Corn Crib Project Continues & First Look at Exhibit

Before

&

After

Our Corn Crib project, funded by a grant from the African American Heritage Preservation Program, has been progressing over the fall and winter. Visitors have been able to watch the restoration work taking place on the building’s exterior through December. There is still more work to be done on the structure to include putting in a new and safe ramp and a restored door. The shingled wall facing the parking lot has now been restored with new hand-cut cedar shingles. Because the original grey, weathered shingles were so beautiful, it was with some sadness that we watched this part of the project take place. We were losing the old shingles at an increasingly rapid rate, and to preserve the building all of the old shingles and some of the support structure had to be replaced. As spring comes, the building will begin to reclaim a little of its former look as the shingles begin to grey naturally.

The Land, Lives, and Labor exhibit which will be housed at the Corn Crib has been progressing under the leadership of project director Merideth Taylor. Working with the talents of Dennis Kund, exhibit designer, and Jeanne Pirtle, Sotterley’s Education Director, the first draft of the interior exhibit was unveiled in February. The exhibit will bring into focus the lives of the enslaved and farm workers who toiled at Sotterley. The review committee was extremely impressed with the choices made to bring this part of Sotterley’s history to life. Work will continue on the exhibit in the months ahead and we look forward to unveiling the exhibit later in this year.