Welcome to Northern Bedrock’s First Crew!
What we’re doing: “Building on the tradition of non-military service initiated in the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps will hire young adults working in crews to do hands-on historic preservation work throughout the state of Minnesota. Northern Bedrock is partnering with the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) to combine the need to preserve properties of historic significance with Northern Bedrock’s mission to provide meaningful employment and social development for young adults in Minnesota.”
Northern Bedrock demonstration session crew at the Duluth Armory (Duluth, MN). From left to right: Alexandra Kosik, Jennifer Sustar, Meghan Weber, Anne Ketz (crew leader), and Zach Small.
Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps
October 2014 Demonstration Projects: Week 1
Northern Bedrock’s first crew hit the ground running during their first week. We are thrilled to have a crew motivated to learn about the trades, use their hands, and meld as a team.
This past week the crew visited and toured the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union training center in Cotton, MN as well the Jerrold Alander Training Center for The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Union in Hermantown, MN. On Wednesday with the help of workshop attendees and volunteers the crew cleaned and reset 8 gravestones at Scandia Cemetery in Duluth, and they finished the week cleaning 1,737 historic bricks for masons restoring The Historic Duluth Armory. This week they’ll be camping near Royalton, MN for a full week of restoration work on the historic McDougall Barn. Look for details on that project in our next newsletter.
Cemetery Preservation
(Above) Northern Bedrock crew with workshop leader Jarrod Roll after a day of work preserving gravestones at Scandia Cemetery (from left to right: Alexandra Kosik, Jennifer Sustar, Jarrod Roll, Zach Small, Meghan Weber, Anne Ketz).
The crew kicked off their season with a training workshop on gravestone preservation from Save Your Stones. The crew, along with 25 other eager participants learned basic stone cleaning, resetting, and straightening procedures along with the proper tools and materials to use. The group then headed out to Scandia Cemetery on the shore of Lake Superior in Duluth to practice their new knowledge. Eight gravestones in all were cleaned and restored in the span of three hours. The hard work put in by the crew and participants is impressive. Check out the media coverage from WDIO and Duluth News Tribune.
We are grateful to the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, Minnesota Historical Society, Armory Arts & Music Center and Scandia Cemetery for making the workshop possible for our crew and registered participants.
