Northern Bedrock will Begin Restoration Work on the Pastor’s House and Stuga

From July 29th through August 6th, a crew of 4-6 people from Northern Bedrock will be at Gammelgården to work on the Stuga, Pastor’s House, and part of the museum’s collection.

The crew will restore the wooden windows on the Stuga by removing them, reglazing the glass, and repainting them. Once completed, the windows will be functional and able to be opened. This will complete the two-year restoration work on the Stuga.

Attention then will move to the Pastor’s House which has been closed to the public since the 2024 season. It is anticipated that the restoration of this historic building will take 4-5 years, depending on the full scope of the work and funding.

Before work can begin on the building itself, every artifact in the Pastor’s House needs to be looked at and determined the course of action for it – either if it remains in the collection and will need some level of restoration work, or if it needs to be deaccessioned.

For the items that will remain in the collection, the Northern Bedrock crew and some of the museum staff, interns, and volunteers will be dividing them into three categories: (1) clean by the museum – textiles, (2) clean by the museum – non-textiles, and (3) clean and restore by Midwest Art Conservation Center – any item.

The crew also will remove the Nu-Wood sheathing through the main and upper levels of the structure since the moisture content in the home was too high for decades due to multiple ways water and moisture were entering the building. (The Nu-Wood sheathing looks like wallpaper with different patterns and colors in each of the rooms.)

Once the logs are exposed, Chris Hartnett & Associates Preservation Engineers will return to the museum to do the second phase of the structural integrity study, and will determine which logs need to be replaced.

From September 23rd-October 1st, Northern Bedrock will have another crew at Gammelgården to remove the rotted logs and replace them with new ones. At this point, we know with certainty that there are logs on the northwest side of the building that will be removed and replaced. Chris Hartnett will determine if there are additional ones that need to be addressed.

Are you interested in supporting these restoration projects – either the buildings, the collection, regrading around the buildings to divert water (from rain and snow) away from them, and/or landscaping? If so, please visit the museum’s website to make a donation or contact Ann at director@gammelgardenmuseum.org