Past Projects

Summer 2009

This summer our volunteers worked at the beautiful old Green-Wood Cemetery (established 1834), where they contined work that volunteers were involved in last year, as well as the Historic House Trust, which manages many historic New York structures.

• Green-Wood Cemetery.  At this historic landmark in Brooklyn, volunteers cleaned stones, repaired stones, dug up buried stones.  Joey, the supervisor, was thrilled with their work and has maintained some friendships to this day.


• Lefferts Homestead (Historic House Trust).  Through the Historic House Trust, volunteers repaired a section of brick walk that was torn up during utility repairs, built a French drain to carry rain water away from a wooden porch, cleaned gutters and repainted the floor of the double parlor. Lefferts Historic House is a circa 1783 farmhouse located within the 237 hectares of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. 

Below you will find some pictures from the volunteer's "last night" cocktail party. The party was hosted by Vandenberg as well as Everett at his carefully-preserved townhouse with museum-quality details. A great time was had by all!

Summer 2008

In 2008, Preservation Volunteers assigned French volunteers to three American projects: 10 were assigned to Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, then half were pulled off to work for a week for New York’s Historic House Trust, and finally, as in 2007, six volunteers were sent to New Paltz, N.Y., celebrated for its store of 18th-century Huguenot homes.This old city, established by French Huguenots fleeing from persecution in France, has a number of 17th and 18th-century houses in the area known as Huguenot Village that are cared for by the Huguenot Historical Society. Volunteers sanded and scraped old paint, primed and painted the exteriors of the old buildings--and learned much about the building technology of past centuries.

• Green-Wood Cemetery.  Ten French volunteers continued PV’s ongoing work with the cemetery stones. 
• Bartow-Pell Mansion (Historic House Trust).  Five volunteers were pulled off to work for a week for New York’s Historic House Trust
• Huguenot Village.   Six volunteers were sent to New Paltz, N.Y.  This old city, established by French Huguenots fleeing from persecution in France, has a number of 17th and 18th-century houses in the area known as Huguenot Village that are cared for by the Huguenot Historical Society. Volunteers sanded and scraped old paint, primed and painted the exteriors of the old buildings, and learned about antique building technologies. 

Summer 2006

In 2006, several Americans joined the French volunteers at Green-Wood Cemetery. Volunteers re-bedded and restored gravestones and similar objects that had been eroded by time. French volunteers worked with New York’s Historic House Trust restoring some of New York's 18th- and 19th-century structures. French volunteers were joined by three Americans at New Paltz Restoration. The French reported their pleasure at improving their English and of making friends of the local residents. The Americans enjoyed working on the antique structures side by side with the foreign visitors.

• Green-Wood Cemetery.  Several Americans joined seven French volunteers at Green-Wood Cemetery. Volunteers re-bedded and restored gravestones and similar objects that had been eroded by time.
• Dyckman Farmhouse and Morris-Jumel Mansion (Historic House Trust).  French volunteers worked with New York’s Historic House Trust restoring some of New York's 18th- and 19th-century structures.
• Huguenot Historical Society.  French volunteers were joined by three Americans at New Paltz Restoration. The French reported their pleasure at improving their English and of making friends of the local residents. The Americans enjoyed working on the antique structures side by side with the foreign visitors.
• French Sites: Esseillon and Caroline.  Three Preservation Volunteers from the United States completed the French-American cultural exchange by traveling to France and engaging in restoration projects there under the auspices of REMPART.  Two volunteers worked in the Alps, helping to restore the Esseillon fortress.  The third worked at Caroline Hospital, a chantier just off the coast of Marseille.  The two volunteers who needed help paying for airfare from the United States took advantage of travelships generously funded by the Florence Gould Foundation. 

Summer 2005

Prepared by Nancy Vitale, Preservations Volunteers Coordinator 

"Magical" I can describe my trip to Gunnison to work on the Fairview Schoolhouse as nothing less than magical. From the solidarity that formed among the volunteers to the gratification of a job well-done, this was a truly unforgettable experience for me both as the Director of Preservation Volunteers as well as personally. Rebecca Rose, the President of the Fairview Schoolhouse Association, organized supplies and work for the two weeks that we were scheduled to be onsite. She planned for us to scrub the old wooden walls of the schoolhouse with Tri-Sodium Phosphate, to paint the old outhouse and to nail down all the structural bits that were coming up around the old place.

