White Water Shaker Village Restoration Update (& the October 2013 Issue)

The cover project for our October 2013 issue is my reproduction build of a Shaker blanket chest that’s at the White Water Shaker Village in southwest Ohio; the original was likely built at the nearby community of Union Village.

We’ve written about the White Water Shaker Village before, and reproduced several pieces of furniture that will be on display when the village finishes enough of the restoration to be cleared for public visits. Most of the work on the Meeting House is done, and it will be the first building to open at the museum. But that can’t happen until a number of infrastructure projects are completed, including lighted and wheelchair accessible walkways and restrooms, and a new septic system.

Below, please download the PDF of the sidebar I wrote for the cover article to read more about it, and discover how you can help.

WWSidebar.pdf

Plans for the blanket chest and build instructions are, of course, in the upcoming issue, which begins mailing to subscribers late next week, and will be available on newsstands on August 20.

Below are a number of pictures we took on our recent visit that weren’t able to fit in the magazine pages.

For more project builds from the White Water Shaker Village, see the April 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine for Glen Huey’s “Forgotten Shaker Stepback”; For Christopher Schwarz’s “White Water Meeting House Bench,” see the Winter 2009 issue of Woodworking Magazine; and you’ll find Chris’s “Simple Shaker Side Table” in the June 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. We also donated the well-used “American Trestle Table” with a painted base and cherry top that Chris and Bob Lang built for the Autumn 2006 issue of Woodworking Magazine; it used to serve as our meeting table, and now it’s the meeting table for Friends of White Water Shaker Village. It looks right at home in the dwelling house.

— Megan Fitzpatrick
@1snugthejoiner