In 2011, I wrote a story about a young man, Nathan, who buys old structures, takes them apart piece by piece, and then rebuilds them on his land.
Recently, he received a call about a nineteenth century corn crib/hay loft that was going to be destroyed. He and his dad quickly got to work, but this time they did not have a chance to number each piece of wood as they were disassembling it because the bulldozer was manned and running, and the man was not so patiently waiting to tear the structure apart.
Returning to his property with a pile of wood, Nathan and his dad got busy sorting through the old pieces of lumber and painstakingly began to put the puzzle back together. This will be a slow process, as the only picture he has of the corn crib is the one he was able to snap with his phone before they started taking it apart.
Piles of lumber waiting to be put back together.
Each piece of lumber is put back where it came from. This is figured out by the nail holes.
Over the past year and a half, Nathan has built a greenhouse from recycled lumber, added a gorgeous walkway from old hand-made bricks and has been working on “The Big House.” The greenhouse was built because Nathan starts is garden (a very large garden) from seed each year. The seeds he uses are heirloom seed that has been past down from generation to generation. (No GMO’s are in his garden!)
The smaller house, which Nathan lives in, is the first structure he took apart and put back together. He has since rebuilt the porch to better match how it would have looked when the home was originally built.
Even the plants around his home are heirloom plants. They were dug up from his great aunt and grandmothers yards and transplanted on his land.
I find Nathan a very intriguing man, and I share his passion for history. I appreciate what he is doing to keep Alabama history alive, and I will continue to stay in touch with him.