Our small group had to rely on ingenuity, patience and good common sense to complete our mission. Fellow New Yorker Angie Fredrickson and I joined three Parisians: Hadrien Pourchot, Blaise Hamanaka, and Sylvain Boughazi in the small ranching community of Gunnison. For most of us, it was our first time camping. Two of the French volunteers had worked on sites in France, but not on such a small scale or in such contact with the surrounding community. (Right Image) From left: Angie Fredrickson, Hadrien Pourchot, Sylvain Boughazi, Blaise Hamanaka and me finishing up work on the kitchen. (Below Image) Local Ranchers Burt & Sandy Guerrieri invited us to a Pig Roast hosted by Crested Butte South residents, Realtor Cathy Benson and Restauranteur Jimmy Clark.

One major aspect of Ms. Rose’s planning included frequent outings to the homes of local residents. She scheduled dinners and showers with host families for almost every day of the week, and as we grew to know more people, we received our own invitations. They were a wonderful opportunity for the young travelers to meet American families and experience the diversity of this small town, from the old one-room bunkhouse of the Mill Creek Ranch and Keith Brenise’s Tipi to the elaborate chateau of Craig and Charlotte Hasse. As much as we all enjoyed our time at our hosts’ homes, the frequency of the outings affected our work. After a late night of playing pool or relaxing in the Jacuzzi, it was difficult to motivate the troops, especially after we realized that our work would take three times as long. On our third day of work, we discovered that there was a sticky substance on the walls, which once removed, allowed the beautiful original wood to shine through. Longtime resident and local rancher Mrs. Phyllis Guerrieri informed us that we were actually removing grime that has been accumulating for seventy years. As a result, we had to go back over much of our previous work and really attack the walls with scrub brushes and the entire supply of TSP in the Gunnison Valley, quite literally.

On August 17, our work culminated in a Pie Auction, benefiting the Fairview Schoolhouse Association. Led by auctioneer extraordinaire Matt Robbins, the volunteers peddled the baker’s dozen pies to earn $1,300 for FSA. Pie contributions and lively bidding from area families combined with the musical stylings of musician Evelyn Roper and poetic musings of cowboy George Steenbergen to make this an event to remember. Our French volunteers had never experienced anything like a country auction before their trip to Gunnison. But that was just one aspect of the cultural exchange that happened during the course of our time together. They marveled at American sizing of T-shirts, country music, our turns of phrase and the phenomenon of barbecued baked beans. As a result, their English improved steadily during their time with us; and it went both ways. Everyone in Gunnison who had even a year of High School French did their best to make the young men feel at home. Angie and I found our own grasp of the language improve to the point of being able to understand the French rap that often underscored our work days. We were a small group that shared much. (Right Image)  Rebecca Rose presents a plaque with the names of major contributors to Fairview over the years. Auctioneer Matt Robbins on left.

Fairview, 2005 - Project Details Every morning when I left my camper – teeth chattering and wool blanket wrapped tightly around me – I looked out into the mountains at the limitless possibilities that a day in the valley would offer me. Simply magical! We began work around 8 or 9 am. As you can see, we more than had our work cut out for us…   One of the most beautiful places on earth.

…But we did it. Over eight days of scrubbing, seventy years of grime melted away to reveal the beauty of the old Schoolhouse walls.Another major project that Ms. Rose wanted completed while PV was in residence was the renovation of the kitchen space. Although plumbing has not yet been installed, it was important to have an area that community groups could use to prepare food for their special events. But would you want prepare food here?

Even after removing the shelves and tar paper, we had a great deal of sanding and scrubbing to make this space usable again.

Although community members did not volunteer this year, they did support Preservation Volunteers in a variety of other ways. Some like Joyce Dalby, a local education administrator, hosted dinners at their homes... and made and bid on pies at the Pie Auction to benefit the Fairview Schoolhouse Association...

And others like Insurance Agent Keith Brenise hosted us for dinner and shared local culture with our volunteers by opening up his tipi to us for the evening.