Two brothers and their families will open their unique homes to visitors on Saturday, July 29, for a “Build ’Em Like they Used To” tour featuring centuries-old “cob” and timber-style construction techniques and other design strategies used to make their homes environmentally and economically friendly.
The event runs from 1 to 4 p.m., with all visitors starting their tours at the Cedarville Carpenter Company in Millers Mills for a closer look at the type of timber construction techniques used in both homes. Also, in addition to the two cob houses, the young and young at heart can explore a handsome new children’s tree house in Leonardsville.
Sponsored by the Upper Unadilla Valley Association, the event costs $5 per person, with children 16 and under admitted free. Tour booklets serve as tickets and can be purchased at the tour’s first stop—the Cedarville Carpenter Co. at 643 Millers Mills Road—or in advance from an association director. For more information, call 315-855-4368.
Participants may start their tours later than 1 p.m. but should take into account the 4 p.m. closing time for all tour locations.
Cedarville Carpenter Company constructs building frames with timbers, rather than conventional stick framing, for structures such as pavilions and homes. Owner Michael Jones uses mortise and tenon construction, a technique employed by woodworkers for thousands of years to attach two pieces of wood together by inserting a smaller end of one piece (the tenon) into a hole (the mortise) in another piece. The joint is secured by wooden pegs or wedges, pins, or glue.
Tour participants will be able to see and experience first-hand what it’s like to build a timber frame. Besides observing heavy timbers as they’re transformed into tie beams, purlin plates, rafters and braces, they can learn how mortise and tenon joinery works and try their skill at making wooden pegs, drilling holes or lifting a mallet used in construction.
The two tour homes are owned by Edmund Brown and wife Normandy Alden, and Garth Brown and wife Alanna Rose. The couples each designed and built their own houses simultaneously on their shared “Cairncrest Farm,” collaborating on most of the exterior elements to make them visually and aesthetically connected in the landscape.
They hand-built walls out of “cob,” a mixture of clay, sand and straw chosen for its low environmental impact and local availability of materials. A coating of lime plaster protects the walls. South-facing windows and thick gravel heatsinks beneath their concrete slab floors provide passive solar energy, while energy-efficient soapstone wood stoves are the only major heating source for each home.
The homes’ interiors reflect each couple’s individual preferences and skills. The Alden/Brown home, for instance, features several built-in wooden elements, including Edmund’s hand-made desk, book cases, and sliding wood panel door, while Normandy made and installed nearly 2,000 small tiles for a shower. In the Rose/Brown home, Garth made and installed concrete kitchen countertops while Alanna mixed custom milk paint colors for their interior walls and doors. Both couples repurposed wide hemlock boards from their farm’s hired-hand house.
The Upper Unadilla Valley Association has been conducting tours for many years to showcase the region’s farms, businesses, gardens, art, nature, renewable energy uses, and historic and unique homes. It was established in 1969 to preserve and protect the natural and historic resources of the Upper Unadilla Valley, an area that includes West Winfield, Bridgewater, Unadilla Forks, Leonardsville, and West Edmeston. Besides its summer tour, other annual events include a fund-raising plant sale the third Saturday of every May; a fall banquet featuring a special topic; and a scholarship for a graduating Mount Markham Central School District senior. The association also works to prevent or mitigate impending environmental threats and helps with historical preservation, as the need arises.