Poplar Forest Restoration

04/24/2026

Happy 250th birthday to John Hemmings! Poplar Forest Restoration is taking this special day to reflect on the life and skills of John Hemmings as a multi-talented tradesperson. His story as an enslaved joiner is inseparable from the story of Jefferson's retreat and retirement at Poplar Forest.

On his big day, what better way to celebrate a craftsman than by reflecting on his craft? Most of these photos feature reproduction furniture and architectural pieces, but the revolving table, dumbwaiter, and cornice around the privy are all original works by Hemmings.

10/31/2025

A common saying in the trades is that you never truly know what you're getting into until you're in it, and it’s usually going to be worse than it appears. Trapped water is a devastating force for wood, especially when it’s behind layers of caulk and plastic paint. In one of the videos, you'll see that water was making its way in through an opening in the deck and collecting behind the architrave. Most of the cove molding I removed was more structural paint than actual wood. Since we plan to strip and repaint all the exterior woodwork with linseed oil paint, I figured I would get ahead of myself and use traditional materials for most of this repair, even though I’ll be painting it with acrylic primer and paint. I don’t like doing work that will ultimately have to be redone, but time constraints and other deciding factors have delayed the broader repainting project.

10/08/2025

This board presented a challenge from shifting grain. The grain direction changes where the arrows indicate and would cause tear-out if I took a full pass with the plane. My solution is to plane right up to where the grain just begins to change direction, then start at the opposite end and plane to the same spot. This is the importance of reading the grain and knowing how to make your approach.

10/08/2025

Smoothing the rails for the bedstead. Planing by hand is easy. Filming by hand is tough.

08/23/2025

Today, the restoration crew is set up at the Frontier Culture Museum for their Trades Day event. We love to get out and share what we do. This is also a good time for us to get some work done on the bedstead project.

06/15/2025

Preservation is no accident! Thanks to the dedication of staff and volunteers, the hard work of those who came before us continues to stand.

Our special thanks to Katrina Mcmillen, Avaleigh Westfall, and Andrew Shupp for their fine work applying fresh coats of pine tar to the west privy.

Katrina helped us clean the dirt and lichen from the shingles using linseed oil soap and a medium stiff brush.

Avaleigh joined us to apply a coat of the pine tar. Our pine tar solution is 1/3 linseed oil, 1/3 pine tar, and 1/3 turpentine. We heat this mixture with a double boiler and apply it hot. A hot application thins the whole misture and drives the finish deeper into the wood.

As always, thanks to Andrew Shupp for working hard on all parts of this project.

04/17/2025

While working on the Jefferson bedstead, we decided to film the steps for flattening a board using only hand planes. Check out the video at Poplar Forest's YouTube channel or follow the link below

https://youtu.be/1nqteSQ5OE8?feature=shared

The restoration department is currently engaged in making a reproduction bedstead for Thomas Jefferson's bedchamber. Following the same philosophy that guid...

03/22/2025

Today, we held the second installment of the traditional woodworking series. These six attendees successfully implemented at least half a dozen traditional joinery techniques to produce a length of moulding for a picture frame. Everyone's moulding turned out fantastic, and with some finishing touches, they will have a frame to boast about.

We look forward to expanding opportunities like this in the future. If there is a workshop or class you would be interested in, please let us know!

03/06/2025

During the first installment of our two-part woodworking class series, participants had the opportunity to walk through the steps of processing rough lumber with saws and edge tools, laying out with scale drawings and dividers, flattening and squaring with planes, and then surveying a variety of chisels, gouges, and boring tools. For how much we tried to cover, there was only time for a mere introduction to the many aspects of the trade, but we hope this has inspired a greater curiosity to keep learning.

These tools can appear complicated and the process might seem intimidating, but these classes and demonstrations aim to show that anyone can learn these skills. As you may often hear us say, 80% of learning the craft is merely having the desire.

The second class will walk participants through the process of making mouldings with hand planes the same way we did in the house. Once moulded, the pieces will be mitered and fit into a picture frame as a keepsake.

Visit the link below to learn more and register.

https://www.poplarforest.org/event/woodworking-with-poplar-forest-restoration-hands-on-workshop-2025/

03/06/2025

Austin Englund, Supervisor of Architectural Restoration, will join the Association for Preservation Technology (APT) in a webinar about the restoration of Thomas Jefferson's private retreat. Thanks to the dedication of numerous craftspeople and architecturally minded stewards, the house now stands as it did for Jefferson.

Follow the link below to register.

https://www.aptdc.org/event-6102034