Brown County High School building trades class.
Park’ s Friends New Shelter courtesy photos
~ by Jim Eagleman
A generous bequest from a devoted park visitor recently finished the funding for a Brown County State Park Friends group project. The visitor, Mary Platt Oxford, wanted a shelter built for visitors to use. The new structure, located near the Brown County State Park Nature Center, will be finished this month according to Chris Todd, Brown County High School’ s building trades teacher. The open-air shelterhouse, just north of the Nature Center, will be used for Friends events including the annual May spring plant sale and Morel Mushroom Festival. Park nature center events, programs, and workshops will also be held in the spacious structure.
“ We’ re pleased it will serve visitors at an outside site when weather is calm, and also provide a place under cover when it isn’ t,” reports Doug Baird, the park’ s Property Manager.
A project this size was not decided quickly. It took much planning over several years and included the DNR’ s Division of Engineering for final construction plan approval.“ We knew we wanted to follow similar plans like the other shelters for a rustic, outdoor structure”, says then Friends president Don Stephenson.“ But the first order of business was to purchase a band saw for the park.” Utilizing large trees destined for removal due to safety considerations, upright beams, roof rafters, and eventual roof decking boards were supplied from park trees using the portable band saw. It was donated in 2013. Funds for the saw came from Friends’ fundraiser activities, memberships, and the annual Haunted Trail event.
58 Our Brown County • March / April 2015