Stacked Wood Construction

The breezeway was finished last week. During the process, the carpenters removed some clapboard on the original house, revealing the underlying stacked wood construction.

Stacked wood construction appears to take the principles of log cabin building and apply them to “modern” building materials. This is essentially piling up 2-by-4 pieces of wood (the narrow way) for as high as you need to go. A testament to the abundance of wood in Vermont when the house was built.

When we bought it, we were told the house was built in 1827. It is on the national register of historic places, but then so are most of the houses in the village. At the closing, our title lawyer produced an impressive document wrapped in red ribbon and gold seals. I’m not sure what its significance was, apart from clearing up some minor lien issue, and we have not seen it since that day.

Our neighbor, J.P. Soule down at the other end Main Street told us that he saw our house on a village map dated in the 1780s. Furthermore, he asserted that our house was the first house built in Quechee and the only remaining one built with stacked wood. I don’t know how true those things may be. It’s one of those things I should research.

The Ubiquitous 1990 Toyota Camry

Have you noticed that you cannot get in a car and drive anywhere without seeing at least one Toyota Camry of early 1990s vintage?

I thought it might be a New England phenomenon, but I’ve had the same experience all over the country. It certainly affected my decision to buy a Toyota last year. I figured those guys sure can make a car that lasts.

The car pictured above belongs to my sister and has well over 200,000 miles on it. She will be very sad the day she has to give it up. I can see why. I’ve driven it and it’s a sweet ride. Not such a great looker, unless you’re a fan, but nice.

I’ve been meaning to post a series of photos of the garage/office project in the Photos section, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve been too lazy to select and re-size all the photos.

The project is coming along quite nicely. The builder has worked hard to make sure it looks well with the house. I would give him a link here, but he doesn’t seem to have a web site. They have lavished quite a bit of attention on the trim and it has paid off. That and Dave’s brilliant site selection have turned the tide of public opinion on what now appears to be the Little Yellow Compound.