WILLIAMSBURG — After months of preparation, Colonial Williamsburg began to raise its new brickyard drying shed July 12.
Led by Colonial Williamsburg’s Director of Historic Trade, Edwin Boscana, approximately 35 volunteers from the staff at Colonial Williamsburg helped with setting up the wooden frames for the building.
When addressing the crowd coming to watch the raising, Boscana talked about the production of the frame itself, noting the months of cubing logs with axes to square the timber, pits sawing, and the actual cutting and fitting of all the joints to prepare.
Each frame of the building weighs about 1,500 pounds and is made of solid wood. Except for a few minor safety additions, the building frames were brought up using the traditional method of manpower.
During the raising of the first frame, one of the planks used for placement was catching a beam resulting in a slight delay, but the wall still went up as planned thanks to the intervention of Boscana.
“It’s nice to see it all finally coming together. By the end of the day, we’ll have a recognizable frame, including the roof,” Boscana said.
While the frame of the drying shed may have gone up today, the building still has a way to go before its completion. For more information on Colonial Williamsburg, or to purchase tickets to visit yourself, visit its website.
