History students participate in restoration project
November 1, 2007
Its Happening Today
NDSU News and Events
North Dakota State University, Fargo
Students from History 431, The North American Plains, with support
from the Center for Heritage Renewal, took part in the Hutmacher
farmstead restoration project in Dunn County on Oct. 13-14. The
farmstead is a complex of buildings constructed of locally quarried
stone and locally harvested timber by a German-Russian family.
Students Toni Berning, Aaron Granley, Ann Erling, Molly Lefor,
Dan McCollum, Ashleigh Pust, David Suda, Todd Volk and Cory Wheeler
were members of the service learning party. The group was led
by Tom Isern, professor of history, who is director of the Center
for Heritage Renewal, instructor of the course and a board member
of Preservation North Dakota. History doctoral student Suzzanne
Kelley also worked at the site, representing Phi Alpha Theta,
the NDSU history honor society.
Restoration of the complex is proceeding under the auspices of
Preservation North Dakota, the state organization for historic
preservation, and executive director Dale Bentley through a National
Park Service Save America's Treasures grant.
The NDSU delegation worked with Preserve North Dakota representatives
and visited with descendants of the Hutmacher family. The students
worked primarily on restoring of the farmhouses brush and flax
straw roof, and repairing the buildings walls using a mortar of
clay and sand.
Details of the project, including photos and a Weblog by students,
can be accessed at www.ndsu.nodak.edu/heritage/.
Written by Sadie Anderson
