Historic Preservation, Traditional Building Techniques and the Hillbilly Way

Over the years we have evolved to love and embrace our hillbilly heritage. What once look liked the rundown housing of poverty, now represents a stubborn strength and determination to survive on one's own terms. The log cabins, split rail fences and rock work of the Ozarks represent this strongly to my brother, my husband and me.

Barn at Farmstead Exhibit - Historic Arkansas Museum

Eric Sammons, my brother, has become something of an expert in the historic structures of early Arkansas. He was commissioned by the Historic Arkansas Museum to rehabilitate the barn and slave quarters of an 1850's farmstead and to replicate a period smokehouse and privy for the exhibit. Black River Technical School contacted Eric when they wanted to restore and preserve historic log structures in the river valley. He worked extensively on the REACH program completing both the Rice-Upshaw House and the Looney Tavern for the project as well as conducting workshops for the organization.

His background not only in all aspects of the construction of modern buildings but also the techniques used for historic structures is rare indeed. It was born of the curiosity my father encouraged and an appreciation for the work of others. He could never simply look at a structure and walk by. He studied it and looked deeper to understand which axe was used and why. He sought to understand why that structure was still standing 250 years later while others had faded away. This gave my brother the unique ability to combine his knowledge of the past with more modern techniques of today to create sustainable, affordable structures.

My husband, John, shares Eric's enthusiasm for and knowledge of historic log and timber frame structures. He has a passion for sustainable living and re-purposing old materials. They often share tools and problem solve difficult tasks together. This is very helpful as we assess the future of structures on the farm. While most of the older structures will not be salvaged, we look to the future with an eye toward using the materials available on the land and techniques of the past. By doing so, we make the most of what is available to us, embracing a truly sustainable lifestyle which is more affordable.

While clearing cedar from along the utility lines, Eric remarked that the stone ledge we were walking across could easily be quarried for use in a future structure. Several of the cedar logs we can harvest for beams of a structure. In short order, we decided we had enough materials on that piece of property to build a decent structure with very little added material expense. Between Eric and John, they have the knowledge and ability to construct any structure we desire from the available materials.

For us, it's just the hillbilly way. We make the most of our resources because they are all we have. Why would we purchase fancy rocks when we have beautiful rock to quarry from our land? Why would we purchase lumber when we have timber to harvest?

After listening to their discussion, it was decided that perhaps we should share this knowledge and ability with others in a more open fashion. We are now working to develop workshops for those interested in traditional building techniques for sustainable homestead living. While we are in the planning phase of this project, we are very excited about the potential for sharing this knowledge and lifestyle with others. The idea is simply that by using knowledge from the past, we can use traditional building techniques with more modern approaches.

We'll keep you posted as our plans develop, but as of now our goal is to start workshops in late March of 2015 and provide several levels during various phases of construction. We will highlight Ozark stone building, complete with quarrying your own rock and timber construction (we haven't decided if we will use timber-frame, log or cordwood yet) including harvesting timber for your project. We hope there are plenty of folks interested in these workshops so that we can continue to offer more and varied projects.

Please, contact us if you are interested in workshops. We are interested in your feedback as we develop our plans!