Wed 7 Dec 2011

Documentation Final

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Class, Documentation Class
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The Formidable Barn

Saturday December 3rd marked the end of another fall documentation class. This year’s final took the students to Kacanda Farm in Birdsboro, PA. A recent graduate of the program, Leah Kacanda, invited the class to her father’s old farm complex. In the tradition of documentation finals, none of the students had seen the property before.

The fall 2010 documentation class also drew parts of Kacanda Farm for their documentation final last year. The previous class focused their efforts on a very early log house. While this years documentation class focused on a beautiful stone bank barn. One crew drew the second floor of the bank barn, another the elevation of the barn that the two floors are visible, and the last team drew a gable-end elevation, as well as an interior framing section.

The weather was beautiful especially for December, and the Kacandas cooked and provided everyone with lunch! Leah made sausages with fixings, pasta salad, green salad, and a coffee crumb cake. Copious amounts of coffee were also available throughout the day!

2011 Documentation Class

CHAD would like to extend a super special thank-you to the Kacandas for inviting us into your house! See everyone in Fall 2012 for another Documentation Class!

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Tue 22 Nov 2011

I get by with a Little Help From My Friends

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Uncategorized
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By: Kevin Barni

On Saturday the November 12th members of the art conservation club came to help CHAD pack our object collection. I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but we’re moving, and there is still much left to be packed, but thanks to the efforts of the club a large part of the more bulky and awkwardly shaped objects were packed.

Since then we have continued to pack and are down to our final twenty objects. Next up research files in the archive!

All of CHAD would like to say thanks for the help and we could always use a few extra hands!

 

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Tue 22 Nov 2011

Revisiting White Clay Creek Dam One

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Field Work
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On Friday, the MAHBS crew went back out to White Clay Creek Dam One for a meeting with the project funders, UD’s Water Resources Agency, and the non-profit group American Rivers, as well as a representative from the State Historic Preservation Office to discuss the future of the White Clay Creek Dam One. The Water Resources Agency is interested in removing a total of seven low dams from the White Clay Creek in order to reintroduce shad fish to the river ecosystem.

 

After completing the Section 106 evaluation, CHAD deemed the dam, historically significant, and dated much of the surviving dam structure to the late 18th century. Most of the discussion on Friday, surrounded boundary recommendations for the site, as well as how much of the dam structure will be removed from the water. What came out of the meeting on site was a scheduled meeting offsite.  Next week all sides are going to discuss their fine-tuned proposals, as well as the possibility of increasing the current scope of the report to include all seven milldams along the White Clay Creek in order to create a thematic, and comprehensive Section 106 Evaluation.

 

Stay tuned for the outcome! There might be a lot more historic dams in CHAD’s immediate future!

 

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Mon 14 Nov 2011

Last Day of Documentation Class

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Documentation Class, Field Work
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This past Saturday marked the last regular class for UAPP 631. The class has been meeting bi-weekly on Saturdays at the John Dickinson Plantation. Previously the class learned how to draw floor plans in the tenant house, front elevations on the double corn-crib granary, they completed an interior of framing section of the barn, and this Saturday the class focused their efforts in learning how to draw a site-plan.

Unlike the previous documentation skills the class had been exposed to site plans, and how you draw and measure them are completely different from the other drawings. Unlike everything else, you draw first. The class got acquainted with this alternate and new approach to field documentation. The went forth and drew, and collectively came back together. Unlike other field drawings, sometimes how site plans are drawn varies from person to person.

After drawing the class was split up in to two teams. Each team started on a different side of the John Dickinson Plantation, and eventually crossed paths in the center. Also unique to site plans is the fact that you can start just about anywhere on site, and still end up with the same results. How you measure for site plans is also completely different than any other field documentation technique. Because the primary concern revolves around place the buildings in relation to one another, instead of getting one measurement for a point you get three. You literally created a triangle for each point on site, to place it within the larger context!

After completing the site plans, the class discussed their final. The final won’t be at the John Dickinson Plantation, instead it is at a mystery location! The class has been asked to put some forethought into what type of drawing they will be working on for the final, section, elevation, floorplans, etc. The documentation final will be Saturday December 3rd!

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Mon 14 Nov 2011

The Dempsey Farm

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Field Work
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On Friday, potentially the last field work day of the semester, the MAHBS crew went to the Dempsey Farm in Corner Ketch.

