Tag Archives: summer Interns

The Northern Neck and Beyond, The People

“Intern”pretations: Eliza Carr-Schmidt

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The Menokin staff would like to thank Eliza, who took on the daunting task of sifting through boxes and boxes of artifacts extracted from archaeological digs at Menokin over the last 13 years, and photographing them for use in an upcoming exhibit. Her work is exceptional and we are so pleased with the final images!
Eliza is a rising sophomore at Christ Church School.

 

I first became interested in Menokin when I visited on a field trip a couple years ago. I was not only intrigued by the history of the house and the people that lived there but also the plan about the ‘Glass House’. It was something that I had never seen before. I liked the

Collection of buttons excavated at Menokin during an archaeological dig in 2009.
Collection of buttons excavated at Menokin in 2009. Photo by Eliza Carr-Schmidt.

idea that you could see what the house would have looked like back then while at the same time seeing what it looks like today. It’s awesome that you can see the structure of the house, foundation, and the inside of the walls, but it’s also cool that it shows what’s happened over time.

Damper key discovered during the 2016 excavation. Photo by Eliza Carr-Schmidt
Damper key discovered during the 2016 excavation. Photo by Eliza Carr-Schmidt

Before my internship, I didn’t realize that they had carried out so many digs and found so many cool artifacts. It was a pleasure to get to go through all the different things that have been found through the years. I hadn’t realized that other people had lived at the house after Francis and Rebecca. The artifacts were like a timeline that shows what went on and how things changed through the years. I not only learned more about the history of the house and the people that lived there, but I enjoyed the photography aspect as well. It was not all what I was expecting, but I’m very glad it’s what I ended up doing!

It was also fun to learn about what goes on in the background of historic places like Menokin. I had no idea the amount of time and effort that went into something like this. I think it’s really amazing that Menokin seems like it’s all put together by the community. It’s an amazing place that has a bunch of really cool people that obviously care a lot about what they are doing. It was so much fun getting to help out there and meet all the incredible people that make Menokin possible!

The House

Giant HABS Drawings Provide Backdrop For Fun

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I posted a lot about the pre-construction work that took place at Menokin this summer. Our three interns did quite an exceptional job identifying and moving stones onto the life-sized HABS drawings of the four facades of the house.

But we’re not above having a little fun with our work, and nobody does it quite like Allie and Emily Lyth. These sisters have been part of the Menokin volunteer and intern corps for a number of years. They couldn’t resist a slightly surrealistic narrative…..

Hmmm. Which key is it?
I’m sure Francis Lightfoot Lee was always chatting on his cell phone when he entered the house, too.
Just casually scaling the house.
We did our best to replicate the HABS picture with the actual house, but it was a little challenging since the front door doesn’t exist on the house.
Scaling the actual house… just not as enthusiastically.
The House

Moving the Stones – Preconstruction Work Summer 2015

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By Guest Blogger  Catherine Emery

(For Part I of this Series, follow this link.)

PART II  After two weeks sorting through stones, tagging them and recording their findings, Menokin’s summer interns were ready to get outside and in the field.

With life-sized print outs of Menokin’s HABS drawings delivered and spread out in the yard, Bethany, Sarah and Chris spent two days with architect Nakita Reed and a contractor moving stones onto the drawings.

It was an evolving process, which is to say it wasn’t quite as straightforward as it seemed on paper. Of course, nothing worth doing ever is. The team had the help of a small front loader and were tasked with placing stones that weigh hundreds of pounds the right direction and within the lines of the drawings. Halfway through the day with many of the pieces in place, it was still hard to visualize how it would all come together.

“I don’t know what I thought it would look like,” said puzzled intern Sarah Rogers, “but I’m not sure this is it.”

By the end of day one, though, there was a clear sense of accomplishment and the hard work had paid off. Entire pieces of each elevation had been laid out in stone, giving everyone a clear view of how useful the endeavor would be.

The life size HABS drawings will benefit future contractors, who will be tasked with putting some of the pieces of the Menokin ruin back together. Additionally, the drawings give meaning and purpose to Menokin’s rock yard. Now, visitors to the site can see where all those stones go and how they fit into the larger scope of work at Menokin.

For Sarah, Bethany and Chris, the four-week internship went by fast. They provided an invaluable service to Menokin and in return all expressed deep gratitude for their time there.

Of her time on site Bethany Emenhiser said, “I learned that things don’t always work out in the field the way they look on paper. I learned how fun and important it is to do field work because you learn to be flexible. Menokin was a great place to learn that.”

The House

Moving Menokin’s Puzzle Pieces Into Place

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By guest blogger Catherine Emery

PART I  Nothing brings a place alive like the work of many hands. Phase I of the Menokin Glass Project is underway as three interns dived deep into the Menokin stone databases to identify and locate cut and carved stone from the historic building.

Under the supervision of Encore Sustainable Design Architects Nakita Reed and Ward Bucher, the summer interns did a terrific job of updating files, re-tagging stones and finally moving them to giant, life-size print outs of the Menokin HABS drawings.

The students, Bethany Emenhiser, Sarah Rogers and Chris Cortner, came from around the U.S. and were attracted to Menokin’s innovative approach to preservation. But has the job been easy?

Only if you think moving 250 100-500 lb stones in 90 degree heat is light-weight work.

“It was fun to finally be able to move the stones to their proper places on the HABS drawings after spending weeks documenting and tagging them,” said Bethany Emenhiser, “but it was a long, hot day.”

