by Barbara Dixson
It’s hard to believe that once upon a time, the building that has become the Schmeeckle Reserve Visitor Center was an ordinary family house. The Schmeeckle staff has made the best use imaginable of the space, squeezing in more function than seems remotely possible—including the wood shop in the basement.
As the Schmeeckle website tells you, the Reserve has been making cedar signs and benches for over thirty years, serving parks, businesses, and families (and everyone else), with proceeds going to support the Reserve. The basement woodshop houses this enterprise. It’s a tight space, with small side rooms for specialized parts of the process, big tables covered in in-process projects, and all the machines and materials necessary.
Venturing downstairs recently, we found Meredith Abbs, student staff member who does painting on the signs, hard at work. Meredith kindly paused and showed us the updated map of the Reserve, carved into red cedar and hand painted, over which she was poring. Other projects at different stages waited for routing, or painting, or staining. By month’s end, you will find the Schmeeckle map on the wall outside the main door of the Visitor Center. Other signs? All over the county, state, and country.
