The carpentry class at Tantasqua Regional High School in Fiskdale, Mass., along with their teacher Stephen Mucha, re-shingled the roof of an 1840’s cooper shop.
Brad King, director of facilities and grounds at Old Sturbridge Village, where the cooper shop is located, worked closely with the 8 eleventh grade students.
It is slow going for the students as they are using only hammers and utility knives. Several students had some roofing experience with asphalt but this was theirs and their teachers’ first experience with cedar shingles.
The students wore a safety harness tethered to a rope, safety glasses and hard hats complying with strict Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations. Students went through OSHA training on proper use of equipment and wearing safety gear at all times while on the site.
Red cedar shingles maintain the historical appearance of the cooper shop. Newer materials are being used underneath to increase the lifespan of the roof by 30 years. The project should be completed in the middle of November.
The cooper shop was built in 1840 in Waldoboro Maine, and moved to the Old Sturbridge Village in the late 1960’s.
“Being an educational institution, the village is happy to share this
hands-on educational experience with the crew from Tantasqua. Students get a chance to recreate a historical roofing system and at the same time, they learn something about the trade, the tools that would have been used as well as the history of this particular building,” the facilities director said.
