A Beautiful Fall Day - Come Visit!
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
We saw our first few guests since the flood on Sunday. Fall is definitely here. It was wonderful to have the tour guides return and to feel some minor sense that we are emerging from the flood. The people who came by were wonderful. They were a bit astounded that the house has sustained damage but it still shows flawlessly, until you get inside and a see the details. I ran around with my camera this morning to shoot some of the fall foliage. I share those photos with you now so you can see how spectacular it is here today.
Click a thumbnail for a full sized image:
We finally got some definitive answers from our insurers on Friday, but there are a many more details to sort through. We are concerned primarily about two big projects we would like to tackle before the freeze hits. The first project involves removing all of the sealants around the windows below 2 feet, drying out the cavity under the window and replacing the sealants. The second is removal of travertine from the lower and potentially upper deck. We fear that the clogged drains are preventing trapped water from escaping and that a hard freeze could heave and damage the floor surfaces. We are busy assembling and reviewing the proposals for this work and will secure the funding before proceeding.
I really appreciate everyone’s patience as we open our limited tours. It is a challenge for us to operate the tour program and oversee all of the details of restoration and recovery. The economic crisis is hitting at a bad time and people have been hesitant to make reservations at our fund raising rate, so we have temporarily dropped the tour price back to $20 for the weekday unguided and limited weekend guided tours. The operation here is based on two commitments I made to our Steering Committee when I first arrived. The first is to preserve and protect, the second to make the house accessible. We pride ourselves on assuring that our visitors have a rewarding experience when they are here and it is difficult for us to turn guests away, but we’ve been forced to do that so we can carry out our first task of restoration. Please make a reservation before coming out so neither of us is disappointed.
Whitney French
Site Manager for the Farnsworth House operator - Landmarks Illinois
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1 Comment to A Beautiful Fall Day - Come Visit!
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I’ve given three tours since the flood. The guests really seem to enjoy seeing some of the effects of the flood and learning more about it. The tours are almost twice as long as normal, which I enjoy, and it lets me let the guests do what they want to do, whether it’s take more pictures, or just spend more time in quiet contemplation. It helps that we have had some fantastic weather and the fall colors have been spectacular.