Raising the Barns at Franklin Park
Sept. 5-7, 1998, Loudon County, Virginia
There was a frame raising over Labor Day, 1998, for a performing and visual arts center in Franklin Park in Virginia. Franklin Park is located near Purcellville, Virginia, about 40 miles west of Washington, DC.
The Franklin Park crew (left to right): Wes Quinlan, Peter Bull, Mark Soyers,
Andy Smith, Dave Crocco, Al Anderson, Darryl Weiser, Al Thomas, Bruce Cowie, Jim Holtzkenect, Bob Smith, Donna Williams, Tom Miller.
The structure, which is actually made up of three separate frames, replaces barns that were slated to be converted to a performing and visual arts center but were burned by human-induced fire. The Franklin family had donated the land and barns to the community for the construction of the park. After the setback of losing the barns, a group evolved that became known as the Barns at Franklin Park Committee. It is comprised of folks from the community who wanted to resurrect the sprit of the old barns. Project architect Clint Good (who is brother-in-law to Guild member Leon Buckwalter) knew that, although the new building would be designed to better fit its use, it must be timber framed.
Blue Ridge Timberwrights contracted to cut and manage raising of the frame. The effort was led by Donna Williams.
A Report from Kathy Donovan
After thousands of volunteer hours in meetings, design planning and fund raising efforts, the orchestration of raising the timber Frame Theater for The Barns at Franklin Park began Labor Day Weekend. A united vision and hard work brought us to this point. The attendance swelled to over 15,000 people. Hundreds of spectators "named a peg" for $5.00 with poems, pets, memorials and best wishes. The public really enjoyed witnessing this momentous occasion in Loudoun County’s history.
Guild members represented 14 states. They enjoyed the new park pool and the beautiful hilltop campsite. Virginia Coach Company donated bus tours to Washington, DC and to Harper’s Ferry. The Baptist Church of Ashburn, Virginia, brought much-appreciated lemonade and cookies for the volunteers.
Sandi Wickersham, local folk artist, included many events in her original painting. Limited Edition prints will be available for sale in November. The Waterford Quilters and the Waterford Weavers created displays for the celebration. The Loudoun Art Sketch Club displayed original barn paintings for sale while several artists set up their easels and painted the barn raising. Pie eating contests, dunking booth and games entertained the children. The Bluemont Concert Series sponsored a Harvest Moon Square Dance and a potluck dinner! Music performances ran continuously.
Several VMI students cut the small entranceway on-site: Andy Smith, JP Morris, Eric Gannon, Kris Turpin, and Speros Casey, with help and guidance from Guild members Chuck Modjeski, Dan Fadden, and Joe Bell. Andy Smith of Purcellville and a senior at VMI helped to build the trebuchet, a medieval siege weaponry device his professors designed as a project for VMI students. Andy demonstrated the catapult device flinging watermelons into their mashed demise! Thank you for bringing the Trebuchet to Franklin Park!
It seems most fitting that Donna Williams was the Lead Project Coordinator for the theater timber preparation. Her college degree is in classical piano. Donna met Bob Smith while employed by the Appalachian Trail Conference. They were married at Blackburn Lodge on the Application Trail in Loudoun County.
While Donna coordinated the timber preparation for the Barns, checking and rechecking the cutting detail her husband, Bob, was coordinating the big picture. He established the temporary timber frame workshop on a farm in Purcellville and he focused on site preparation at Franklin Park. Their skills complement one another!
We were honored to have Chris Madigan from East Alstead, New Hampshire come help us. He is one of the founders and was the first president of the Timber Framers Guild of North America. Chris has helped with hundreds of raisings over the past 22 years.
Leon Buckwalter, of Hinsdale, New York, supervised the timber cutting and raising for the lobby portion of the building. He is the brother of Mary Ann Good of Lincoln; whose husband Clint Good is the architect for the Barns. It was his timber framing experience that inspired Clint to bring about the original vision for raising the Barns out of the ashes as a timber framed structure, suggesting that we present our project to the Timber Framers Guild as one of their annual volunteer community service projects.
Al Anderson and Sandy Bennett, of Blue Ridge Timberwrights, Christiansburg, Virginia, are faithful supporters of The Barns at Franklin Park. Al attended several organization meetings last year, including the design charrette. Their company donated early drawings. Most importantly, they helped us to obtain the Timber Framers Guild Grant last September. The Guild’s acceptance gave us the boost of confidence we needed to pursue our dreams. Thank you Al, Sandy and the TF Guild Board for helping us make our dreams come true.
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Raising Report with Photos by Emmett and Sharon Greenleaf
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