Hi everyone and a happy 2009:
The history of timber framing is something filled with lore and mystery, which makes it endlessly interesting I think. Toward that end, a historic 1828 church here in nearby Portland is being restored, and here's the part that's especialy interesting--to me at least--its a timber-framed structure suposedly built by blacks.
The Abyssinian Meeting House is said to be the third oldest black church in the United States and was part of the Undergroud Railroad. It ceased operating as a church in 1917.
Some TFG members may know Arron Sturgis of Preservation Timber Framing here in Maine. He's the contractor on the project. Sturgis is quoted on the church's web site remarking on the fine craftsmanship of the building's king post trusses.
All this opens up an intersting and somewhat "outside the box" area of interest of our age-old craft... how widespread was the skill of timberframing among the black population in the 19th century? I have heard blacks did labor such as pit-sawing boards for housing and barns, but the social constraints of the times lends one to believe that skilled labor, especialy apprenticed crafts like timberframing, would not have been open to blacks.
Evidently the blacks who built this Maine church had the craft perfected quite well. Or perhaps they were only "instructed" by white professionals in this case?
Does anyone know the extent of mastery regarding black timberframing / framers? Was it a trade they secretly learned? Were the guilds of the day even open to them?
Here's a couple links on the church project:
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=230222&ac=PHnwshttp://www.abyme.org/images/Abyssinian.pdf
