Restoration Road (2021–…): Season 2, Episode 1 - Vermont Corn Crib Cabin - full transcript

Spring has sprung
in Western Vermont

and nature's on full display.

Leaving little doubt
why this is called
the Green Mountain state.

Here, in the tiny
little hamlet
of Middletown springs,

locals are as sure to maintain
a traditional way of life

as the maple sap flows
with the warming temperatures.

I'm here to visit
my old friend, Luke Larson,
a barn craftsman

who's passionate
about preserving
all Vermont traditions,

especially
its historical structures.

Luke has a plan to resurrect
one of those structures
and give it a brand new life.

I'm Clint Harp
and I'm traveling America
to shed a light



on some incredible
restorations
and transformations.

Get hands on
with some of the builders

bringing these amazing
places back to life

and make sure these stories
live on for years to come.

Oh, isn't she a beauty.

This is Restoration Road.

- Luke Larson?
- Clint.

- How are you, buddy?
- Good to see you, again.

Good to see you.

Yes, what a day, huh?

Oh, my goodness.

Welcome back to the farm.

This is beautiful.

It almost feels like
I'm in a wildlife refuge.



Thank you, see,
there you go.

You said, "I got a project,
you gotta see it." I'm here.

-I'm so excited
about this project, Clint.
-Yeah?

So, three years ago,
I took down a corn barn...

that I've been dreaming
about making into a cabin

up in our woods
behind the shop.

-And this is it?
-This is it.

On the last trip here,

I remember, at some point,
you mentioning something
about a corn crib.

- Is that right, corn crib?
- -Yeah, corn crib, corn crib or corn barn.

It's a unique style of barn
made specifically
to store the corn.

I love corn cribs
because the farmers
put extra work into them

'cause you gotta keep
that corn dry.

So, this is the crib.

-This is the crib, right here.
-Okay.

And there's more stored
in the hay barn,
I still have to pull out.

- So, we'll go look at that, in a minute.
- -All right.

But first, let me just show
you these beams.

- Look at
these trunnels. Ooh.
- Yeah.

So, these, Clint.

This was like so exciting
to open up these piles
from three years ago

'cause I'd forgotten
some of the things

- that I fell in love with
this barn.
- Yeah. Sure.

We're lookin' at a girt,
right here.

This is going to be
up in the ceiling.

-Okay, so, an upper girt.
-Yeah.

And they had all these pegs
to hang things on.

So, is that why
there's this little, kind of,
tab on the end?

So cool. It's all hand-carved.

And I imagine they stored
all kinds of stuff,

probably harness parts,
maybe bags of grain.

Uh, one of things
about the corn crib

is is about keeping
your food dry,

but, you also have to try
to fight off the critters.

This frame,
where did it come from?

This frame came
from the capital
of Vermont, Montpelier.

I believe this barn,
most likely,
dates about 1820-1830.

It had been abandoned for
years, you can hardly see it
through the trees

and once side of the roof
had leaked for a long time.

So, you can see this top
beam took some serious
water damage.

I was so grateful
that the family that's owned
it for generations

wanted to see
this barn restored.

Story of all these barns,
we can't say it enough,

the roof starts to leak
and the clock starts ticking

'cause time's running
down fast.

- So, there's more of this barn?
- -There is.

A bunch of it
is still in the hay barn.

Over here.

I grew up
swinging from the rafters--

We had a great time
in this hay barn.

- This is the remaining pieces of...
- -Yeah.

- ...the barn.
- -Look at these pile of treasures.

- This corn crib had a really unique louver system.
- -Yes.

One of the key features
of a corn barn

is that you need ventilation
to move through it.

You have wind blowing through
to dry out the corn and grain.

But, hopefully,
not enough rain
to get it wet.

Here's some of the pieces
and parts.

So, first of all,
here are the siding pieces.

They would have been like this
on the side of the barn.

That's why
they were nailed in,

-but you left
a little bit of a gap.
-That's right.

The air flows in
and dries out the corn.

But what's crazy
about this corn crib...

wait till you see this.

The farmers wanted to be able
to close up those gaps
once the corn was dry enough

or if there was a driving
rain comin' through,
a big storm.

If you wanna
dry out your corn,
leave it open.

Storms blowin' through,
you can run down
the whole wall,

and spin
all these louvers closed...

- That's awesome.
- ...and that blocks
the gaps.

You really found
a high-end corn crib.

Yeah.
High-end corn crib.

This had some serious,
kind of, bells and whistles
on it, if you will.

It wasn't a fancy corn crib,

but they just went
to such great effort
of craftsmanship

to keep that corn dry.

- We're gonna replicate how it looked originally.
- -Great.

Including, Clint,
here's the door.

It's in, kind of,
a rough shape.

It's gonna take a little work,
but, I just love it.

Look at that old ceramic knob.

Look at this.

I can't help,
but, notice this.

Look at that.

How many times do they go
in and out of this barn

- and get an arm full of corn.
- Yes.

That's so great. Just awesome.

- Okay, so, we're gonna reuse this, maybe, inside.
- -Absolutely.

No, we're gonna restore this
and use it as the front door.

-This is gonna be
the front door.
-Oh, Yeah.

- It's just too
beautiful to not use. Okay.
- It's gorgeous.

Oh, here's one of the windows.

There were four
of these windows.

- Again, that beautiful trim detail on the top.
- -Hm-hm.

We're gonna restore
the four original windows.

- Reuse them.
- Okay.

I think, there are only two
or three sashes still intact.

Okay, so, you have this one
to use as a model.

Yup, and I have quite
a collection of old
barn sashes.

Hopefully,
we find something
the right size.

I cannot wait to put this
back together.

Restoring all these pieces

back into anything resembling
what it used to be

feels like a massive
undertaking.

But I know Luke has a plan.

So, what is left to be done,
right now,

before we can, actually,
go and raise this thing?

It's gotta be washed.

There's some post repairs,

top plate repairs,

and then we'll be ready
to tip it up.

Beautiful.

First, I wanna show
you the location

where the barn
is going to live.

This is, literally,
a fantasy land or something
that mean...

- Look at all this.
- It's very special.

Right here,
we are in the middle
of a sugar bush...

These mighty maple trees
that provide us with sap
and turn it into maple syrup.

That's fantastic.

Is this the spot?

This is the spot.

The experience here,
pretty raw, pretty rugged.

-No WiFi.
-Right.

-No electricity,
I think, you said.
-Correct.

Completely off grid.
It'll be a hike
to get up in here.

And our goal is for guests
to have a place
to really kind of unplug

and take in the beautiful
teachings of this forest,
right here.

When I first walked in here,

just felt like
this little hill
covered with ferns

- was almost inviting a cabin to be here.
- -Yes.

How big is this corn crib?

This particular one is 18 by 22 feet.
Whole second floor.

I know how much you love
the old ways, you know,

- feeling what it must've been like back then.
- -Right.

-You're gonna get that here.
-Absolutely.

So, Clint, one other things
I love about timber
frame tradition,

is you can't put up
a timber frame barn yourself.

You need to bring together
friends, family, co-workers
and do it as a team.

- I have two very special seeds right here.
- -Oh, yeah.

I found these corn kernels
in our corn crib
when I disassembled it.

I don't know if they'll grow,
but, I want to plant them
in this garden

and see if they will grow
while we put
this corn crib back up.

Go get 'em, buddy.
Do your thing.

The planting of this corn

is just another example
of the reverence

Luke has for preservation
of old things.

And just like the cabin
we'll be erecting here,

we'll watch this corn grow
until both are ready

to welcome visitors
to this magical spot.