The photos this morning are another look at the side porch steps where Melanie sat and “visited” with the soldiers who had stopped to beg for food. This is going to be my major reconstruction project for the remainder of the year,….along with cleaning out a side building for more space, ..which will allow the displays to move back,…which will allow more room for chairs, ….and movie stills from the set. Yes, it IS pretty much a house of cards that requires the movement of one part to gain space for the movement of another. And,….that is why the work of the volunteers who have been with me since the first days in the dirt, is so important. And it’s why I constantly tell them how important they are and feed them BLT’s (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich’s) when we have a work day. As you can see in the first photos taken from the side, the steps were made by nailing small triangular pieces of wood to the bottom side of the step to create the riser rather than modern construction techniques which would have built stringers which resemble the teeth of a saw. I don’t believe the construction crew that built Tara did so because they did not have the skills or knowledge to use the most modern of techniques, but built the set in the ways they would have been built by folks of the past, which gives us some great insight today. As my family were all (at one time of another) tradesmen who built everything from houses, cabinets, barns and even the Chapel at Callaway Gardens I have seen them use some of the old ways to get the job done. It usually entailed taking two pieces of wood and “eye balling” them to get a sense of the final outcome,…and then just putting it together. This method created the “rambling house built with no architectural drawings” as Margaret described her Tara in the book, gave us some of the construction techniques seen amongst the pieces of the Tara façade. The first two photos show the triangular pieces and the last photo is of the “plate” that was nailed against the porch deck which means the last photo is of the top step area of the side steps of Tara. This is how our restoration and our research is being done,…little by little and bit by bit as we comb thru the pieces and reattach and Realize…..as some new discovery is found. I hope you will all take purchase the Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project for it will give you some idea of the starting place and where we are going. It will show you that there are already successes to be touted as well as many more days of work ahead. You can purchase an autographed copy here by going to the pinned photo at the top of the page and simply following the links in the text to PayPal. There is an option for U.S. as well as International purchases so everyone who wants a book can receive one in their corner of the world. Remember, the restoration is funded only by the purchases of the books, the tours of the Tara façade and… (Thank You very much) the kind donations of a few. And so far, my friends, that has been enough to get the job done. God bless you all for your kindness. I’ll be waiting for you up at the gate. Peter
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:57:51 +0000
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