1 – Working on the porch support logs – Jerry Burch, Mark Connolly & Harold
2- Work trip crew – Harold, Andrew Bulloch, Bill (standing), Stan, Jacque, Margaret, Evelyn (sitting)
3- Work crew departure photo – Bob, Ignatius ‘Sig’ Signorelli, Margaret (front), Sherry Craft, Dave Brewer, Pat Calanan, Etta, Linda Signorelli, Harold
4 – 1989: the ad read, ‘short order cook needed’. With Jacque moving to Florida, Ann McClanahan takes over as head cook during work trips; with the original cook-stove being a little too tall for her, she had to improvise…..
5 – Winter, 1979: one of the first things to do– Gene Krah and Hugh Levesque start digging an outhouse pit, in the snow.
6 – Winter of 1981–82– more heavy log rafters going up: (from top – Steve Crate, Larry Sites, Harold, Bob Kellum, unknown, & Reese Lukei
7 – On a warm, sunny day in April, the last of the roof boards get nailed into place; (from left) Reese Lukei, John Wilbon, Harold.
8 – View of the cabin from the north side, from slightly below
9 – View from the north side, from slightly above
10 – View from TATC Cabin Loft
11- Tom Luck stacks 90 pound bags of mortar.
12 – This snowman will never play the piano again! Leigh and Evelyn. (Kids love the cabin– what an adventure! Why not share it with some kids you know– grandchildren, children, scouts….)
13 – This home-made (?) headstone appeared early in the spring of 2013, replacing a small metal marker in the family cemetery, about 175 yards below the cabin.
14 – This dog doesn’t exactly travel light!
15 – The corner of an old structure down by the campsite / kitchen area – now completely rotted away
16 – The After picture, taken Sunday (8 days later), as the crew did some last minute chores and packed up to leave. Compare this to the Before picture: stone work at both ends of the cabin completed; ugly exterior scaffolding at both ends removed; interior scaffolding built; center beam in place; 4 rafters up and bolted; much dirt moved to front of cabin.
17 – TATC Cabin Building – Kitchen
18 – Susan Gail Arey skinning the bark off a tree in the log yard (where the chopping blocks are now)
19 – Susan and Larry Sites carry a roof board towards the cabin
20 -Sunrise over another stone cabin, about a mile east of the Putman Cabin. Formerly a seldom-used hunting cabin, in the late-1980’s it changed hands, and now someone seems to live in it year-round.
21 – Sunday morning, getting ready to pack out to the road after a work trip– Karl & Melva Price, Jacque Jenkins
22 – Summer, 2003 – new outhouse pit being dug; Steve in hole; Karl Moeser at top; we were surprised, and relieved, to encounter very few rocks while digging this huge hole. Steve, as head of the Cabin Committee for a number of years, oversaw the new outhouse project, as well as the picnic shelter a few years later.
23 – Summer, 1980: the cabin walls begin to rise! Here Mal Higgins (left) and Jim Cruse mortar a particularly large and pretty rock into place.
24 – Summer, 1979: seems like everyone took a turn mixing mortar; Gene Krah (left) and Curtis Eley.
25 -Summer work trip, 1983 – eating watermelon and spitting seeds: Stan, Evelyn Smith, Harold, Jacque
26 – Summer of 1982: with chisels and hammers, Tricia Mallow and Gene Krah counter sink slots in the window frames for the shutter hinges.
27 – Stone-mason “Mr. Mac” (left), a friend of Otey Shelton’s (right), was recruited to help get the walls started and to offer some instruction.
28 – Stan Pearson putting up the sign for the cabin, created by Scott Jenkins
29 – Square Mouth Rock, over a mile from the cabin (to the southeast) – Bob, Nina Rountree, Tom & Peggy Hughes
30 – Spring, 2013 – featuring the new picnic shelter– dedicated in memory of club member John Donovan
31 – Spring, 1989: Evelyn and Joanne (friend of the Burches) pull weeds in the triangular shaped area just below the cabin, with dogwoods blooming above.
