The Plott Thickens…
by Innes Borstel*
I recently attended the Adventures in Preservation project working at Machicomoco State Park in Virginia helping with the restoration of the 19th century Timberneck house. The Fairfield Foundation in Gloucester, Virginia holds a lease on the house and hopes to transform it to a destination for interpreting and exploring the history of the area and as a place to stay.
The AiP project crew (we call them Jammers) dug in their hands and shoulders and accomplished a lot! The main focus of the week’s work was windows and trim. Some windows were up to 150 years old and are now fully functional with our TLC — scraped, reglazed, primed, and now ready for final coats. We also worked on the interior wood surfaces, rejuvenating the thirsty wood with boiled linseed oil.
During the communal tasks and breaks, there was lots of chatting and storytelling while getting to know each other.
There were a lot of common threads, as you might imagine with a group of strangers who all decided to volunteer for a old house restoration project!
A fascination for history, a respect for traditional craftsmanship, and a love of working with one’s hands, to name a few!
One unexpected common bond among the Jammers was a love of dogs — especially Plott Hounds!
Most people have never heard of this breed, derived from German stock and trained for hunting wild boar and bear. So we were all surprised to find out that three of the widely-spread participants all counted a Plott Hound as a member of their family!
As I write this, my Plott, Juniper, is snuggled up on the couch next to me, happy that I’ve returned from my Timberneck adventure. Next time, maybe I’ll bring her along to meet up with other Plotts so she can have an adventure of her own!
* About the Author
Innes Borstel has had a love of historic houses and archeology since childhood, even conducting an excavation at her own home at age 10. In college she majored in geology and anthropology, liking the connection between the earth and mankind. She has enjoyed varied careers — as an exploration geologist, studio potter and import-export manager, all enhanced by occasional archeological fieldwork. Travel is a passion — looking for geological marvels of the extreme past or discovering a sense of place through historic buildings, relics, and remains. Her 2013 AiP adventure to Gjirokaster, Albania, changed the way she thinks about travel, preservation and personal commitment. She currently works as a preschool teacher in a university setting, and assists AiP with outreach through social media.
About Adventures in Preservation (AiP)
Adventures in Preservation (AiP) is a non-profit connecting people and preservation through enriching cultural heritage travel and hands-on education. AiP was founded in 2001 by two women with a great love of historic buildings and a strong desire to travel and understand the world. While perusing the travel section of the Boulder Bookstore, the Volunteer Vacation section suddenly brought everything into focus. Judith Broeker and Jamie Donahoe combined their goal of saving historic buildings with the concept of experiential travel, and created AiP’s hands-on preservation vacations.
Work started on several sites in the U.S., and as word spread, requests for help began to pour in from around the world, underscoring the great potential of using volunteers to restore historic buildings. In supporting community-based preservation initiatives, we discovered that our love of old buildings could translate into environmental and economic sustainability for communities.
AiP is picking up the pace! As our hands-on experiential travel becomes more popular, we have new projects, new partners and initiatives to keep you excited and involved.