Front Elevation of the Dempsey House

 

The Dempsey Farm is currently being restored by the owners of the property, which made it an excellent site to document and study, because all of the walls are exposed. Some of the CHADsters are doing historic research back in the office, trying to date the construction of the house. The property has been owned by the Dempsey family since the 1870s!  We do know that the Dempsey Farm, was once a combination store and living space. The family even has a historic photo to prove it!

Dempsey Farm circa 1880 : Photo Courtesy of Lou Dempsey

The Dempsey Farm is one of the properties selected for the New Castle County project. It is one of 3 other sites, that MAHBS will document for the county this academic year. The final documentation package, along with all of the other New Castle County properties will be submitted at the end of May 2012.

 

Second Floor Interior

 

As I mentioned previously, this was potentially our last fieldwork day of the fall semester because CHAD is MOVING! The whole office has to be packed and ready to go by December 19th! More details on the CHAD move to come.

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Wed 19 Oct 2011

Documentation Class: John Dickinson Plantation

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Documentation Class, Field Work
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Another fall, another Documentation of Historic Structures Class. Documentation (UAPP631) focuses on learning to create scaled, annotated field notes of historic resources in preparation for making measured drawings of buildings. Students work as part of a team to record a variety of buildings through plans, sections, elevations and details. Documentation meets every other Saturday during the fall semester, and this past Saturday marked the third meeting.

This year’s class has been learning how to draw at the John Dickinson Plantation in Kitts Hummock Vicinity, De.  The class has been focusing their efforts on drawing some of the reconstructed outbuildings on the site. So far the class has drawn the tenant house, as well as the corn crib/granary.  At  the next session of class (October 29th) the class will be working on the barn.

On October 1st, the class started with floor plans on the tenant house.  This past Saturday (Oct. 15) the class completed their first elevation drawings of the front elevation of the corn crib/granary combo building.

The John Dickinson Plantation is a perfect place to learn to document. It is a state-owned property, with working bathrooms, as well as historical re-enactors, and a large public audience, who ask a lot of questions.

 

For more information on the UAPP631 and JDPlantation please visit :

http://history.delaware.gov/museums/jdp/visitors.shtml

http://primus.nss.udel.edu/CourseDesc/info.action?searchKey=2011|UAPP631

 

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Tue 18 Oct 2011

White Clay Creek Dam One

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Field Work
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On Friday another project left the office. We said our goodbyes this time to the White Clay Creek Dam One. This is the first dam in a series of dams, along the White Clay Creek, that the Water Resources Agency, a division of IPA at the University of Delaware is interested in removing in order to reintroduce Shad Fish to the creek. MAHBS was contacted about doing Section 106 evaluation for the property.

Environmental View of the White Clay Creek Dam One

The MAHBS crew began field work on the dam, back in March 2011. The temperatures were lower, as was the water level. Two brave individuals went in to the creek to survey the surviving milldam wall, mill apron, and the abutment. This was CHAD’s first milldam to be surveyed, and the first time we integrated GPS camera points, to plot the surviving mill race.

The White Clay Creek Dam One (also known as the Byrnes Milldam) was constructed between 1773-1777, by Daniel Byrnes. Byrnes was a prominent miller, and Quaker minister in the region. After conducting research this was the second of his at least four mill sites that he established along the East Coast!

It was a very interesting project to work on, and we have some of the best field work photos, and stories from this trip. It will be affectionately known forever around the office as the “damn dam.”

 

For more information on the Shad Restoration Project please see:

http://www.ipa.udel.edu/ipa/news/WCCshadrestoration.html

http://www.ipa.udel.edu/wra/

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Mon 3 Oct 2011

Demo Day!

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Field Work, Uncategorized
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This past Friday the newest configuration of CHAD’s MAHBS crew went back to the Cannon-Maston house in Seaford, Delaware. The crew went to continue demolition worked conducted previously, and worked with people from the Sussex County land trust, and from the preservation department of Sussex County.

The CHADster’s removed lathe and plaster in four vital corners on the first floor to understand the periodization, removed part of the ceiling in the first floor period one and two rooms, as well as the plaster covering the fireplace in the period two room. During the process of demolition the team made two discoveries. First, the original 1727 mantel had been disassembled and was being used as nailers for the ceiling lathe and plaster! Secondly, we found intact wallpaper in the period two room behind the 1850s layer of lathe and plaster! After Friday we have a better understanding of what the Cannon-Maston house looked liked prior to 1850s.

It was a great day for learning, plus we got to hit stuff!

