Museum Staff Helps Preserve Historic Farmsite

On Saturday, October 20, 2007 the Dickinson Museum Center staff assisted volunteers for Preservation North Dakota in their efforts to restore the Hutmacher farmsite near Manning, North Dakota. Museum staff Jessica Magnuson and Danielle Stuckle helped with efforts to install a new roof on the east end of the house, over one of the bedrooms. The roof is constructed in several layers including cedar rafters, willow branches, flax straw, and clay. While the materials are environmentally friendly and available locally, it is labor intensive work. The Dickinson Museum Center staff have been involved in the project throughout the summer and fall of 2007, and Stuckle serves on the board for Preservation North Dakota. Work on the site will resume in the spring of 2008 with efforts to stabilize the walls of the house and rebuild the rest of the roof.

The Hutmacher farm is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was listed twice on Preservation North Dakota’s 3 Most Endangered Properties (2000 and 2003). The site consists of a house, barn, garage, granary, and chicken house. The buildings were each constructed of stone slab walls covered by a mud roof. The farm was lived on from 1928 to 1979. For more information on the project, visit www.prairieplaces.org.