Tyler Arboretum has announced results from official judging of its current exhibit of tree houses, “Totally Terrific Treehouses.”
Pine Street Carpenters, Inc., is a design-build remodeling company based in West Chester. In May the company teamed up with lumber supplier Beatty Lumber & Millwork and a host of local businesses to build the Thoreau cabin replica. The full-scale replica, which measures 10’ x 15’, was built using as a guide both Thoreau’s own writings and plans created by Roland Robbins, the archeologist who discovered the site of Thoreau’s original cabin in 1945. Robbins’ plans were used in the construction of the replica built at Walden Pond State Reservation in Concord, MA. The cabin features 6”x6” rough hewn framing timbers, cedar shakes for the roof and siding, a full brick chimney, and horse-hair plastered walls on the interior.
“We’re extremely proud of this project,” says Brendon Dolan, president of Pine Street Carpenters. “We have an incredibly talented group of carpenters, and Thoreau’s cabin provided us with a fun and unique project to highlight those talents. It was quite a project for a little cabin, but the value this structure will have for Tyler Arboretum and the community at large is immeasurable.”
Thoreau built his cabin at Walden Pond in 1845 and lived there for two years, chronicling his experience in one of the most influential works penned by an American writer – Walden; or, Life in the Woods. As a skilled naturalist and philosopher, Thoreau’s writings have inspired generations of people throughout the world to develop a closer relationship with the natural world. His call for a life of simplicity and his steadfast practice of civil disobedience in the face of societal injustice are important lessons still today. It is just such a message that Pine Street hopes visitors to its replica at Tyler Arboretum will experience.
Says Dolan: “Thoreau’s life and his writings have influenced the world beyond measure. We hope this replica will help carry on that environmental, spiritual, and civic legacy.”
“Thoreau’s Cabin” is one of 17 tree houses featured in Tyler Arboretum’s current exhibit. Official judging took place July 30 and included judges from the fields of architecture, education, horticulture, and the media.
Due to the popularity of the exhibit, Tyler Arboretum has extended the run of “Totally Terrific Treehouses” through October 26.
