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Home | About Liberty Head Post & Beam

Liberty Head Post & Beam is a small company that has been working exclusively with post and beam structures since 1977. That year, our very first project was the dismantling and subsequent restoration of a large Colonial located in the village of Hinesburg, Vermont. As the layers of renovations and finally the original walls and hand-planed floors were removed, more than just salvageable building materials emerged. Here was a beautifully constructed frame reminding us of the values and lifestyles of our ancestors. The craftsmanship detailed in the many interlocking joints, enhanced by the rich patina of the finely aged wood (timbers hewn by hand over 150 years ago), made us pause to appreciate the history, beauty and simple integrity of the old frame.

As the timbers of the frame were carefully separated, an 1826 Liberty Head penny was found. This is the recorded date the house was built, and the coin was obviously placed there by the craftsman as a gesture of his intimate relationship with his work. We thank that unknown person for giving us the name of our company and introducing us to the techniques and values of post and beam construction.

This was the beginning of our fascination with the time-proven art of post and beam framing and our desire to preserve and participate in this valuable part of our New England heritage.

“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’"

John Ruskin
1819-1900, Writer, philosopher and
artist of the 19th century.

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