2006 15th Annual TTRAG Symposium
May 12-14, 2006, Eastover Resort & Conference Center
Lenox, Mass.
The annual TTRAG symposium will focus on the Shaker villages and artisans in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and eastern New York. (Hancock Shaker Village's round stone barn shown at right. Photo credit: Will Beemer.)
Time for the 15th annual Conference of the Traditional Timberframe Research and Advisory Group (TTRAG), this year to be held from May 12-14th at the Eastover Resort and Conference Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. This thousand-acre site is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills in the western end of the state, and has as its centerpiece a historic brick Georgian mansion built in 1910. But our focus will be the Shaker villages and artisans in the area. Not only are the Berkshires home to one of the Guild’s headquarters, but it is also the stomping grounds of some of its founding members and site of the first TFG meeting in 1985.
This year’s Conference will open with a tour on Friday afternoon of the Mt. Lebanon Shaker Village, starting at 1 PM. This site includes the Great Stone Barn (1860), measuring 200-feet long by 50 feet wide and four stories tall. The timber frame barn roof burned in 1972 but is slated to be restored through the efforts of the World Monuments Fund, Save America’s Treasures and perhaps the Timber Framers Guild. We will also get a look at the Wash House (1854), the Granary (1838) and the Wagon Shed (1860) at this physical and spiritual center of the Shaker movement in America from 1787 to 1940.
Meetinghouse roof at Mt. Lebanon Shaker Village. Photo credit: Rudy Christian.
The highlight of the tour will be getting into the roof of the Second Meeting House, a barrel-shaped, innovative arched-truss frame dating from 1824. Most of these buildings are not usually open to public viewing, so this is a rare opportunity. To get a preview of the barn and other buildings at Mt. Lebanon, visit www.mountlebanonshakervillage.org. Please indicate on your registration if you will be able to make this tour as we need an accurate head count. Directions to the site will be sent with your confirmation.
We will return to Eastover in late afternoon to check into our rooms and join others attending the Conference. After dinner we will have presentations to kick off the Conference, with more seminars on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Conference will conclude with lunch on Sunday.
Conference presentations include:
- Don Carpentier from nearby Eastfield Village will tell us about his “towering” Greek Revival Church, one of many buildings he has collected from the period 1787-1840 that are at the Village.
- Allen Williams is an accomplished artisan, stonecutter and carver and owner of Chester Granite Co. He will give us a look at the marriage of stone and timber, using a technological timeline to put cut stone in an architectural and historical context, and how it complimented the popularity of timber framing. He will talk about some of the historic projects his company has provided stone for, such as the Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village.
- Bill Senseney, lead blacksmith at Hancock Shaker Village, will examine the role of ironwork in historic buildings.
- Jack Sobon will illustrate his reproduction of an English barn on his own property, using historically accurate joinery and scribe techniques as well as some re-discovered tricks of the trade. He will also show how he raised the entire frame by himself. (Photo at right: Jack Sobon and Peter McCurdy at the Traditional English Scribe Workshop in 2002. Photo credit: J. Wormington)
- Bill Flynt, Architectural Conservator at Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, Mass., will describe how dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, has become a viable asset for more accurately deciphering and understanding the historic architecture of the region. It is used to ascertain felling dates of framing timbers in historic structures, and has forced architectural historians to rethink some of their earlier conclusions. Bill will also show us clues to help determine which species the frame is made from.
- Arron Sturgis will show recent case studies of barn repairs in New England, specifically focusing on rigging for work on large timber frames.
- Jan Lewandoski will share his research into the varieties of plank framing in houses.
 - Peter McCurdy will relate the tale of the remarkable and award-winning restoration of the Pilton Barn in Somerset, England, a two-tiered raised-base cruck (see www.mccurdyco.com/wood_awards.html for more details). Photo credit of Pilton Barn at right: Peter McCurdy.
- Rudy Christian will describe late 1700s timber framing in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi that was exposed by Hurricane Katrina and salvaged by the World Monuments Fund and the Preservation Trades Network for reconstruction as a museum. All five crew members were also TFG members.
- Paul Oatman from California will trek East to shake up our provincial sensibilities by showing us his research on a multitude of timber-framed barns in Nevada.
- We also plan a panel discussion of “atypical” framing that we sometimes run into in historic buildings, such as thin wall timber framing, unusual joinery and solid timber walls. Joining Jack Sobon, Jan Lewandoski and other presenters on the panel will be Abbott Lowell Cummings (we hope), one of only two honorary lifetime members of the Guild and the author of The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay.
On Saturday afternoon we will drive to Hancock Shaker Village, site of the first Guild meeting in 1985. There we will tour more timber roofs, including the Machine Shop and Woodworking Shop (home to some of the biggest workbenches ever made). The Round Stone Barn has one of the most remarkable timber framed interiors and roofs ever built. Newer timber framed buildings by architect, author and TTRAG member Jack Sobon dot the Hancock site. Visit their website at www.hancockshakervillage.org. All tour fees are included in your Conference registration fee.
On Saturday evening we will include the annual slide show, and everyone is encouraged to bring ten images of their work related to traditional timber framing. Guidelines will be included in your Conference confirmation material for submitting your slides or digital photos.
HOTEL & MEALS
Rooms and meals at the TTRAG Conference are NOT included with your Conference fee. Those staying at Eastover will pay these fees directly to the Resort and can secure their room with a credit card. Room and board costs are $230 (double occupancy) or $320 (single occupancy) for Friday dinner through Sunday lunch, and include breaks. A 5% tax and 18% gratuity are additional. Two-day commuter rates for those staying offsite include all meals, breaks, gratuity and taxes. There is a one-day commuter option for those attending only Saturday’s events. (Photo credit: Will Beemer.)
To reserve your room, please call Eastover Reservations at 800-822-2386. Be sure to mention you are with the Timber Framers Guild to get the special rate. Alternative hotels for those wishing to commute to the conference are available in Lenox or Pittsfield. Camping is also available at October Mt. State Forest Campground, which is only a few miles from Eastover and opens for the season that weekend. Visit their website at www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/western/octm.htm.
We recommend you stay where the action is, at Eastover, and make your reservations early to be assured of getting a room. Eastover is a casual country resort; there are no TVs in the rooms but wireless Internet is available in the hotel lobby (dial-up in the rooms). It has no bar, but a BYOB policy. Historical memorabilia, especially from the Civil War period, is displayed in the American Heritage Room. This museum, built in 1961 from the remains of an old textile mill in Adams, Massachusetts, contains one of the largest privately held Civil War collections in the United States and is in the area we will have our slide show and social events. Visit Eastover’s website at www.eastover.com to learn more about this unique resort.
For those looking to share rides to the Conference or share a room, please visit the Conference Board.
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