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RECREATING HISTORY

When we first bought camp, a nice lady arrived at the gate with a photo album of camp back in the 40’s and 50’s- when she grew up here (her father and grandparents where the proprietors in the 40s and 50s)

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grandparents owned it).

In those photos was one of a toddler on an awesome old log fence behind the lodge. Since seeing that photo, we’ve always wanted to recreate it from that photo. After nearly 15 years, we finally got our fence this past weekend.  Our friend Jack Fernehough decided that he wanted to tackle this job, and here is how he did it:

BUILDING A LOG FENCE BY HAND IN 12 ‘EASY’ STEPS:

TECHNIQUE:
1: harvest your trees (in this case, black Locust Tree- hardwood commonly used for fenceposts  because its longevity in the ground – harvested outside of beards town)

2: peel the bark with a draw knife.
3: lay out your design & readjust.
4: cut your posts  to proper length.
5: cut your rails to proper length

6: carve your ends: ( tenons- cone shoulder + tenoning bit in diff sizes)
7: fit your spindles in

8: glue your joints together

9: dig your post holes. (the crew actually found the original concrete post hole support when excavating)

10: heave 1200 pounds with 10 people into place.

11: pour concrete into place

12: have a beer & celebrate

 

JACK IN ACTION: training us all on the fine art of peeling bark, making posts…

quad

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… and all of a sudden, there she was. History  repeated.  So we perched Charlie on the fence & took the same photo, nearly 70 years later:

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Our favorite part of this little story is that almost as soon as we finished installing the fence, I got a text from Sam, (the lady who was on the fence as a toddler). She asked if she could come visit the next morning— she did: and we showed her the new fence.

she loved it
charlie loves it
we love it.

BIG THANKS AND HUGS TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS GIFT:
THANKS TO: Jack Fernehough my brother Sam Surratt
and all ‘fence crew’ who so generously donated their time to help rebuild this little peice of history:

Kenny Lux
Brandon Hager

Tara Surratt

Steve Daniel

(and all the folks who helped us set it! Abbie, Ellie, Joe, Sage & Co)
sam thenand now

 

and thats not all…. Jack also rebuilt our main hotel fence, too- all from a photograph that dates back to the 30’s. This one features a “W” for Wandawega:

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