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34 – Richard Kavanaugh and Fred Bull (a Banker and a Carpenter) take a lunch break together
37 – Putting the center-beam in place – Harold, Herb Coleman, Bob Adkisson
38 – Pink lady slippers 100 yards from the cabin
39 – Plaque honoring Douglas Putman
40 – Pat Gordon & Linda Campbell straddling the wall, bolting the face plate logs into place.
41 – Pat Gordon & Clay Perry – digging and moving dirt from the back embankment
42 – Otey’s truck (‘Big Blue’) delivers a final load of sand (for mortar mixing) right to the cabin’s side yard
43 – Otey Shelton in the Douglas Putman cabin (Idate unknown)
44 -Old chestnut log cabin that used to be located down in the hollow, about 75 yards below the cabin access road, halfway out to the Parkway. The cabin was on National Forest land, the logs in such good shape that they were auctioned off; someone bought and hauled them away, to the Waynesboro area.
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46 – Oct., 1990: A TATC work crew razes the old Maxie Campbell hunting cabin in the Maupin Field area. The Forest Service had recently purchased this 80 acre property, right along the A.T., and they used a dump truck to haul out the cabin’s debris. In the fall of 1978, just before Mrs. Putman’s offer came along, the club reached an agreement with Maxie– we would repair and improve his cabin in exchange for being able to use it. After several years of setting aside a bit of money, researching, locating, and debating various cabin possibilities and options, this was going to be the ‘TATC cabin’.
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48 – Moving a boulder at the back corner of the cabin– (far side of boulder, left) Jerry Burch, (right side) Gid Honsinger (Note the cabin, just visible to left– how narrow the passage-way).
49 – Mike Squire (left) and Steve Crate prepare to finish shingling the back roof.
50 – Mike & Nancy Squire, Bob Adkisson digging dirt from the back embankment and carting it around to the side ‘yard’
51 – Melinda Lukei painting the frames of the glass windows before installation
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55 – Twenty-Nine people, “the group” at the 40th Anniversay of the 1982 Cabin Dedication May 8, 2022 (photographer Katie)
56 – May 7, 1982: Cabin Dedication. Otey, Phyllis Putman (Douglas’ mother), and Jacque speak to the assembled workers and guests– over 75 people, altogether.
57 – Master craftsman Harold Crate, in his Newport News garage, measuring, cutting, building shutters (or a table) for the cabin.
58 – Mason and Mary Newsome (and their dog) on the cabin porch as the party winds down.
59 – Mary Marsh (Newsome) and Lee Hulten stand in a roofless cabin, tidying up the ugly splotches of mortar on the inside face of the walls. Later, once we were staying inside the cabin, we plastered over the walls, made them smooth and flat. Later still, we painted them white.
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61 – Different angle of Margaret and Otey atop wall, with Harold and Jim Barrett to left; more ‘hill billy’ scaffolding at this end of the cabin.
62 – Margaret and Jacque painting the shutters
63 – Margaret and Bill Newsom give a little speech to the group at the 10th Anniversary
64- March, 1982: putting on the roof boards….. in a freezing rain! “Somebody go down to the kitchen and bring us back some salt!” De-icing the scaffolding worked; no one fell off the roof; (from left) Otey, Steve Crate, Larry Sites.
65 – Lying in a bunk at the cabin, reading a book, when a soft autumn wind pushes the front door open; falling leaves tumble and drift inside; reflections in the window beckon– come, have your own adventure
66 – Luis Seuc & Stan Pearson – assembling a bunk
67 – Looking up thru the interior scaffolding at Karl Price, chiseling end of roof rafter before it goes into place
68 – Looking down on the Blue Ridge Parkway from some cliffs near the summit of Entry Mtn., about 1/3 of a mile from the cabin. This is looking in a northwesterly direction. The Parkway can be seen climbing over the distant shoulder of Bald Mtn., which the original A.T. also crossed.
69 – Log yard area, where black locust logs were brought to be cut, shaped, and stored. Joe Gerard with chainsaw, Chuck Jesse and Bill Newsom to his right, assisting; Larry Twiford and Jim Cruse to left.
70 – Lead photographer gets her picture taken: Margaret Crate, working just above the cook-stove.
