CEDARSTONE LUNCH AND LEARN LECTURE SERIES
On November 28th, twenty-eight "learners" gathered for Fite-Fessenden's most recent Lunch and Learn, underwritten by CedarStone Bank. The group lunched on a home-cooked meal of chicken rice casserole, cranberry salad, green beans, rolls, holiday tea, and apple cake while historian Dr. Carole Bucy's informative presentation entertained the group with stories of early settlers of our region.
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Information about the next lunch and learn is will be emailed one month before the scheduled event.
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CHRISTMAS TOUR OF HISTORIC PLACES
During the misty evening of December 1, hundreds of guests ushered in the Christmas season at Fite-Fessenden House as the museum was once again featured on Historic Lebanon's Tour of Historic Places. This year, partnering with the Margaret Gaston Chapter NSDAR, we commemorated the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Guests enjoyed live music, food, costumed docents, and breathtaking table decor.
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PRESERVATION WORK CONTINUES....
Fundraising for the Woodwork Restoration Project is complete! Thanks to support from the Lebanon/Wilson County community at the Big Payback and the High Tea to Go AND a $8,900 grant from Tennessee Historical Commission, work was completed in April 2022. As you can see by this picture, the restoring and repainting of the woodwork was quite a challenge for the 615 Construction team, but they did a great job.
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This project was supported in part by the Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior, and the Tennessee Historical Commission.
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Repointing brick on a house built in 1870 is a challenge and a learning experience. Not just any old mortar will do! In fact, we learned that repointing with modern Portland cement could damage brick made before 1870. SO, the team at Fite-Fessenden House researched the process, consulted with experts at MTSU's School of Concrete Management, read "Best Practices" from the U.S. Department of Interior, secured mortar from a specialty company in Michigan, and hired craftsman Jeremy Merrill who was eager and willing to learn the repointing process on historic structures.
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Because repointing is so labor intensive, the process is very expensive, we couldn't do the entire house. Jeremy's team worked on only the wall sections which needed the most repair. Repointing will be a continuing process.