The Final Piece of Restoration

This year we have been focusing on the big milestones of the 40th anniversary and the completion of the historic house. Although Jefferson was happy to consider the house basically done before most of the major woodwork was finished, we found it more difficult to pin down at exactly what moment we would declare the house officially finished. In April we concluded the restoration of the interior woodwork, but one final element was still missing from the dining room. Just recently we received the finished cast iron fire back for the dining room fireplace, which, once installed, will mark the official end to the restoration.

The fire backs in the other 6 fireplaces only feature two pieces at the very back, whereas the dining room has all three sides clad in iron. The giveaway to this fireplace being different was the placement of the pintles. The fireplaces in the outer rooms had pintles further toward the back of the fire box which secured only the center section and the dining room had the pintles closer to the front which would hold the side panels of the fire back. Be sure to stop by in person to see the official last piece of the interior restoration of Poplar Fores