Freshly stained deck and steps on Appamattuck Cabin 1 With the help of some planned and unplanned volunteers, we are getting a head start on this year’s group cabin site work. Enough that we started to expand our efforts to a 2nd site. And as the park management came up for air after the flash flood damage, we could resume planning efforts for the 2-weeks of Cabin Work Week this fall. All of these are small steps that will make a big difference when we arrive at Cabin Work Week in October.
Appamattuck, Chickahominy and Weyanock
No. This isn’t a lesson in local tribal history, but a list of the group cabin sites that we’ve been working on this month.
No. This isn’t a lesson in local tribal history, but a list of the group cabin sites that we’ve been working on this month.
Appamattuck's Cabin 2 looking sharp as with its newly stained deck. Time to move on to another site. Appamattuck was the focus of last year’s work, and we had one last task to complete – putting a coat of stain on all of the cabin decks. All but one had been stained last year, so most just needed a single coat to refresh them. We also stained the deck of the nearby Nurse’s cabin that had received a new cedar roof last year. It’s prominent position next to the dining hall makes its new look stand out.
Volunteers on ladders are worth their weight in gold. Chickahominy, Appamattuck’s neighbor, is the primary focus of this year’s Cabin Work Week (CWW). Our goal is to leave it looking like Appamattuck when CWW is done, and we are already well ahead of last year at this time. The weekend after the flood, an army of volunteers descended on the park. While several hundred focused on the flood clean-up, a dozen from Hands On RVA joined us at Chickahominy to scrape, paint and prime. We had several who were willing to get up on ladders or work under porch ceilings, which is like gold to us. This event also gave us a contact with a local agency directing the work of teens given court-ordered community service. Since that Saturday, they have returned several times, continuing to make progress staining decks, priming and painting in Chickahominy. This was a win-win, since the number of community service opportunities has been severely limited due to Covid-19, and we appreciate the extra help. With all the decks stained now, we won’t be literally “under foot” during the more active 2 weeks in the fall. And if the progress continues, we will need to expand to another site to keep everyone engaged.
Dave power washes the lodge ramp at Weyanock. With that in mind, we moved to Weyanock – another group camp site on the other side of the Powhatan Dining Hall. By pressure-washing a couple of cabins, the lodge deck and picnic tables, we hoped to stay ahead of the scrapers and painters.
Rich helped us validate our estimates for supplies for CWW. Not all the work on the cabins is physical. We spent time assessing the cabins to estimate the lumber supplies needed, as well as the myriad of other essentials needed to make repairs. By reviewing last year’s orders and talking to Rich who was responsible then, we developed our best guess at this year’s needs. We are in good shape to place the orders with enough lead time to have everything here for Cabin Work Week. Following up with Park Ranger Dustin, we continued planning the project’s activities and nailing down the scope. It’s all slowly coming together.
Recovered paddleboards, canoes and life jackets After the Flood
The park has made some amazing progress since the flash flood damaged the area surrounding Swift Creek and Beaver Creek lakes. Those hundreds of volunteers collected missing canoes, paddle boards, life jackets, oars, and lots of trash. They started the hard work of restoring trails. Contractors had arrived within days and repaired the bridge over Swift Creek, making access to the Park’s north side easier for the helpers. And just before the month was out, VDOT was on site to start repairing the road to the cabins. (We are, of course, closely monitoring this work.) Work continues throughout the park, and the results are encouraging despite the amount of effort required to get things back to “normal”.
The park has made some amazing progress since the flash flood damaged the area surrounding Swift Creek and Beaver Creek lakes. Those hundreds of volunteers collected missing canoes, paddle boards, life jackets, oars, and lots of trash. They started the hard work of restoring trails. Contractors had arrived within days and repaired the bridge over Swift Creek, making access to the Park’s north side easier for the helpers. And just before the month was out, VDOT was on site to start repairing the road to the cabins. (We are, of course, closely monitoring this work.) Work continues throughout the park, and the results are encouraging despite the amount of effort required to get things back to “normal”.
Parting Shots
It’s been a while since we have pushed a mower around. We don’t really miss it, but it’s one of the “perks” of staying in a site for a month.
Cathy has turned her attention (mostly) from mushrooms and moved on to other interesting features, like this stump’s decorations.
