Last Field School Post

Last week I received the field school project: the HSR of the Hill-Woody House from Madison Heights, VA.  Travis McDonald, our field school director, continued to work with Jesse on historical research, revising the measured drawings, and any other necessary work to produce the final product.  Without Travis’ dedication to completing the reports each year, there would just be a bunch of random information lying around Poplar Forest and in everyone’s notes.  On our last day we handed Travis a cd with the compiled text and photographs, which, although we worked hard to format nicely, it was far from perfect. And our measured drawings and detail sketches were not embedded in the report either.  Travis was our editor in terms of layout, content, and in any other way that was necessary.   

Hill-Woody HSR

Yes, I’ve said this before, but to anyone who is even a bit interested, look up the Poplar Forest Restoration Field School and consider attending. It is extremely worthwhile and the most affordable field school you will find. I’d bet it’s even better than some of the most expensive field schools.

Just a few excerpts from the report.

Participants

 

Table of Contents

 

Floor Plan & Notes

 

measured drawing of door

typical page in report

 

Anyone else with field school reports to share?  Please excuse the poor photographs of the pages; I know that they are not very clear, even when you click on them. If you are seriously interested, I can scan a particular page. I just wanted to offer a sampling of our work. Great job, field school colleagues!

 

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July 2008 Issue

Click below for the latest issue of Preservation in Pink! (Volume II, Issue 1).  I know it’s been a while, but the good news is that this issue is bigger and has more travel photographs!  Topics include Penn Station, Going Green, Living as a Preservationist, Travel, Media, and Third Place. Enjoy and send any feedback my way.  Thanks!

 

 Preservation in Pink July 2008

 

Poplar Forest Day 4

Welcome to Poplar Forest.

I know that I said that I would be updating daily, however, my computer refuses to connect to the Lynchburg College internet system. Therefore, I will not have this luxury – but I will still do my best to feature some of it. Sorry!

This is currently Day 4, though the first day was just meet & greet time while we had appetizers and wine (or your drink of choice.)  Everyone is really nice. There are nine students, including me.  Some are grad students, some are working in the field, some are deciding which route of history/preservation to go.  It makes for interesting conversations (hooray!)

I have found so far that there is so much that I know I studied at Mary Wash, but haven’t used in the past two years and therefore cannot remember. It’s frustrating, but we do get readings every night and I know that eventually it will come back to me. 

Highlight of the first few days: Poplar Forest is gorgeous, peaceful, and amazing because the restoration began in 1989. This means that they have been able to do everything from the ground up, using modern technology and benefiting from prior restoration projects. The board completely supports doing everything as historically accurate as possible, which provides the leisure of time. And Travis McDonald has been with the project since restoration began. It is an amazing experience.

Stay tuned.

 

Poplar Forest

Tomorrow I am heading to Lynchburg, VA for the annual Poplar Forest Architectural Restoration Field School, directed by Travis McDonald of Poplar Forest. I am SO excited! It is going to be two glorious weeks of everything related to restoration and conservation. I can’t wait to see everything, take notes, absorb it, study it, and work on the yet-to-be-identified group investigation report.

Be prepared for possibly daily posts. I’m thinking the highlight of the day and a photograph, rather than rambling on about everything I learned that day. However, I am an excellent note taker and will gladly share what I’ve learned if you are interested.

I have never had the opportunity to attend a field school, so this is will be an adventure. Stay tuned for hyper preservation posts!