Advancing the Trades in the Adirondacks
“They don’t make them like they used to.”
How many times have you caught yourself uttering this refrain as you walked past an old house, drove over an historic bridge or even just sat on a real Adirondack chair?
I say it myself all the time. It’s easy to lament the loss of good craftsmanship in today’s world, where products are mass-produced with a goal of maximizing profits and minimizing costs and they’re shipped directly to your house in a couple of days with an online membership.
It makes you wonder, at what point did we stop valuing wooden windows complete with sash pockets that hide a cast iron weight designed to keep the window open? When did the world stop appreciating a solid oak door, a field stone wall, or a slate roof?
You may not see them so much anymore, but the truth is, many of us still make and appreciate these things. And Adirondack Architectural Heritage is one of many organizations working to make sure these crafts and the people who create them are still around for the people of the future.
As I write this, the Campaign for Historic Trades is convening the American Historic Trades Summit in Chicago to discuss the future of preservation trades: the craftsmanship needs of communities like ours and how a new workforce of tradespeople can fill the vacuum created when master craftspeople retire or pass on.
My colleague, Samantha Johnson, and I attended a similar conversation about preservation trades here in New York earlier this month at the Preservation League of New York State’s Spring Preservation Colleagues Retreat at the Oneida Community Mansion House (OCMH). The OCMH is in the midst of an enormous, five-phase preservation effort. From 2021 to 2023, the OCMH spent nearly $2 million to make detailed repairs to sections of the roof, cornice, upper walls, and gutters, said Director of Buildings and Grounds Mike Colmey. Millions more in repairs are needed to complete the work, but Colmey told those of us visiting for the retreat that it has been difficult to find subcontractors who know how to repair a historic building in a way that will ensure that it lasts another few centuries.
One way to address the problem faced by Colmey and other owners and managers of historic properties is increasing local educational opportunities – both for owners of historic properties and for people interested in pursuing a career in skilled trades.
Elsewhere in New York, some promising training programs have begun in recent years. Last year, the Landmark Society of Western New York piloted a new Windows Workforce program aimed at teaching area participants how to properly repair historic windows. This initiative joins Historic Ithaca’s Work Preserve program, which is geared toward teaching local students various trade skills, and CenterState CEO of Syracuse, which aids its members in recruiting qualified candidates for jobs in many industries in central New York.
Here at AARCH, our track record for preservation trades training spans almost 35 years. AARCH hired its very first Great Camp Santanoni intern, Robert Engel, in 1991. Every summer since, the Camp Santanoni partnership of AARCH, the Town of Newcomb and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has taught scores of summer interns how to glaze windows, make Dutchman repairs, and interpret history at the Great Camp as part of the newly-named George Canon Internship.
In addition, AARCH has offered a host of tours, workshops, and other educational opportunities for our Adirondack communities over the years, many of which teach preservation trades skills and techniques. The list of this year’s tours and events will hit your mailboxes later this month.
AARCH has also begun examining the feasibility of beginning an architectural salvage warehouse in the Adirondacks. Such a facility could yield a lot of potential for trades training, including deconstruction. You can make your voice heard about this proposal by taking this survey.
Meanwhile, outside of AARCH, other organizations are doing their part to keep traditional skills alive in the Adirondacks. In 2010, the Adirondack Folk School opened its doors for its very first class, and 15 years later, it is still going strong. The Folk School offers useful training in the building trades – blacksmithing, carpentry, and stained glass – but also some of the other trades the Adirondacks are most known for – boatbuilding, basket weaving and furniture making, just to name a few.
Our neighbors here in Keeseville have also made strides in making a tool library a reality. Although it hasn’t opened to borrowers yet, the Northeastern Tool Library is accepting donations of new and used tools to build its inventory and offer local property owners and craftspeople an opportunity to borrow the tools they need to get their projects done.
Although there is no one single fix that will restore traditional craftsmanship to the public consciousness, each step taken by organizations like these keeps the preservation trades around longer. I’m sure there are plenty of other opportunities in the Adirondack region to learn about a historic trade. Do you know of some? Send them my way: kelly@aarch.org!