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Tue 30 Aug 2011

CHAD vs. The Hurricane

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Hurricane Irene, Montana Field School
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While our trip to Montana was nothing short of a success, the end of the trip became the most harrowing part of the experience. As a group, we were always planning to leave Virginia City Thursday morning, and return to Newark Saturday afternoon. What unfolded was a journey of more than 2,200 miles, and a race to beat mother nature home.

Goodbye Montana!

Thursday morning 7:30 a.m.– We left Virginia City, said our goodbyes to the staff at MHC, as well as the ghosts of the Bonanza Inn, and headed to Bozeman.

Thursday around 9:00 a.m.– We dropped Corinne off at the airport. The remaining field schoolers headed into Bozeman for an epic breakfast. We stopped at “Main Street Overeasy.” To say this was the best breakfast I have ever eaten is an understatement. I myself had the “Bison, Bacon, and Biscuits.” A heavenly union of sausage gravy and biscuits, topped with bison sausage, bacon AND eggs. Gloria had the “Bone-In Country Ham Breakfast,” and the ham was almost as big as her plate! Kevin opted for a huevos special, topped with pulled bison skirt steak (did I mention we were in Montana?)! And Becky had the fluffiest, plate sized pancakes, with bison sausage! Add local roasted Yellowstone Coffee to this mix, and this place might be heaven on earth!

After breakfast the group had an hour or so to explore Bozeman. We dispersed to yarn stores, food co-ops, coffee companies, book stores, and vintage shops. At 11 we reassembled in the car.

Friday 1:00 AM!–After driving at least 13 hours, most of which in MONTANA!, we made it to St. Cloud Minnesota. For those of you who are counting we went through Montana, North Dakota, and into Minnesota. We drove through the picturesque Painted Canyon, North Dakota Badlands and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Through out our drive on Thursday, we kept getting various updates (when cell service was available) about the unfolding State of Emergency in Delaware.

Friday 7:00 a.m.– The group piled back into the car after 5 hours of sleep. We left St. Cloud, MN, bright and early. We drove through the rest of Minnesota, down through Madison, Wisconsin, and then onto Chicago. We hit some traffic in Chicago, and continued to Indiana.

Friday 9:00 p.m.– We arrived for the night, right outside of Cleveland, OH. After another long day of driving, the group was famished, and headed to a local diner, “Memories.” After returning to the hotel, we had access to the internet, and the insanely intense news coverage of the impending storm. The University of Delaware had cancelled student move-in, orientations, and classes indefinitely! What were we returning to? Would we make it?

Saturday 6:30 a.m.– At breakfast in the hotel we met a group of electricians from Chicago, IL, heading to Chester CO., PA. They were dispatched ahead of the storm, to help with the inevitable power outages Irene was going to cause. We learned that our hotel was completely booked, mostly with first responders!

"Irene" trucks

All that lay between the CHADsters and Delaware was the state of Pennsylvania, and it’s turnpike. Traffic was typically heavy, however  who was driving it had dramatically changed. We saw a lot of cars from PA, and NJ, also hoping to make it home before the storm, and convoys. Lots and lots of convoys. We passed upwards of 10, each containing 20 or so vehicles. We saw responders from FEMA, Ohio Task Force 1, tree trimers, trucks with “Irene” in duct tape on the back, from Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. What were we doing? Talk about counter intuitive!

Saturday  1:00 p.m. (ish)– We stopped outside of Lancaster, PA to pick up groceries. After having been gone 10 days, no one was prepared to return home, let alone to a possible natural disaster!

Ohio Task Force 1

Saturday 1:30 p.m.– As the first rain drops were falling on Newark, CHAD’s field school rolled in to town. We unpacked the van, and our repacked cars said our good byes, and went home to ride out the storm!

Everyone arrived safely, but what a strange crazy trip.

Convoy!

For more info on places we stopped:

http://www.mainstreetovereasy.com/index.htm

http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm

 

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Thu 25 Aug 2011

“I’m your Huckleberry”

Posted by Catherine Morrissey under Montana Field School
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–Doc Holliday

 

The real star of the trip so far has been the huckleberry. Lets just say that the field crew has huckleberry mania. As wikipedia helpfully tells us, “huckleberries are enjoyed by many mammals, including grizzly bears and humans.”

So far on the trip the crew has had huckleberry ice cream, huckleberry truffles, huckleberry bark, huckleberry beer, huckleberry soda, huckleberry tea, huckleberry wine, huckleberry taffy, huckleberry fudge, huckleberry Italian cream soda, huckleberry licorice, huckleberry jam, huckleberry pie, and huckleberry syrup.

Keep those huckleberries coming!

Kevin tasting his first huckleberry chocolate in West Yellowstone.

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