Local contractor, Robert Yeatman, stands by as stones are indentified.
Pallets of stones were driven to the proper location on the HABS elevation, then hoisted into place by the interns
Sarah and Bethany directing traffic.
Nakita and Menokin E.D. Sarah Pope inspect the progress.
Hank Handler from Oak Grove takes his Bobcat driving very seriously.
A bird’s eye view of two of four elevations. You can see the house taking shape on top of the drawings.

Bringing in summer interns to help with preconstruction work was something of a no-brainer.The Menokin Foundation and its project partners were able to save essential funds and the interns gained valuable experience in the field, learned best practices for documentation and assessment of historic materials.

Though the preconstruction work has just begun, the progress is visible. Stop by Menokin and you’ll immediately see sorted stones atop the giant canvas drawings, a visual reminder that soon those same stones will be returned to the house.

Follow this link for PART II of this series.

The House, The People

“Intern”pretations – Summer 2015: Episode Two

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For an overview of the work being undertaken by our summer interns, please refer to this earlier post.

View Episode One.

July 1 – July 3, 2015

7/1/15 – Out in the stone yard today.
7/1/15 – Photographing stones for an inventory of usable stones.
7/1/15 – Hidden keystone.
7/1/15 – Using our dictionary to look up the difference between a lintel and a jamb. Thanks, Ward!
7/2/15 – The day started off with a photoshoot with our wonderful internship site, the Menokin house, for the presentation.
7/2/15 – Today’s theme is the interns vs. nature: we battled rain, a frog, more rain, a beetle, and a bee. “There’s a bee in the bag! This is not a drill! Abort abort! Not pictured: Sarah and Chris running away while Bethany negotiated with the bee to remove itself from the bag. ”
7/2/15 – We did manage to find a clue among the crazy events that took place during interns vs nature. We discovered that these specific z blocks match some window stones we found in the yard. Nature: 100… Interns: 1. Score!
7/2/15 – Sarah dropped the wire and it got all tangled, but Chris and Bethany fixed it while Sarah pulled up some weeds in the stone yard and apologized profusely.
7/2/15 – More wire struggles.
7/2/15 – More wire struggles.
7/3/15 – Pic from our field trip to George Washington’s birthplace. “Just call me g dubs.”
The House, The People

“Intern”pretations – Summer 2015: Episode One

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For an overview of the work being undertaken by our summer interns, please refer to this earlier post.

June 23 – June 30

6/23/15 – The interns have begun their exciting work at Menokin.
6/23/15 – We’ve begun to identify some of the major stones original positions in the main house.
6/30/15 – This annotated drawing of the house shows how the stones are being tagged and numbered. This will allow their return to the proper place in the structure.
6/25/15 – Today was all about water table stones. We were out on site measuring the remains of the East facade. With each new day, we’re making more progress on putting Menokin back together.
6/25/15 – Bethany found a voussoir on one of the pallets today, which is a critical piece of Menokin’s window frames.
6/25/15 – Sarah is helping us update the database today. There is so much information in the jigsaw puzzle we’re trying to put together. But we are finding more of the pieces everyday!
6/29/15 – One of today’s tasks: identifying stones that need repair — this is a quoin from the northwest corner of the building that has broken in half.
6/29/15 – Inside the crack of a broken stone.
6/29/15 – Hard hats: some assembly required. Today, we sets our goals and tasks for the upcoming week. We will be identifying stones that need repair and identifying cut stones and window surrounds. Also today, we ate good Mexican food, had a Walmart adventure, and received our own hard hats!
6/30/15 – Tarp or slip-and-slide?? You decide…
6/30/15 – We found some rhubarb in the stone yard!
6/30/15 – Labeling pallets this morning.
6/30/15 -Lizard friend
The House, The People

Meet the 2015 Menokin Interns

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Last week we told you about the exciting pre-construction work that is happening at Menokin this summer.

This week, our three summer interns have arrived on the job. After a day of orientation and introduction to the project and the area, they are now busy at work identifying the foundation and water table stones in our collection.

They will be sharing their insights and images with us daily which will be posted to the blog. We are thrilled to have them here!

L to R: Chris Cortner, Sarah Rogers, Bethany Emenhiser

Chris Cortner is a rising third year at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture and is from Boston, Massachusetts. As an architecture student, he expanded his interests further to Historic Preservation and Scenic Design. Chris likes to stay involved at school. He is a member and previous Business Manager for The Virginia Gentlemen, the University’s first A Cappella group, a Committee Member and School Representative for the University Judiciary Committee, and a member of the American Institute of Architecture Students. In his free time, Chris likes to sing, ski, and hang out with his friends, family, and his wonderful dog.

Sarah Rogers is an upcoming junior at the University of Mary Washington, double majoring in Historic Preservation and Geography. At UMW, she is the incoming President of both the Historic Preservation club and the UMW Ambassadors, as well as a resident assistant and a junior class representative in the Historic Preservation department. She wants to one day go to graduate school for historic preservation. In addition to working with Menokin this summer, she is also interning at the Eastern Branch of the North Carolina SHPO. Besides old buildings, her interests include dogs, babies, and reading. She loves a good summer
thunderstorm, preferably watched from a screened-in porch.

Bethany Emenhiser just graduated with her MFA in historic preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Bethany is originally a Hoosier and did her undergraduate studies in history at Saint Mary’s College in Indiana. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, running and stargazing. Bethany’s preservation interests include planning, community engagement and non-profit work. She’s excited to be a part of such a unique project here at Menokin.