Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Archive

Locals hew the line at museum, exploring early craft

Advertisement

KENT—”Hewing to a straight line” used to be a phrase that described living in an upright and solid way, but few today know the origins of the saying or its importance in the everyday lives of Early Americans.

Instructor Nevan Carling demonstrates how to stand while cutting into a log with an axe to hew a straight line. Watching him is Max Smith, who teaches woodworking at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, N.Y., who was participating in a workshop at the Eric Sloane Museum. Photo by Kathryn Boughton

The phrase originates in the ability of a worker to shape a log into a square using only an axe or adze to cut away the rounded portion to a line marked on the bark, making it useful for building a cabin or a barn. Faced with a forest of trees and no local lumberyard, it was a skill vital to families moving into the wilderness.

The late artist Eric Sloane, who made his home in Kent, immortalized the process in books such as “A Reverence for Wood,” “A Museum of Early American Tools,” and “Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805.”

Sloane even went so far as to recreate Blake’s hand-hewn cabin on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum, located at 31 Kent Cornwall Road.

Advertisement

Kent artist Eric Sloane immortalized the craftsmanship and tools used by Early Americans as they tamed the forests. This is a page from his book, “Museum of Early American Tools,” which shows the kind of axe used in hewing logs.

So, it was befitting that Oct. 5 a group of would-be hewers gathered on the lawn next to that cabin to learn the art from modern-day hewer Nevan Carling of Little King Timber Works in Hartford.

He came to Kent to teach the woodworking method as part of the Sloane Museum’s artist residency program, which brings various artisans to the site to demonstrate their skills.

“This is the third year we have had the hewing program, and it always sells out, said Andrew Rowand, curator and site administrator of the museum. “It brings Sloane’s work to life and gives you an idea of the work that went into building an Early American structure.”

Indeed, some of those taking part in the all-day class were feeling the strain by mid-day.

Mason Lord of Kent, co-founder of the historic preservation company Hudson Valley Preservation, said he had never before tried hewing logs and “you have to do it.” But he predicted he would be sore the following day. 

He said he encounters the handicraft of Early American hewers frequently during his preservation work.

The wall of Noah Blake’s Cabin at the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent shows the surface Early American hewers would have achieved with only their axes. Photo by Kathryn Boughton

Max Smith, who teaches woodworking at the Hudson River Maritime Museum at 50 Rondout Landing in Kingston, N.Y., said his back was already sore.

“I am here to make big pieces of wood into small pieces,” he said whimsically. “This is all new to me, but it’s a privilege.”

His fatigue was relieved by Carling, who demonstrated how to chop into the log without straining the back.

Rowand said that the skill was replaced for home builders when bigger sawmills began to dot the landscape in the 18th century “but it never really went away, especially for historic preservation.”

He said there is an enduring interest in knowing how to hew logs and classes like the one held at Sloane Museum help to expand that knowledge. 

The logs used at the event had been donated by Sawing High Climbers, arborists from South Kent.

Advertisement
Kathryn Boughton
Written By

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe

Sign up to receive email updates including a “Dispatch Digest” each week.

*

Upcoming Events

You May Also Like

News From Nearby Towns

CORNWALL—Gourmet dining experiences, getaways and local adventures are up for bid at the annual Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) Auction for the Environment on Saturday, Nov....

Featured

KENT—Kent got an A-plus for creativity on Halloween as Main Street thronged with hundreds of apparitions from one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eaters, to...

Featured

KENT—Inevitably, with any holiday comes waste. Christmas is now the major time for producing trash in the American calendar. An estimated one million tons of waste...

Local

KENT—The Kent Historical Society will present “Remembering Connecticut’s Doughboys” at its annual meeting Sunday, Nov. 10, at 2 p.m. at Kent Town Hall, Kent...

Business

TORRINGTON—The United Way of Northwest Connecticut has announced the incorporation of Stock the Shelves into its suite of community support programs. The goal of...

Local

KENT—ImaginInk, a peer-led creative writing group for kids, will meet in the Junior Room of the Kent Memorial Library Saturday, Nov. 16, from 2...

Featured

KENT – Kent Memorial Library has chosen one lucky winner of this year’s car raffle. Anne McCabe of Bayville, N.Y., was thrilled to get...

Arts & Entertainment

TORRINGTON—The spirit of an Irish holiday will come to life when “A Celtic Christmas” by A Taste of Ireland comes to the Warner Theatre Sunday,...