Boathouse Deck Refinished

It’s been a productive week at Rosslyn. Multiple projects happening at once. Susan and I are profoundly grateful to everyone who is helping prepare for a spectacular summer season ahead. I’d like to call out Glen’s meticulous maintenance of the smallest building with the biggest boat-by and drive-by appeal. Hurrah, the boathouse deck is refinished!

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said a dozen times. Maybe 100 times. Rosslyn’s historic rehabilitation has been a labor of love. Despite the jolly folly most perceive when they observe Rosslyn’s dock house, this is especially true. Constructed atop a pier that extends peninsula-like into Lake Champlain, this picturesque structure is uniquely exposed to the constant challenges of nature. Flooding. Ice flows. Severe wind. Sun, rain, and snow damage.

The decking on the east side is mostly protected under a shingled roof, but it’s nevertheless exposed to the elements 365 days a year. The decking — homegrown cedar that was milled, dried, and finished on site — periodically needs to be re-sanded and refinished. Again and again. It might well be Exhibit A for “a labor of love”.

With at least 125 years of stories lived and relived in this iconic building, maintaining it to the best of our ability just makes sense. This labor of love is not about restoring the past. Not is it about duplicating, revising, or reliving the past. It’s about honoring those who created and preserved the boathouse. It’s about refusing to let the past be forgotten.

Old buildings are not ours. They belong, partly to those who built them, and partly to the generations of mankind who are to follow us…

What we ourselves have built, we are at liberty to throw down. But what other men gave their strength, and wealth, and life to accomplish, their right over it does not pass away with their death…

— John Ruskin, “The Seven Lamps of Architecture” 1849 (via oldhouseguy.com)

As of this morning we can cross “boathouse deck refinished” off the printemps punch list. And all credit goes to Glen. From troubleshooting and sanding to cleaning and oiling, he was the one man band on this handsome transformation. And no sooner was it complete than he hustled off to the Westport Yacht Club to seal those decks as well.

Thank you, Glen!