Heritage Museums & Gardens Blog Spot

Hidden Hollow’s Treehouse Debuts!

The treehouse, Hidden Hollow’s most anticipated new feature, will open its leafy heights to visitors on August 18th! 

Planning for the treehouse began in July of 2008, when staff met with Pete Nelson, master treehouse-builder and co-founder of The TreeHouse Workshop, Inc., based in Seattle, WA.  He is widely recognized as the nation’s foremost authority on treehouses. It was designed based on one of his renderings. Mr. Nelson’s philosophy is that “each tree or group of trees has within its natural shape a perfect treehouse design that will fit safely and efficiently.”  Each treehouse should, therefore, be unique.

He worked with Heritage Arborist Gary Childs to choose two oak trees that would thrive with a treehouse among their branches.  The design he presented for HH’s treehouse was inspired by Norwegian stave churches, medieval wooden churches with post and beam construction related to timber framing.

Architect Greg Jones (who also designed the new wing of the Auto Museum) modified Pete Nelson’s design, creating the final design and working blue prints.  Jones worked with the instructor at Upper Cape Tech to create a design that was buildable for the students.

Students from the Carpentry program at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, a regional school district in Bourne that serves the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Marion, Sandwich and Wareham.  Teachers in this program instruct students in mill and house carpentry planning and construction projects. Carpentry students develop their expertise at off-campus community building projects such as this one.  The goal is to broaden students’ occupational capabilities by providing practical and relevant cooperative work experiences that connect their academic and technical experience to the real world.

The carpentry students also built the stage in Hidden Hollow and the pump house for the Flume Fountain. 

Under the supervision of instructor Kevin McFayden, nearly two dozen students volunteered many hours of hard work on the treehouse during the 2009/10 and 2010/11 school years. Kevin describes this as a spectacular opportunity for his students, “the kind of project that would only come along once in two lifetimes.” We think they’re the kind of people who only come along once in two lifetimes!

During the first school year, the students completed the footings and the first floor decking.  Kevin describes creating the footings as the greatest challenge of the two year project.  It was critically important that they be structurally sound to provide a solid base for the treehouse. Digging the deep footings and setting the brackets while working on a steeply sloped hillside with concern for not damaging the surrounding vegetation was challenging.  The upper floors and roof were constructed during the second school year. 

 

Weather was a constant challenge. Kevin quickly realized that some of the fabrication would need to be done at the school.  He came up with the ingenious solution of drawing a full scale treehouse on the floor of their carpentry shop at the school.  The students did the measuring and precut the wood in the shop, then assembled the pieces at HMG.  Kevin reports that this method worked beautifully – “like a well-designed jigsaw puzzle” – and that there was never one piece that did not fit perfectly on site, a great lesson in prefabrication for the students.

The treehouse decking is made of ipê (EE-pay) wood, from a tropical tree also called poui or trumpet tree. Ipê is very durable and resistant to insect damage. The boardwalk through Hidden Hollow is made of ipê. The treehouse’s framing is red cedar, the support posts locust and the handrails mahogany.  Unique to a treehouse, the first floor is completely accessible to visitors with disabilities.      

Treehouses bring out the kid in all of us.  They represent freedom and inspire dreams.  This treehouse provides an incredible vantage point for surveying the unique landscape of Hidden Hollow from a bird’s eye view.  We envision it being used in many ways: as an observation tower, a family play space, a retreat, or just a place where kids can let their imaginations run wild!

 

Start Your Engines!

Despite some threatening weather the night before, the annual Heritage Auto Show went off without a hitch Saturday, July 9^th, to the delight of more than 800 visitors. Nearly a hundred fantastic vehicles turned up for the event, representing a century of American and European automotive history.

A ’62 Corvette was the twin of Heritage’s own—right down to the ‘fawn beige’ paint.

Matt Ellis brought his 1924 REO Speedwagon Schoolbus, known around town as the bus that used to ferry bright-eyed Sandwich children to their studies back in the day. 

A Model T kit car based on Heritage’s 1915 Stutz Bearcat got a unique photo op, since the museum had brought the Stutz out on the field that day.

Members of Heritage’s Auto Committee made up the judging panel. One committee member commented that it was a tough decision—there were just so many fine cars to choose from. But eventually they came up with a winner, as did a group of automotive students from Cape Cod Technical School in Harwich who were judging for their own award. In recent years, the school has partnered with Heritage to work on some of the antique cars in the Automobile Collection. It’s beneficial for both; the students gain practical experience and the museum’s cars get some TLC. For their Auto Show award, the students presented the winner with a pen set handmade in their carpentry shop.        

