Here at Bear Brook State Park the New Hampshire Conservation Corps is very fortunate to live in an old camp facility built in the earlier part of the last century. There is a great big lodge with a kitchen and modern shower and bathhouse. There’s an office building and many cabins. In the winter time the AmeriCorps members, literally, bunk-up in larger wood heated cabins. When the weather warms up a bit everyone can enjoy a little more “elbow room” by spreading out into the smaller rustic cabins. Unfortunately, these cabins have not had regular upkeep in many years. This year, with help of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and State Park support, we have been able to start giving these little cabins some much needed TLC.
So, the Ups-and-Downs refers to multiple aspects of this subject. The economy is down and we needed to keep busy during an otherwise unfilled hitch. The upside was getting the federal and state support to do this. Then the buildings starting going up and down…
In most cases these cabins needed, at the very least, a new roof. But you can’t go up on a roof if the foundation is off or weak. The crews learned some news skills in getting down in the dirt to hoist the buildings up, reconstruct foundations by putting in deeper footings and full-width carrying beams. In some cases floor sills and rafters had to be refurbished and then, finally, the roof could go up. One building even needed an entire wall rebuilt! It was a lot of hard work with some great results that should buy these little home-away-from-home huts many more years of life. All the while the crews got some great experience with rough carpentry and structural work.