71 – Larry Twiford in the Crate’s driveway, assisting with some of the preliminary woodworking (shutters, doors, table and benches) that was done locally, then carried up and installed at the cabin
72 – Ladder to TATC Cabin Loft
73 – Ken King carrying a “king sized” rock for the cabin walls. Stone- gatherers competed to find the biggest, flattest, prettiest (and closest) rocks they could– to please Otey, and to satisfy the voracious appetite of the stone-layers.
74 – Karl Price fastens a shutter into place
75 – June, 1985– Jerry and Harold hammering boards into place; the porch is soon completed. Though without niceties like a porch, and with much work needing to be done inside the cabin itself, rental use had begun almost 2 years earlier, in Aug. of 1983. Gene Krah and family were the 1st renters.
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77 – July, 1980: working from the outside of the cabin, rocks are placed against the plywood (and against the window and door frames); mortar is filled in all around the rocks. This view is of the cabin’s side door.
78 – July 4th Weekend and …. ahhh, the joys of tent camping in the rain! Curtis Eley crawls from his questionable shelter
79 – John Wilbon checks the walls to make sure they are vertical.
80 – Jim Barrett, Jacque Jenkins, and Phyl Gordon look on as “Mr Mac” lays some of the first stones.
81 – Jim Barrett flattening one side of a log that will become a roof rafter
82 – Jerry Cobleigh, the wandering accordion player, entertains Heather Lukei & Leigh Smith
83 – Jennifer Babor celebrates a birthday at the cabin. Dad Steve cuts the cake.
84 – Jeff & Ann Crate; Linda & Steve Crate at 40th Anniversary of 1982 Cabin Dedication on May 8, 2022
85 – January, 1979: 1st Cabin Work Trip, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is Closed because of Snow. From L. to R.– Bill Slaughter, Bill Newsom, Jack Fisher, Ray Levesque, Jacque Jenkins, Harold Crate, Bill Parks. This group hiked from route 814 to the cabin site (3 miles), carrying both their gear and tools, then set to work.
86 – Jacque and stack of shutters – in the log yard area where the wood-chopping blocks are now
87 – It took 3 1/2 years (from Jan., 1979 until Nov. of 1982), but once the roof was in place, and work crews slept and ate inside the cabin, the former campsite, kitchen, and dining areas were abandoned. Later, everything here was dismantled.
88 – Hiking out the last 100 yards to the Parkway, thru a small meadow on the old access route.
89 – Harold straddling high wall, preparing the slot for the center-beam (“It’s a good thing his wife didn’t see him!” – but she took the picture!!)
90 – Harold Crate and Chuck Jesse staking out the cabin on cleared site
91 – Harold Crate and Bob Adkisson put a floor joist into position.
92 – Gid Honsinger and Etta Burch placing the patio stones near the side door of the cabin (these rocks came all the way from a West Virginia cow pasture (just above the small town of Cherry Grove), courtesy of Otey, and ‘Big Blue’).
93 – Former President & founding member of the club Herb Coleman water-proofing a bench
94 – First rafter hefted into place – Harold and Bill below, Joe Williams and Bob above
95 – Feb., 1982 – Most of the rafters up, but still camping out in tents. Coldest work trip: -13 degrees Saturday night (after a couple of work trips like this, another Sunday morning tradition got started– arriving at Shoney’s breakfast buffet, in Waynesboro, before the 12:30 church crowd).
96 – Every few years a major work project comes along, like re-shingling the roof, but volunteers on every cabin work trip are privileged to help maintain and preserve it– Lee Gregory, J.R. and Scott Renegar assemble and erect the new Douglas Putman sign, Nov., 2012.
97 – Evelyn Adkisson digging a hole for the foundation of the outdoor cooking structure
98 – Dedication weekend: slow roasting an entire pig brought in by ‘Big John’ (a store owner and club friend who lived in the Sherando area); Jacque to left.
99 – Debbie Putman, one of Douglas’ two sisters, on a separate visit to the cabin.
100 – Cutting, splitting, and moving firewood– a never ending task. First timer to the cabin Alan McMath keeps warm carrying a load of firewood.
101 – Curtis holds rafter while Bob drills 18 inch hole– for the bolt that will secure the rafter to the face-plate log.
