Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A wonderful restoration!

I had the opportunity this weekend to check out an restoration I have been wanting to see for a while.
And it gave me a chance to add one more log cabin to my life list.
This past weekend my daughter attended a Girl Scout  weekend in Innsbrook Mo.
And for several years the local historical society has been restoring one of the original homes found on the property. Details can be found here.
What follows are photos from my trip to see it.

 The house still sits in its original spot, half way up a hill, looking out across the valley towards fields and a creek. Wooded slopes all around.

 This is a very old picture of the house before restoration started.
As can be seen here, the front porch at one time had been closed off to make two more rooms.
 This is how it appeared shortly after work started. The two rooms on the porch have been removed and the dog-trot and log pens can now be seen.












This is roughly that same view now.
The workers put in a wonderful new foundation of stone. The porch faces west.














The view from the south end.
Showing the excellent foundation.
The gable ends look much like they did in the earliest photo.














This is the same side before restoration. To the right, in the back is the old smoke house, which we will get to in a moment.












This photo shows the back of the house very early in the work process.
Here clearly can be seen the two separate pens of the log cabins. The smaller one to the right.
Some indications in the larger of the two cabins suggest that it had at one time been located some where else and had been moved to this spot at some point in time.
This was not an unusual practice.




This photo show the back of the cabin a little further along in the restoration with many of the bad logs having been replaced.












This is how the back looks now.
The doorway was placed, as it would have been, in the dog-trot.
New metal roof and six-over-six windows.













The back from the south-east corner.

















The back from the north-east corner.
I am not sure way they brought the siding down a little further on this end, but it does not take away from the appeal of the place.













The front, west, porch with some very comfortable rockers.
















Also on the property is a log smoke house.
This image shows how it looked before restoration and rebuilding.












This is approximately the same view now. As with the main house, they did a fantastic job with the new foundation.














 This shows the north-east cornier of both the house and smoke house.
Notice the uneven boards closing in the gable end of the smoke house.
 This is the north west corner, and you can start seeing how well they did on the foundation work.
 The south-west corner showing the cellar under the smoke house.

 The notching suggests it was never intend to ever be more than a utility building. The corners were not cut even like it would have been on the main house.
 Excellent view of the fine foundation work and sill logs.
 Planking between the logs suggest it was never chinked and they were happy with boards serving the purpose.

Again, the uneven corners.
Inside are still the beams and meat hooks for hanging meat to be cured.















 They have also done a wonderful job on the interior, adding many fine period pieces that although probably not from this dwelling represent well the period.
The stairs up to the second story are behind the left hand door, and are accessed from the front porch.
 The center table displays photos from the project as it went along.
 Nice period stove.
 Some kitchen gadgets.


It was a pleasure to take a tour of this place.
The volunteers who worked on it did a wonderful job in all they did.

I will add more information as I learn more about this place.
















They have also finished one of the two upstairs rooms to look period.
My daughter would love this room.
















View from the front porch of the new pavilion and the valley out front.


Excellent work by all involved.

And what is really cool is that this place is not to far from my cabin.

Pictures were taken of the photos of the cabin before and during restoration and can be found at the cabin.

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