Hammering away historically

By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Wearing their trademark black wide-brimmed hats, Amish men pounded away Tuesday at the heavy oak timbers in a swirl of snow and piercing winter wind.
“I like to build them so they don’t sag, so they last almost forever,” said Melvin Weingerd, of Apple Creek, Ohio, one of seven men building a replica of an 18th-century barn at the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park.

The barn, which will house displays, is part of a restoration and expansion of the homestead, where the first shots of the Whiskey Rebellion were fired in 1794. The site became a National Registered Landmark in 1934.

Even with the help of a crane to hoist 1,000-pound oak beams, the group will need three days to finish a job that 100 Amish men typically finish in as little as four hours.