Lewisburg’s iconic log building on the corner of Randolph Street and Seneca Trail is to be featured for a third time on the popular DIY network series, Barnwood Builders. GHS board member Karen Fankhauser invited Mark Bowe, the star of the show and founder of Antique Cabins and Barns, to observe the dendrochronology study being conducted at the Barracks by Kristin de Graauw, Ph.D. candidate of geography at West Virginia University, and Shawn Cockrel, laboratory manager of the Montane Forest Dynamics Lab in the department of geology and geography at WVU.
De Graauw is the director of WVU’s Historic Timbers Project, whose mission is “to provide tree-ring dating of historic log structures throughout southeastern West Virginia to enhance the historical significance of the structures and frontier settlement of the region.”
De Graauw and Cockrel have made several trips to the area to take core samples from historic structures including another of the Greenbrier Historical Society’s structures, the John North House, and the privately-owned Cook’s Mill in Monroe County. They have investigated other sites in Pocahontas and Pendleton counties and have plans to take samples from the McCoy Fort at Williamsburg.
The team was very excited to take samples from the Barracks. Because tree rings provide cutting dates and therefore probable construction dates, their samples will represent the first hard scientific data that will reveal a more accurate idea of the age of that building and the stages of its construction.
Bowe’s interview with De Graauw and Cockrel will be part of an upcoming show in season three of Barnwood Builders, scheduled to premiere on DYI network on Sunday, Apr. 24, at 9 p.m. (EST).
