Living Waters Bible Camp has a colonial fort that has been in construction for a while. The fort’s main building had already been finished, as it had been for a number of years, however the only parts of the courtyard, towers, and main gate were a bunch of telephone poles that were to be used for the main supports.
Over the past couple years the fort’s appearance hasn’t changed, even though a good deal of work has been progressing in the background.
For instance, last fall Jediah Partenhiemer and Tim Dehnart prepared nearly 300 fourteen foot long poles intended for the walls of the courtyard.
They had to be bleached, pressure washed, the remaining bark had to be scrape off, and then they were run through an ingenious devise that Tim Hadley built in order to put a tip on the poles. It was like a giant pencil sharpener!
Finally the poles were stained, and stored away, to be left alone until this fall. Tim and Joy built the main deck, and instructed Tim Dehnart how they wanted the walls built. Tim D, Tim Gressman, Steven Lucht, and Evan Manning worked at different times until the walls were up.
In a couple of days, the walls were complete, and we started on the railings. Tim Hadley again designed an amazingly sturdy railing, with 2x6” tops and bottoms with stained logs lag bolted in-between. There are some forty-five 4” 90 degree brackets to hold the railings directly to the support poles.
When they were finished, they were rock solid and looked great. Later a rough cut half log will be added to the top 2x6” to finish the railing and cover the lag bolt heads.
The main fort building has been used in many of the various programs run at camp and when combined with the covered wagons, it really makes an awesome environment.
Although only one half of the courtyard is currently complete, and only to the first floor, I’m look forward to seeing future programs, especially Foundation Camp being able to run in and around the fort