Settlers House
Encyclopedia
Settlers' House was built in 1845 in East Charlotte, Vermont. The house is set up at the Shelburne Museum
to show visitors life in the 18th century. The barn
situated next to the house was built as a working demonstration in 2001. .
ed beech and pine timbers, Settlers’ Cabin is typical of the type of structure that Vermont settlers, loggers, and trappers often built as temporary homes.
When the Shelburne Museum
acquired the structure in 1955, clapboard (architecture)
facing obscured the log structure beneath. After moving the building’s exterior walls to the grounds intact, the Museum provided a new foundation, replaced the roof, and restored the cabin’s single interior room, stone fireplace, and sleeping loft. The structure, in combination with the adjacent hay barn, which the Museum constructed in 2001, now houses the Museum’s only living exhibition that reveals how early Vermont settlers lived.
In 1959 the Museum constructed the Sawmill
adjacent to Settlers’ Cabin. In colonial America wood was needed to construct everything from sailing ships to storage kegs and lumber, forested by loggers like the French Canadians who built Settlers’ Cabin, quickly emerged as the most important cash crop of 18th-century America. The Museum’s Sawmill illustrates how this cash crop
was prepared for market.
Swiftly moving water can create energy powerful enough to run machinery. While in operation, the water’s motion forced the sawmill’s saw blade up and down, enabling it to cut through logs directed into its path. At full speed, the saw cut two strokes per second, which allowed a sawyer to cut a ten-foot board in eight minutes.
Historically the term “sawmill” referred both to the mill building and to the machinery it contained. Shelburne’s Sawmill was built to house equipment from a South Royalton, Vermont sawmill that was operated by Jeremiah Trescott and his partner Captain Stevens from the late 18th century. The Shepard family, descendants of Trescott, continued to operate the mill until the early 20th century and later donated its contents to the Museum.
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
to show visitors life in the 18th century. The barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
situated next to the house was built as a working demonstration in 2001. .
History
French Canadian lumberjacks probably built the Settlers’ Cabin in East Charlotte, Vermont in about 1800. Constructed of hand-hewn and dovetailDovetail
Dovetail may refer to:* The dovetail joint used in woodworking* The dovetail or "riffle" method of shuffling playing cards* German equatorial mount, or dovetail plate, used to fix a telescope to its mount...
ed beech and pine timbers, Settlers’ Cabin is typical of the type of structure that Vermont settlers, loggers, and trappers often built as temporary homes.
When the Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
acquired the structure in 1955, clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
facing obscured the log structure beneath. After moving the building’s exterior walls to the grounds intact, the Museum provided a new foundation, replaced the roof, and restored the cabin’s single interior room, stone fireplace, and sleeping loft. The structure, in combination with the adjacent hay barn, which the Museum constructed in 2001, now houses the Museum’s only living exhibition that reveals how early Vermont settlers lived.
In 1959 the Museum constructed the Sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
adjacent to Settlers’ Cabin. In colonial America wood was needed to construct everything from sailing ships to storage kegs and lumber, forested by loggers like the French Canadians who built Settlers’ Cabin, quickly emerged as the most important cash crop of 18th-century America. The Museum’s Sawmill illustrates how this cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
was prepared for market.
Swiftly moving water can create energy powerful enough to run machinery. While in operation, the water’s motion forced the sawmill’s saw blade up and down, enabling it to cut through logs directed into its path. At full speed, the saw cut two strokes per second, which allowed a sawyer to cut a ten-foot board in eight minutes.
Historically the term “sawmill” referred both to the mill building and to the machinery it contained. Shelburne’s Sawmill was built to house equipment from a South Royalton, Vermont sawmill that was operated by Jeremiah Trescott and his partner Captain Stevens from the late 18th century. The Shepard family, descendants of Trescott, continued to operate the mill until the early 20th century and later donated its contents to the Museum.