Preservationists race termites to restore slaves' cabin

Madison Piedmont Chapter of Questers President Jacqueline Mow, a Syria resident, presented the Madison County Historical Society a check for $1,000 on March 27 for the Kemper Residence Slave Quarters Restoration Project.

Questers is a philanthropic group, with chapters throughout the United States and Canada. There are seven chapters in Virginia. Members meet once a month, except for summer, usually at a member’s home, for talks and discussion about antiques and collectibles. In addition to their search for objects of historic and/or aesthetic value they are interested in and support historic restoration and preservation. Their motto is “It’s fun to search and a joy to find.”

The slave quarters are a clapboard-covered log building located in back of the Kemper Residence. The historical society began its effort to restore the slave quarters in September 2007, with a dinner and an exhibit of Etlan artist’s Tucker Hill’s prints. This was followed by an appeal to the historical society membership and to the community at large for contributions.

At the end of 2008 the fund contained more than $7,400 toward the projected cost of $50,000 for the restoration. In January 2009, the society received a $10,000 grant, raising the total funding to about $17,500. A stipulation of the grant is that the money be spent during the 2009 calendar year. Since this leaves the funding well short of the total needed, the society is planning a phased restoration.

Because at least 80 percent of the building’s logs are not salvageable due to extensive termite damage, it will be necessary in this initial phase to disassemble the building, saving and cataloguing all re-usable material, and then to reconstruct it on a solid foundation, using all the intact original parts and replacing the damaged logs. In this project the society is working with Joe Wayner, the restoration contractor who oversaw the restoration of the Kemper law office, and with Craig Jacobs, a specialist in log buildings and proprietor of Salvagewrights Ltd., a company specializing in the dismantling, moving and reconstruction of pre-Civil War structures.

As part of this initial stabilization phase, the existing metal roof will be reinstalled. Future phases will include restoration of the interior loft, floor, hearth and mantle, as well as reconstruction of the chimney and installation of a new roof.

The estimated cost of the stabilization phase is $23,000. Jacobs has offered a matching challenge grant of $2,500, which would reduce the needed funding to $20,500. A recent appeal along with the $1,000 donation from the Questers has brought the total funding to $19,306 as of March 28, so that another $1,200 is needed to meet the challenge. Contributions toward that challenge can be mailed to the Madison County Historical Society, P.O. Box 467, Madison, VA 22727, and designated for the Slave Quarters Restoration Fund.