Hannah inserting dowels into one of the original pieces of wood framing from the fort. Screws will be fastened to the dowels to not further damage the original wood.

February 7, 2019 |  Now in her second term based at Fort Pulaski National Monument in with the Historic Preservation Training Center, Hannah Murphey continues to deepen and develop her preservation skills. Hannah first participated in the Traditional Trades Apprenticeship Program, which provides extensive entry-level training and experience to individuals in historic preservation work. Within the program, she trained at HPTC headquarters in Frederick, MD, for three weeks, then continued to hone her skills at Fort Pulaski National Monument in Savanna, GA.   

Throughout her time at Fort Pulaski, Hannah has worked on a variety of projects to stabilize and repair historic structures at the park.  Projects included protecting structures with hurricane fabric prior to storms, repointing casement mortar, building a new shed, and repairing timber framing in the fort. The timber framing project was the most difficult and rewarding for Hannah and through the process learned how to skillfully use hand tools like chisels and saws, work with project patterns, and doweling for connecting beams.

During the framing project, Hannah described that she “learned a lot about idealism versus practicality…Sometimes there are historic resources and materials you just cannot save. I also learned that the best way to preserve [structures] is to make your work ultimately reversible. It is better to be less invasive than to irreversibly drill into a 150-year-old piece of wood.”