Happy March, friends of Cornerstones! We are so excited to share our latest MudBlast Newsletter. This issue is packed with project updates and information about upcoming opportunities to participate. We hope to see you out there!
Death Valley
February 2024 marked a milestone towards the completion of a 9-year agreement with the National Park Service at Death Valley National Park. In 2015, Cornerstones entered a partnership with NPS to lead various workshops that focused on adobe repair and restoration within the Historic Cow Creek Compound. Workshops included adobe making, historic foundation repair, earthen plastering, and adobe wall construction. During February’s workshop, the last brick went on the wall. Thank you to everyone who participated! Planning is underway for an additional workshop in the Fall of 2024.
Cornerstones masons Ernest Aragon and Pete Maas along with Cornerstones intern Mayté Mendoza laying adobes that will be tied into the existing adobe wall
Mayté Mendoza leveling adobe bricks onto an earthen mortar
Cornerstones Crew laying lime amended cap bricks onto the newly constructed adobe wall.
Annual ‘Limpia’ of the Rael Ranch Acequia
It is ‘La Limpia’ season here in New Mexico and cleaning has begun on the Rael Ranch Acequia. The Rael Ranch Acequia was established in 1718 and 2024 will mark the acequia’s 306th year in use. Cornerstones staff, interns, and community members are hard at work cleaning the 2-mile long acequia removing leaves, rocks, and sediment buildup along the ditch. Additional work will include the rebuilding of damaged sections with reinforced stonework. These workshops will be led by master stone mason Alan Ash. Additionally, Gordon Tooley of Tooley’s Trees will be leading interns and volunteers in a tree pruning demonstration at the Rael Ranch Orchard. Spring is on its way!
Mayé Mendoza and Alhelí Harvey cleaning the Rael Ranch Acequia. Photo credit: Isaiah Romo
Montezuma Well Smokehouse
In addition to historic adobe and acequia preservation, Cornerstones is also collaborating with partners to preserve the Back Ranch Smokehouse located within the Montezuma Well Unit of Montezuma Castle National Monument. The Back Ranch Smokehouse was built in the 1890s and is the oldest known log structure in central/northern Arizona. The logs of this structure have sustained damage caused by nearly 134 years of weathering, deterioration, and extensive termite infestation. Cornerstones has partnered with the National Park Service to develop an extensive preservation plan that will ensure the cabin retains its current ‘as-is’ condition and does not suffer additional damage.
A workshop will take place in the coming weeks during which Cornerstones staff and interns will work alongside NPS staff to address log movement and drainage issues. This workshop will be led by log structure preservation specialist Al Williams.
Historical Architect Randy Skeirik and Preservation Specialist, Al Williams, accessing the condition of the structure's sill logs. Photos by Kateri Lopez.
Organ Pipe
This winter we completed 3 two-week workshops at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument with volunteers, interns, and NPS employees. Two of these workshops focused on the Levy's Store at Victoria Mine. Levy's Store is now a ruin of a single-room stone building in a designated wilderness. Our project has been to reconstruct recently collapsed wall sections with the stones from the structure and earthen mortar dug on site. We also reinforced the openings with new hidden steel lintels, so the structure is safe for visitors to enter.
Our third workshop continued our work at the historic adobe Dos Lomitas Ranch House. Cornerstones has been repairing major structural issues with the building that have been covered in cementitious stucco for decades. Volunteers were trained in building wall shoring, basal repair, and traditional mud plastering. We'll be back in the fall to remove the remaining cement stucco and replace it with a lime render.
Cornerstones Intern Isaiah Romo and volunteer, Tom Slocum, assisting with collapsed stone wall reconstruction and steel lintel installation, making the stone structure safe for visitors to enter.
Zuni Viga Training Workshop
The small team of Zuni Tribal members trained by Jake Barrow have completed the viga end restoration at Wall Kiva in the center village. This coming Earth Day, on April 22, Jake will participate in the conclusion of this project at Zuni and present our San Miguel Solar Exhibit and check out the work that the Zuni team has completed.
Zuni Tribal Members, Hubert Gahachu and son, working on viga end restoration.
Hosting Earthen Architecture Professionals from Saudi Arabia
On Feb. 19 Jake hosted a contingent of 13 Saudi Arabian Professionals focused on earthen architecture preservation. The group convened at the Chimayo History Museum where Dan Jaramillo (Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association) provided them a history of the community, the Plaza del Cerro and a personalized tour of the museum.
Jake gave a presentation about the Save Americas Treasures Grant project- Restoration of the Casita Desiderio y Pablita Ortega at the construction site. The focus was integration of community with preservation projects such as these. They purchased 4 of our Handbooks and said they would be in touch with us about conducting training in their country.
“For the Love of Adobe” Mixer
We are so grateful to all who attended our “For the Love of Adobe” mixer! This was a terrific opportunity to meet new people and connect with the greater Cornerstones Community. For those who were unable to attend, you were missed, and we hope to see you in the future.
Cornerstones in the Press
The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently published a wonderful article written by Jake Barrow about the San Miguel Solar Project. You can read the article by clicking the link below:
Coming Up…
MAY 2024
May 10 & 11 - Adobe Downtown Santa Fe, NM 9am -2pm @ Inn at Loretto
May 18 – Heritage Day Festival at Casa San Ysidro in Corrales, NM
May 24 & 25 – Adobe in Old Town Albuquerque, NM 9am-2pm @ Hotel Albuquerque
TBA- Adobe making at Luna Community College
SAVE THE DATE: Noche Feliz returns!
Have you heard of the adobe-making Wild West Nun who challenged Billy the Kid? Mark your calendars for October 10th, 2024, and come find out as our annual gala Noche Feliz makes its anxiously awaited return!
