Since 2002, Pine Mountain has provided hands-on training and instruction in preservations skills for managers of historic properties, homeowners, contractors and architecture students as part of its educational mission. The classes take place on the Settlement School campus, which is listed as a National Historic Landmark. The School is located in Harlan County, Kentucky, in the commonwealth’s southeast mountains.   The Kentucky Heritage Council, the Commonwealth’s historic preservation office, co-sponsors the field schools and workshops.

The craft of making wood shingles and repairing a wood shingle roof will be the focus of this workshop. Jim Houston, a master wood shingle expert and a director of the Preservation Trades Network, will lead this workshop. Course Description: Students will go through the entire process of making shingles – from learning how to judge a standing tree for its potential as a source for wood shingles to processing a white oak tree from a log to rounds to bolts and, finally, into shingles.

Throughout this process, students will use traditional tools including a froe, maul, shingle brake, shaving horse and draw knife. The hands-on project will be the 1850 Creech Cabin, one of the contributing structures to Pine Mountain Settlement School’s status as a National Historic Landmark. During the workshop, the instructor will lead students through an evaluation of the building. Any necessary repairs to the roof supports will be made before applying new shingles. The shingles will be installed in an Appalachian style or lateral overlap, which is a double course of two-foot shingles with an 18-inch exposure on the top course. The first layer of shingles is completely covered by a second layer that is offset from the first layer to cover the joint. This technique predates the common installation style of today – 18-inch shingles, six inches of exposure with joints covered by following courses of shingles. The ridge of the new roof will be a projecting comb cap, which is typical of Appalachian style buildings. Jim Houston has worked in traditional trades for 20 years and in the building trades for more than 30 years.

Since 1995, he has worked at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), where he is preservation construction specialist. He manages preservation maintenance projects in the southeastern Pennsylvania region and mentors PHMC apprentices at the Preservation Construction Section Woodshop at Daniel Boone Homestead in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania and other sites. He also manages the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps project at Daniel Boone Homestead and demonstrates traditional trades at the annual International Preservation Trades Workshop and other venues. Jim is a recipient of the Association for Preservation Technology International’s Martin E. Weaver Award. Jim’s primary interests are preservation and recovery of historic trades practices and use of traditional tools and materials. This workshop is suitable for those with little or no building experience and those with more advanced construction skills. Cost of the field school is $500.00, which covers tuition, lodging, meals, and materials. The field school will begin with dinner on Sunday, July 25 and continue through lunch on Friday, July 30.