Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Grand Re-Opening of Peirce Mill

I spent today in Rock Creek Park in Washington, helping with the celebration of Peirce Mill's restoration. The mill is running again, for the first time in 40 years. A band of volunteers rebuilt the wooden machinery of the mill, and the Park Service got stimulus funds to bring the building up to code and restore the landscape.

The first bags of grain to be ground were delivered by horse-drawn cart. Gorgeous horses.

This was my post for most of the day, next to the poster I threw together at the last minute. I had no idea where I would be, so I brought my poster rolled up. Fortunately I ran into a volunteer for the Friends of Peirce Mill, one of those bustling 60-something women who delight in making things go smoothly. She found me a board, an easel, and a roll of duct tape, which we used to attach the poster to the board, the board to the easel, and the easel to the table. (It was windy.) I had extended conversations without about 20 people about the archaeology of Rock Creek Park.

This guy worked next to me all day, building a stone wall with the help of kids aged 3 to 10. He was the Leonardo of building stone walls with kids. He was unbelievably patient, let the kids do almost everything, and somehow ended up with a beautiful wall much better than I could have done by myself.

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