Making Early America

  Hello, and welcome to historicaltradeworks.com, the information website for my business, Liberty Tree Timber Works.  You could best describe me as an eclectic craftsman of Early American trades with way too broad an interest in pretty much all things history.  I have had an interest in traditional woodworking since I discovered Roy Underhill’s "The Woodwrights Shop" on PBS sometime around 1984.  However, just as I completed my first project, I enlisted in the United States Coast Guard which necessitated a break from my newfound pastime.  Still, I credit the Coast Guard with ultimately fueling my passion even more as my final duty station was RTC Yorktown, Yorktown, Virginia.  I was stationed in what to me is one of the most magical places on earth.  My favorite period of history is America’s revolutionary era, and to be and to live in the area of Yorktown, Virginia was a dream come true for me.  What’s more, I was just fourteen miles from my home away from home, Williamsburg, Virginia, a place I relocated to in 1993.

  Exiting the military the following year, I remained in Williamsburg until 1996.  In all I lived in and around Virginia’s Colonial Capitol for five years.  During this time, I spent nearly every spare moment pursuing my general interests in history.  From long hikes on battlefields, archeology tours at Jamestown, hours spent doing research in the Swem library at the College of William and Mary, I was the proverbial kid in a candy store.  The number of hours I spent at Williamsburg in their “open air university” of colonial trades I have no way to estimate.  A neat benefit in those days of being a local resident in Williamsburg is being able to have a Good Neighbors Pass which entitles you access to much of the historic area free of charge.  This I took full advantage of.  Frequently I spent considerable time watching, listening, and just casually observing the Housewrights as they erected a timber frame structure or watching the blacksmiths ply their trade as they pounded iron into various works of colonial tools that seemed like art to me.  Or the artisans in the Cabinet Shop as they joined their dovetailed panels at right angles to form their latest work.  All was of immense interest to me, and I never tired of being in the company of such talented people and such a beautiful place.

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  In 1996 I relocated to Middle Tennessee with my wife Teresa.  Since those days our family has grown considerably and my once four little boys are now grown men each starting off on their own paths.  The time in between was marked by a career in the automotive retail industry where I eventually owned my own business, INssan automotive; an Infiniti and Nissan service center located in Franklin, TN.  After twelve years, I sold my business and left that world behind. 

  The first thing I did when I came home was build my own version of an 18th century Carpenters Shop; a video of which you can see on the home page of this site.  The construction of the shop I was able to do with the help of my sons while they were still young enough to enjoy the adventure of it all and learn a thing or two along the way.

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