CCC historic preservation class, instructors restore Knappton Cove Heritage Center entry porches

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, March 17, 2011

KNAPPTON, Wash. Twelve Clatsop Community College (CCC) historic preservation students and their two instructors, Tim Kennedy and Lucien Swerdloff, spent the weekend of March 5 and 6 at the Knappton Cove Heritage Center (KCHC) replacing the four rotted porches on the old Pesthouse (aka lazaretto, quarantine hospital) at the historic U.S. Columbia River Quarantine Station. 

Each of the four little isolation wards was accessed by an outside entry porch to isolate infected patients. This U.S. Port of Entry was operated by the U.S. Public Health Service from 1899 through 1938. The Pesthouse was built in 1912.

The historic preservation students involved in the renovation were Richard Balkins, Randolf Brown, Jacob Cheuvront, Christopher Gustafson, Rebecca Hass, Matt Mizell, Serena Orwick, Matthew Powers, Joseph Sakrisson, Douglas Shuster, Allen Vollmer and Larisa Zimmerman. A new foundation was completed by Tim Patterson of Chinook Custom Concrete, who also laid the concrete for the porches.  

Some finishing work will be taken on by Mizell, who will get additional college credit for his work. Further improvements to the main entry porch will also be done in the fall of 2011 by CCC students.

The donated labor from the CCC historic preservation class is very much appreciated, said Nancy Anderson, president of the KCHC Board of Directors. Funding for the project came from many individual donors as well as $1,500 from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. The KCHC is delighted to be a part of promoting and training historic preservationists.

The KCHC museum will be open on summer Saturday afternoons or by appointment. The Pesthouse porch crew will be the guests of honor at a special open house that will be held May 28, in recognition of Historic Preservation Month.