Despite a focus on the past, Philip Foster Farm is plowing ahead into the future with two new buildings that will give visitors a better insight into local history.
“We are so excited,” Jennifer Goldman, executive director of the historic site said of a new schoolhouse and improved lumber mill.
Both of the new buildings will make visits to Philip Foster Farm in Eagle Creek more pleasant in all sorts of weather, giving folks places to get out of the rain while getting a better understanding of life in the 1800s in the Estacada area.
“Part of the grand scheme is to make the site more rainproof,” said Goldman.
Volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the one-room schoolhouse that recreates an 1850’s school that once stood in the area.
Many local school groups and home schoolers tour the farm and “this is a huge part of our history that a lot of kids have never seen,” Goldman said.
“Experiencing history is so much more exciting and fun than just being told about it,” she added.
Despite the fact that the school is a new structure, Goldman said “we have the original lumber order and we have made the new building as accurate as possible.”
The historic site has been collecting antique books, replica maps and other supplies for the schoolroom. Volunteers are making historically-accurate desks to furnish the school.
“We have a bell. It’s outside on a post, which is the way it was in the original school house,” Goldman said.
There is a stove in the center of the room just like in 1850.
The new old school might be available for groups to use on the afternoons when the historic site is not open to the public. The farm is open to the public Saturdays beginning May 7 and tours can be arranged for groups by appointment.
The money for the schoolhouse came from “two very generous donors,” Goldman said. They are Mary Cooper and Tom Burnett, who is a decedent of Philip Foster. Volunteers supplied much of the labor.
In 1840, Philip Foster and his wife, Mary Charlotte, established a 640-acre farm and hosted numerous pioneers traveling west on the historic Barlow Road. Their property featured a store and places for weary travelers to stay.
The other building that is “new” is a saw mill. The saw mill was put together last year at Philip Foster Farm, but has been in a building with only a roof and isn’t working yet. Adding walls, windows and a door makes it easier to visit if the weather is bad.
“We are excited about the sawmill. Logging is such an integral part of this community’s history,” Goldman said.
“Having the building completed with walls will allow us to get it (hopefully) up and running and also allow us to have exhibits about the logging industry in the area in the 1800s,” she added.
“Having two more buildings allows us to stay open longer in the rainy season,” Goldman said.
The farm also features a “Lincoln Log” building station and there are plans for a roof to be built over that. The sawmill improvements and log building station were funded by grants from Clackamas County.
The new schoolhouse is scheduled to open in April and the sawmill building doesn’t have an opening date yet.
There are also plans to extend and improve the pathways around the site.
Longer-term Goldman said Philip Foster Farm would like to build a visitor center and will start fundraising for that big project once the two new buildings are open.
Said Goldman: “We are opening up new things and expanding our story.”