Here are the winning cars and owners:

Heritage Auto Committee Choice:

 Timothy Andrade’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

 

Tim Andrade accepts his award.

Cape Cod Technical High School Students’ Award:

Paul Paddock’s 1968 Ford Galaxie XL Convertible

The judges from Cape Cod Technical School  await the announcement of their award.

Participants’ Choice:

Robert Beckwith ( in blue) and his 1931 Packard 840 Roadster

Spectators’ Choice:

Ken and Rose Laytin’s 1954 Buick Roadmaster Convertible

Ken and Rose Laytin with the award for their 1954 Buick.

Thanks to all the participants for a great show! We’ll see you back again next year!

Free Fun Fridays

Who got free admission to Heritage on Friday, July 1^st? This friendly little guy and 2300 friends! (Note: they weren’t all rabbits, but just imagine if they had been…wow. Okay, moving on.)

With a generous grant from the Highland Street Foundation, Heritage was able to offer free admission to visitors that day and, boy, did they take us up on it! 

The Highland Street Foundation is doing some great work for the public this summer.  They’ve made it possible to visit THREE DOZEN museums, zoos and cultural destinations for free with their Free Fun Friday program this year.  Each Friday from July 1^st to August 26^th, a new group of destinations is featured.  Get the list here and make plans to spend some quality time with your family this summer. 

Check out the fun we had on Heritage’s Free Fun Friday:

All day Hidden Hollow was packed with kids and their adults. 

Kids of all ages enjoyed a musical performance by Jackson Gillman in Hidden Hollow.

The carousel, as always, was the highlight for many visitors.  

Thanks to Highland Street Foundation for all the free fun!

Friends with Trowels are Good to Have

Maria Hickey’s cottage garden at the front gate.

Hidden Hollow isn’t the only place where we’re getting a little help from our friends. If you’ve strolled through our grounds lately, chances are you’ve stopped to admire one of our landscape partners’ gardens.  All over Heritage you’ll find these horticultural gems, all made possible through the generosity of local landscape companies. 

C. L. Fornari and Hyannis Country Garden designed the Windmill garden.  

Paul Miskovsky’s garden outside our Administration building.

Heritage is known for its beautiful gardens, so our community partners really gave it their all, producing some gorgeous and thoughtful interpretations of the spaces they were given. 

Visitors enjoying a rest amid the tropical plantings at the Heald Center.

Many took the opportunity to experiment, playing with unusual plantings like the broad-leaved tropicals  by Maffei Landscaping outside the Auto Museum or the high contrast of deep, velvety purples against spring green ferns to be found in Lewis Landscaping’s garden outside the Museum Store.  


Shade loving plants that are also visually interesting given their deep coloring.

Others, like the Rose Man’s garden near the front gate and Michael P. Neath’s lovely spot near the History Museum, aim for a profusion of lush summer blooms that attract the bees and perfume the air.

This hybrid in the Rose Man’s garden is called ‘Oranges and Lemons.’


Catmint, delphinium and petunias attract a host of bees and hummingbirds, while the aquasphere fountain provides a unique focal point for this garden by Michael P. Neath.

The Police Gazette garden at the Art Museum has been reinvigorated with vibrant-colored, leafy container plantings, giving it the air of a placid oasis on even the hottest summer day.

Thanks to Mary LeBlanc Designs, Hoxie Landscaping and Brick Kiln Nursery for their beautiful reviving of the Police Gazette garden.

Several of our landscaping partners incorporated edible plantings alongside more traditional annuals and perennials.  The baby pineapples outside the Auto Museum entrance are a delight for visitors to discover and the container plantings by Soares Flower Garden Nursery nearby incorporate the delicate ruffles of green leaf lettuce among purple elephant ears and sprays of tiny red-orange blossoms.

M. R. Soares Flower Garden Nursery created several gorgeous containers placed around the Auto Museum and Ticket Office area.     

It’s not often you see baby pineapples growing on Cape Cod!

If you’d like to learn how to incorporate edible plants in your own flower beds, or if you just want to know how to grow a better tomato, stop by Heritage Wednesday, July 6^th at 10:30am for a Mornings in the Garden talk with our own horticulturist, Jeanie Gillis.  Click here to learn more.  It’s free with admission or membership, so you can check out all our sponsors’ wonderful gardens while you’re here!