102 – Curtis Eley (left) and Tom Frink (with unidentified young helper) pull a cart-load of sand up to the cabin.
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105 – Charity guards the painted shutter hinges as they dry in the sun
106 – Carting stuff to the cabin– Bob Adkisson, Harold, Ann (Smith)
107 – Carrying a log for the underpinning of the front porch– Mark Connolly, Harold, Bob Adkisson, Jerry Burch, Bill Newsom (this photo is actually from March, 1985)
108 – 75 yards below and beyond the cabin work site was the camping area, the spring, and Chef Jacque’s kitchen and dining area. Jacque Jenkins (left) and Lee Hulten.
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111- Cabin Dedication Ceremony– Mrs. Putman cutting the ribbon across the (unfinished) front door, flanked by Club President Reese Lukei (to her left) and Otey Shelton (right). Susan Putman, one of Douglas’ sisters, is to the left of Reese.
112 – TATC Cabin Sleeping Platforms
113 – Bob makes a final inspection of the new outhouse pit; Steve, Wesley Warr, Nick Werner, & Mary Jo Kennedy look on
114 – Bill Rogers squaring off a black locust log
115 – Bill Newsom, Chimney Sweep
116 – Bill Newsom painting the window frames
117 – Bill Newsom measuring door sill (of the handful of people that came on a majority of the work trips, Bill was exceptional in that he wasn’t retired).
118 – Happy Birthday to Jerry and Bill!
119 – Barbara Rucker caulking under a window frame
120 – Judy Welp, Melody Persinger & Keith Yeargin, Bruce & Margaret Julian (back row), Vic Pisone, Lelia Vann & Greg Reck, Margaret Pisone
121 – “At last I can retire!” One of many cart wheels, and carts, that didn’t survive the heavy work of transporting countless loads of sand, dirt, rocks, bags of mortar, shingles, tools and equipment to and from the Parkway, and all around the property.
122 – April, 1981: Otey and Lee Hulten work on the chimney; Harold and Jim Barrett work on floor joists at the other end.
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125 – Nancy Barger cutting a stone
126 – Approximately 100 yards below the kitchen / campsite area, on National Forest land, is a small grave yard for members of the Coffey family– 3 marked gravestones and about a dozen standing rocks.
127 – Another winter work trip….. and the magic of snow.
128 – After a spring rain, fog drifting up the sun-lit slope towards the new outhouse
129 – After a day of cabin work, Frances King relaxes inside at the table, knits by lantern light
130 – A work crew enjoys a warm fire inside the cabin– Bill, Harold, Mike Squire, Marlene Curling (Note: still no screens or glass windows– just shutters).
131 – A stone’s throw from the chestnut cabin was this structure (a spring house?) – it was flattened by a tree and is now all but rotted away
132 – A Sherando work weekend, and on Sunday morning at the cabin, an open house / brunch served by Margaret (and others)
133 – A few years later……. an exhausted Jim Barrett takes an impromptu nap on a bunk inside the cabin.
134 – A few years later….. Larry Blett and friend re-mortaring some of the loose tree rounds in the original cabin floor.
135 – A few hours after the rocks had been laid, Margaret Crate uses a round nosed wooden peg to rub the mortar joints– cleaning off excess mortar, making the joints smoother and the rocks more pronounced
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141 – Steve Babor, Chris Roisen, & Jim Sexton prepare a meal at the cabin
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182 – Clearing the cabin site– Ray Levesque (Cabin Committee Chairman) and Otey Shelton (Club President).
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190 – 10th Anniversary Weekend– some of the guests are (left to right) Rick Hancock (soon to be club president), Jeanne Everitt (soon to be newsletter editor), Vicky Fanning, Luis Seuc, and unidentified man (the A-frame shed in background– where wood chopping blocks are now– housed scrap lumber and various building materials. Later, it would be moved; later still, emptied and dismantled.)
191 – 10th Anniversary Celebration, May 13, 1989 – Linda Signorelli, Harold, Cary Coronas cooking chicken for the guests; at the other end of the cabin Otey & Mike Brewer were cooking BBQ (Note: outdoor cooking area, an exacting, multi-year construction effort, still a work in progress in background).
