara Park, a National Historic Landmark. Bethabara was the original Moravian settlement of 1753 located a few miles from Old Salem; it features a French and Indian War Fort and 175-acre nature preserve. The stone Gemeinhaus, with its timbered roof, was the church, school and minister’s house for the Germanic-speaking Protestant settlement.

1788 Gemeinhouse at Bethabara Park Photo courtesy of Historic Bethabara Park

People will arrive on their own and rendezvous at Bethabara at 2 PM; a map will be sent upon receipt of your registration. Learn more about Bethabara and the Gemeinhaus at www.bethabarapark.org.

Registration will open at the Old Salem Visitor’s Center at 4 PM Friday, with a reception (including food and cash bar) at 5:30 PM and evening presentations beginning at 7 PM. Lodging will be at the Brookstown Inn, a restored 1837 textile mill located about ½ mile from the Visitor’s Center on the northern edge of the Village. Plan on checking into your digs before arriving at the Visitor’s Center for the evening festivities. (Photo courtesy of the Brookstown Inn.)

Presentations from a variety of speakers and demonstrators will take place Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Saturday afternoon will feature tours of interesting timber framed buildings in Old Salem, and Saturday night will be highlighted by the annual Slide Show when everyone gets a chance to show their work. The Conference concludes with lunch on Sunday.

Presenters

Our slate of presenters includes:

• Jan Lewandoski, of Restoration and Traditional Building in Stannard, Vermont, will reveal recent findings on construction and repair of church steeples. This talk is based on field research done as part of the Guild's recent grant awarded by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training of the National Park Service.
• Author and green-wood craftsman Drew Langsner from Marshall, NC shares the evolution of his crafts school, Country Workshops, and the construction of his log and timber-framed house. He is the author of five books: Handmade, Country Woodcraft, A Logbuilder's Handbook, Green Woodworking and The Chairmaker’s Workshop.
• Author, architect and timber framer Jack Sobon from Windsor, MA, will give keys to understanding the "Scribe Rule," a look at English-American timber framed building before 1820. He'll present his latest findings on historic scribing techniques as practiced by the English settlers, based on surviving documentary and physical evidence as well as the lessons learned from his own scribe-rule English barn reconstruction.
• Dan Boyle of Preservation Timber Framing in Berwick, ME, will discuss preservation and repair techniques of historic timber structures, including how to identify and understand the common structural problems present. He'll also demonstrate how to safely stabilize and rig buildings prior to and during repairs, and how to make joinery decisions that are appropriate and suitable for each building.
• Doug Reed of Preservation Associates, Inc., Hagerstown, MD, will give a comprehensive overview of masonry foundations that underpin all timber frames. Foundation construction methods, lime mortars and repair techniques will be covered. Without good foundations under your timber frames, the frames will not last long.
• David C. Fischetti, PE, consulting structural engineer, will share experiences at four Old Salem projects. They include the Old Salem Covered Bridge, the reconstruction of St. Philips log church, restoration of St. Philips Church and the restoration of the Single Sisters House at Salem College. The rational for constructing a modified Burr-arch truss covered bridge in Old Salem will be presented. All of these projects will be toured on Saturday.
• We will review the restoration of the Brethren’s Shop at Hancock (MA) Shaker Village with Dave Lanoue of Stockbridge, MA. His company raised the structure, repaired sills and timbers and the stone foundations, tented the building during repairs, and did full research and documentation as part of the disassembly, including analysis of the nails. This talk will be especially useful for those charged with the protection of buildings in a museum setting.
• Restoration Specialists Reid Thomas and Peter Sandbeck of the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office will present a program focusing on 18th and early 19th century NC timber frame buildings and building technology. Their talk will also include discussions on recent conservation/restoration work at a few of their properties. This is a great opportunity to share and discuss building technologies that differs from what we see in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.
• Rudy Christian, Christian & Son, Burbank, OH, will give a presentation on the first year of the field school he ran at the Mt. Lebanon (NY) Shaker Village to train craftsmen in the preservation trades, and the Granary project that served as their laboratory.
• Shaun Garvey of Berkshire Barns, Dalton, MA, will describe the rebirth of an 18th century barn and the appropriate methods of documenting, disassembling and moving a historic timber framed structure. The presentation will spend some time on how he discovered the true form and age of the barn during the survey, and how that influenced the subsequent work.
• Old Salem’s Vice President in charge of Restoration, John Larson, will welcome us Friday night with a history of the Village focusing on the Germanic timber frames and log buildings of the North Carolina backcountry and will give us a preview of what we will see on our tours the next day.

The final schedule and sequence of presentations has yet to be determined but will be posted here on the Guild website as soon as it is finalized.

Old Salem Tours

On Saturday afternoon we will break up into smaller guided groups to explore some of the many timber framed buildings in Old Salem. We will particularly focus on the Single Sisters House, the Single Brothers House (shown at left) and the Home Moravian Church. The historic Village consists of more than 100 buildings, with 73 original structures. It is a working, living history museum with some buildings still maintained as private residences and traditional crafts being demonstrated and goods sold. The bakery and tavern, in particular, appear and function just as they would 225 years ago. Anchoring the south end of the Village is a spectacular new covered bridge built by Blue Ridge Timberwrights.

Map courtesy of Old Salem

Other Attractions

There are a number of other attractions in the Village that would appeal to family members who want to accompany a timber framer. These include the Old Salem Children’s Museum and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), the only museum dedicated to exhibiting and researching the regional decorative arts of the early South. With its 24 period rooms and six galleries, MESDA showcases the furniture, paintings, textiles, ceramics, silver, and other metalwares made and used in Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee through 1820. Next door is the Old Salem Toy Museum that houses a vast and exciting collection of antique toys spanning a wide range of time and place. It’s a fascinating place to explore for kids young and old alike, and your registration fee for the Conference includes admission to all of these extra attractions for the entire weekend.

For a complete online tour of Old Salem, visit www.oldsalem.org.

On Saturday evening we will enjoy a traditional Moravian dinner and include the annual slide show. Everyone is encouraged to bring ten images of their work related to traditional timber framing. Guidelines will be included in your Conference confirmation material for submitting your slides or digital photos.

Summerbeam Books will be bringing their extensive bookstore including hard-to-find titles and timber framing books, as well as those authored by our presenters.

HOTEL & MEALS

We have a limited block of rooms reserved for our group at the Brookstown Inn, a restored textile mill from 1837 that is located at the north end of Old Salem. The Old Salem Visitors Center, where our registration, meals and meetings will take place, is an easy ½ mile walk along the "strollway" at the south end of the Village. There is also plenty of parking at both the Brookstown Inn and the Visitors Center. (Photo courtesy of the Brookstown Inn.)

Meals are included in your conference fee, but lodging is not. The room rate at the Brookstown is $69/night, single or double, plus tax. This is an excellent rate and we recommend you make your reservations early to be assured of a room. Details for making a reservation will be included in your registration confirmation material. Besides its old-world architecture with brick walls and beamed ceilings, the Brookstown includes modern amenities such as free wireless Internet. Check it out at www.brookstowninn.com.

Your conference fee includes admission to Old Salem Village and all of its Museums for the entire weekend, the tour of the Gemeinhaus at Bethabara Park on Friday, all seminars and meals commencing with the reception at 5:30 on Friday evening and continuing through breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. There is a one-day commuter option for those attending only Saturday’s events. Register here.

Scholarships and Continuing Education Units are available for this and all Guild conferences. Call the Becket office at 413-623-9926 or see the website for details.

For those looking to share rides to the Conference or share a room, please visit the Conference Board.