Raising the Rafters

You may have heard the adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” On May 21, our motto turned into, “It also takes a village to raise a building for children.” The village came together to help raise the rafters, roof and walls of the new Discovery Pavilion. The Pavilion is a 1,300-square-foot wood building in the heart of the Rediscovery Forest.

In the spirit of an old-fashioned barn-raising, volunteers from 3 to 94 years old gathered to swing hammers, offer advice and cheer from the sidelines. Silverton and Stayton high schools brought construction classes to participate in framing the walls and learning about the construction trade from skilled craftsmen. Donors and volunteers put their mark on the building, one nail at a time.

The Discovery Pavilion has been a community project, and so many people have had a hand in the efforts. It will provide a home for the Rediscovery Forest Education Programs and, more important, help us tell more stories to visitors. It seems that every piece of wood in the building has its own story to tell.

The construction crews assembled and erected the rafters liked a finely tuned orchestra. The glulam beams, donated from Rosboro Lumber, and the 10” x 10” beautiful clear posts, donated by Hull-Oakes Lumber Company, stole the show. Nevertheless, not far behind and certainly with an interesting tale to tell is the 3” x 6” double-tongue-and-groove ceiling. The ceiling wood started as trees at the Weyerhaeuser-Silver Falls Tree Farm, harvested by Schmitz Logging, hauled by Freres Lumber Company, privately milled in Scotts Mills, dry-kilned by Universal Forest Products, shipped by Withers Lumber and constructed by Don Druliner Construction Company. Yes, that’s just for one part of the building! The donations of lumber continued with Freres Lumber Company, Frank Lumber Company, Withers Lumber and Interfor to make it truly a showcase of Oregon wood products.

If you’re near The Oregon Garden, stop by and listen to a few of the stories, or the harmonic sounds of a construction site. If you want to see or hear what a village sounds like “hammering” at the same time, it was captured on social media sites of our project partners: Rich Duncan Construction, The Oregon Garden and SEDCOR.

From the construction site,
Julie Woodward