Traditional Woodworking at Menokin

Traditional Woodworking at Menokin is a documentary-style video highlighting the seven weeks of work accomplished by the Jenrette carpentry interns. This video is by our Communications Intern, Rebecca Ries.

This carpentry internship was made possible through the support of the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation, an organization striving to educate both the public and emerging professionals about the field of historic preservation. The foundation sponsored three interns to work at Menokin this past summer - Phineas Davis, Lawson Quam, and Ryan Moran. Their main project was the creation of summer beams for the roof of Menokin, utilizing traditional 18th-century methods of woodworking under the supervision of master carpenter Nathanael Ulfers.

This video traces the entire process of making summer beams, from initial shaping of white oak timbers, to chiselling mortises into the wood to connect the beams together. Other aspects of carpentry are featured too, like the colonial technique of fixing an axe. Ryan, Lawson, and Phineas’ finished work is a testament to the enduring craft of traditional woodworking in the next generation, and we look forward to seeing what they create next.