November 2, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Wissahickon Friends rebuild guardhouse
by Jennifer Katz

FOW volunteers have already spent more than 200 hours working to restore the park structure. This is the second time in six years this guardhouse has been rebuilt.

A volunteer effort to rebuild a Fairmount Park guardhouse destroyed by arson last summer received a boost last week from Weaver’s Way Co-op. The eco-friendly neighborhood establishment raised $1,000 through a fund drive in August to help the Friends of the Wissahickon restore the Wissahickon Valley Park structure at Forbidden Drive near Mt. Airy Avenue.

The donation was part of a fund drive started in August to raise money to fund the project, which professionals estimated would cost $25,000.

“It is always exciting to see the community getting involved in our restoration projects,” Maura McCarthy, FOW executive director, said in a press release announcing the grant. “Their support makes all the difference.”

A group of teenagers is suspected of starting the fire that destroyed the guardhouse on June 2. According to an eyewitness who was in the park at the time of the fire, a group of teens was playing near the structure and a short time later was seen running from the site. The guardhouse was engulfed in flames minutes later.

The guardhouse was constructed during the Works Progress Administration program from 1935-1943. The same guardhouse had been rebuilt six years ago.

FOW volunteers began restoration in September, said FOW member Denise Larrabee, who expects that the group will save money by doing the work themselves.

“We are not sure how much it will cost,” she said. “FOW has been using volunteers who have put in 200 hours so far in this effort, and we will complete the restoration for considerably less money.”

Workers began restoring the structure by putting the frame and roof rafters in place. Ed Stainton, chair of FOW’s structures committee, said the group is using materials from the park to rebuild.

“We are rebuilding … using wood from fallen or dead trees in the Wissahickon,” Stainton said in the group’s press release.

According to the FOW, the initial reconstruction work is being conducted off site. Volunteers cleared the space over the two months preceding the fire to get rid of the debris.

To rebuild the guardhouse, workers cut the wood into 12-foot lengths and transported them to the park. FOW then hired a band saw contractor to cut the logs into timbers and boards.

Volunteers then stacked the lumber with spacers to dry. Members of the structures committee cut all the pieces and joints in their work shed and fitted them together before taking the pieces to the park.

According to FOW members, it took two Fairmount Park workers and four FOW members two days to put the frame together, placing and installing the wooden pegs that hold the structure together.

“Fairmount park crews lifted the large timbers with their truck-mounted crane and transported it all to the site,” Stainton explained. “Then each large piece had to be lifted into place with the crane, fitting all the joints together.”

McCarthy said Fairmount Park workers would assist FOW volunteers in putting the roof, which still needs to be assembled, in place to finish the restoration.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Katz at 215-248-8804 or jenn@chestnuthilllocal.com.