One of the cool things about being a self-employed communications guru is getting out to see fun places and meeting interesting people. Today, cold and snowy as it was, was such a fun day.

I had a meeting with new clients and appropriately enough—them being entrepreuners for banking equipment—we met at The Coffee Vault Cafe, a great shop in an old bank building in the village of Dousman, WI. Needless to say, the venue was fitting, as well as tasty, warm and inviting.

Afterward, I had a lovely chat with cafe owner Roxanne Vincent and she shared the history of the building. It’s fascinating!

According to Roxanne, the building was built in 1908. Originally the floor was the same level of the upper story, as seen in this photo. This allowed for a full basement, which back then was a barbershop. In 1955, they lowered the floor to that of the sidewalk level and the barbershop had to move down the street.

Roxanne says the building came with many intriguing stories. For example, in 1975, the bank needed a larger building so it moved across the street. The good people of Dousman, being a community-minded bunch, gathered together and helped carry all the bank furnishings, including boxes and boxes of money, to its new location.

The building then became home to a series of businesses, including a taxidermist, a horse supply shop and an antique shop. Legend has it the antique dealer died in the store and he’s haunted the building ever since. Perhaps that’s why the building stood empty from 1983 until 2005, when Roxanne and her husband bought it.

Oh, the stories that come with an old building, eh?

Roxanne has become the curator of many village historical treasures. When she opened her shop, she said many people generously contributed bank artifacts, which she now tastefully displays on the walls.

People contributed photography as well. In the lower center photo, you can see the outside steps that led to the original floor level and a window to the barbershop below.

The story I liked the best was about a bank president (perhaps one of the men shown above). According to Roxanne, he was afraid of being robbed and whenever a mysterious stranger came to town he made the bank employees hide in the vault—the vault with a peephole in the door.

Roxanne and her husband have done a wonderful job preserving the historical features of the building while providing a fabulous venue for today’s coffee connoisseurs. It’s only one block north of the Glacial Drumlin Bike Trail so be sure to stop in if you’re driving or pedaling through the area.

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I have to admit, my husband and I usually base our house renovation decisions on budget, artistry or simple nostalgia. But living green is all the rage these days and, for the sake of appearing hip, I’m going to write about us using yellow to be green.

Southern Yellow Pine, that is.

Recently my husband dismantled our “lovely” pantry (said with great facetiousness). This was the 8×9′ room we used as our kitchen for 20 years. The cabinetry was limited. And it was falling apart. But much it was constructed with clear Southern Yellow Pine, a strong, glorious wood that, believe me, you won’t find in your neighborhood Home Depot or Menards stores.

At one time, forests of  Southern Yellow Pine were prolific all along the southeastern coasts of North America. Also known as Longleaf Pine, this resinous wood was used by 19th century craftsmen for everything from furniture, flooring, woodwork and cabinetry, to the actual building construction.

Of course, we over-harvested and under-replenished. Why do we always do that?

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the Longleaf Pine was “a once-abundant tree which has reduced in area of occupancy from 24 million ha to 1.6 million ha in 1985″ (from 59 million acres to 3.95 million acres). Thankfully, organizations such as the Longleaf Alliance are striving to restore such forests.

Nowadays, Southern Yellow Pine is a valuable treasure and we certainly don’t want to throw any out. That’s not how my husband does things anyway. Instead, he stripped the wood of it’s painted finish and used it as side and back pieces for our new kitchen cabinets.

We’re being green and we’re saving money. Best of all, we’re saving one more bit of our house’s heritage.

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Because May is Historic Preservation Month, it’s important to pay tribute to this barn and its noteworthy architectural style known as fachwerk.

Fachwerk, or framework, is the German name for timber-frame architecture found throughout Europe, particularly in areas where timber was in short supply. Builders used hewed-lumber for the skeletal framework and then filled in the remainder of the wall with burned or dried brick.

According to William Tischler, in his article Fachwerk Construction in the German Settlements of Wisconsin¹, fachwerk was popular among German Lutherans who emigrated during the 1800′s from Germany’s northern areas of Brandenburg and Pomerania and then settled in Dodge, Jefferson, Washington and Osaukee Counties of Wisconsin. They built houses, threshing barns, stables, woodsheds, granaries and even churches in the fachwerk style of construction.

Our fachwerk barn fits into this era. Several years ago, a man passing by noticed our barn and stopped to chat. Interestingly, he worked at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor museum dedicated to rural life, and was familiar with the historical construction of Wisconsin barns. Based on the angles and structure of the beams, this gentleman estimated our barn to be built before 1850.

So how cool is that! The barn my husband regularly uses as a workshop and the building we occasionally enjoy as a party barn is over a 150-years-old. My husband tuckpoints. He replaces rotted beams. He keeps a good roof overhead. But like all old buildings, repair and restoration is a way of life with this old barn.

Today, fachwerk buildings are few and far between. Many are covered with siding, as ours once was. Many more have fallen into disrepair and are lost forever. Our goal, for as long as we can, is to preserve our fachwerk barn and the heritage it represents.

¹ Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Winter, 1986), pp. 275-292

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May is Preservation Month and the National Trust for Historic Preservation has an interesting theme for this year’s campaign—This Place Matters. According to their site, the campaign “is designed to help people share the place that matter to them, wherever these places happen to be. By simply printing a sign and taking a picture, you can tell the story about a place that matters to you.”

To date, 60 people or organizations have posted pictures of places that matter and brief explanations of why. Others have gone even further and posted YouTube videos. From public buildings, to homes, to bridges, this is an interesting collection of what people are doing to preserve places that matter to our heritage and our history.

So, do you have a place that matters to you? Post it on This Place Matters!

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So, while we’re doing all this walking, my favorite thing to see is the architecture. As a lover of old houses, I find the rowhouse especially intriguing, partly because of its historical representation and partly because its not a common style here in the Midwest.

When I accompanied my daughter on her housing hunt a few years ago, I had the opportunity to see the interiors of several rowhouses. Like most old houses, they had architectural elements you just don’t find in newly built homes and apartments—parquet floors, beautiful woodwork and bow-front windows. And like many old houses, these particular buildings needed lots of work and money!

According to the National Association to Restore Pride in America’s Capitol (NARPAC), rowhouses were built “en masse during the city’s temporary population explosion prior to World War II.” Also known as brownstones or townhouses (though technically there’s a difference), these multi-story structures were built as a series of side-by-side houses joined by a common wall. They varied in architectural style and prestige according to the neighborhood and era in which they were built.

The demographics of today’s rowhouse dweller has changed from years ago. The rowhouses themselves have also changed. The houses originally were built as single-family units for an average family of father, mother and 3-4 children. Today many of the rowhouses have been converted to condos and apartments and, according to NARPAC, the average occupants are singles, single parents, empty-nesters or elderly.

And so, with May being Historic Preservation Month, it’s important to applaud groups such as NARPAC, Mi Casa and other historic preservation organizations. These organizations recognize the value of places that matter, including rowhouses. They work to preserve their historical integrity and bring urban revitalization to many Washington D.C. neighborhoods.

Kudos, from an appreciative visitor to your town!

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