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T
he WCWA Cultural & Historic Resources Committee is in the process of reconstructing the barn behind the Sexton's house near the visitor's center of the Pennsylvania part of the White Clay Creek Preserve. The barn, possibly the same age as the house (circa 1830), was in far too poor a condition to restore, so plans were made to demolish the existing barn and reconstruct it for eventual use as an environmental education center where programs conducted at the Preserve can be held. The new barn design will be an adaptation of the old barn's design and will be a compromise between utility and historical accuracy. The project is being made possible by a $5000 Ecogrant from ICI.Over the spring semester of 1997, detailed documentation for the building (as well as the Sexton's House and the Baptist Church) was produced by graduate students studying "Methods in Historical Preservation" at the University of Delaware's Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering. The course was taught by David Ames and Rebecca Siders. A set of drawings and photographs was produced and the basic history of the structures documented.
In May of 1997 a group of WCWA volunteers demolished the old barn and the joinery was carefully documented over the summer. Although most of the original timber was beyond salvage, some of the more interesting pieces were saved for display.
O
f special interest in the barn was the post and beam construction utilizing mortise and tenon joints.
Detail from Futhey & Cope (1881) showing Yeatman's sawmill with up-and-down saw. Note Pomeroy & Newark locomotive in background.
All of the original woodwork showed the vertical saw cuts typical of an up-and-down sawmill. Most likely the timbers were cut at Marshall Yeatman's sawmill located just a few hundred yards away on the White Clay Creek.
Main Post showing auger holes in mortise and up and down saw marks.
While most of the woodwork was in very poor shape, some portions of some pieces that had been sheltered from the weather were still pristine. During the demolition, a knee brace was removed from one of the main posts. At the bottom of the mortise, the auger holes used to form it could be clearly seen, and oak shavings in it were still fresh after 170 years.
The tenon of a knee brace along with several of the wooden pegs used to hold the barn together. Note the three notches on the brace.
The mortise and tenon joints were held together with wooden pegs. Most of the pieces are marked with a series of notches to distinguish which piece was which and what connected to what.
A carpenter's mistake.
One of the main posts showed clear evidence of a mistake made by one of the original workmen. A complete mortise was cut before it was realized that it was on the wrong side of the post. Another mortise was cut and a patch piece inserted to hide the mistake.
Volunteers will be needed at all phases of this project. Please contact Tom Zawislak (610-274-0482) if you are interested in helping out.