Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-04
OLD BRICKS MADE
FOR Wakefield
Primitive Plant Turns Out
= Supply for Rebuilding
Historic Home.

as Was uSeG IOT the Oh
brick of which the Colonial mansions oil
Virginia, Maryland and other American
Colonies were built, has been set up and
Is now running at full capacity near the
site of the Wakefield Mansion, the house
in which George Washington was born
overlooking the Potomac River, in West
nlDreland County, Va.
The plant" consists of rustic bower
of small tree trunks placed upright in
circular form and covered with oak
and pine branches to furnish shade for
the workmen The bower is about 30
feet in diameter and in its center Is the
mill" or mixing box. Here the clay is
worked and moLstened into suitable
consistency to form 'pones," from which
the bricks are made.
Set upright in the center of this mix
ing box is a strong pillar OF hand
squared oak, having fianges projecting
laterally that stir the clay and insure
O uniform mixture.
Historic Home Being Rebuilt.
The house in which George Washing
ton was born was burned Christmas
eve, l780, and its site later was marked
by a memorial granite shaft, erected
by Congress. Now, after $50 years, the
historic house is to be rebuilt, after
removing the monument, by the Wake
field National Memorial Association,
aided by the Federal Government and
sponsored by the George Washington
Bicentennial Commission. Mrs. H. L.
Rust of this city Is president OF the
Wakefield National Memorial ASsocia-
ton. which is in direct charge of the
rebuilding.
Power to turn the primitive mixing
device for the brick clay at Wake
field is furnished. as in Colonial times,
by horse that tramps continuously In
a circle about the mill and pulls
long, rustic pole that is attached to
the central pillar. As the horse turns
the mixer, colored man shovelS clay
into the hopper and adds water as
required
The blades of the pillar are set so
that they force the clay downward and
it emerges as heavy dough through
q square hole at the bottom of the
mixer in a slow-moving mass. This
mass is handled by the master brick
maker. who draws the lump of ''pone"
from the box and skilfully turns it in
sand and drops it into a mold box,
which has a capacity of six bricks. AS
each mold box is filled, the brick
maker draws a Stat over it to insure
sssS-lness of surface upon the exposed
<zae of the bricks.
Dry In Sun Several Days.
The mold box, containing six fin
ished bricks, is taken by an of
bearer" who carries it to the yard"
where the box is overturned upon a
nat. sandy ground surface. There the
bricks are left exposed to the sun for
several days. After they have been
sufficiently sun-dried the bricks are
put into a kiln, where they are burned
and made ready for use at last in re-
building the house.
The kilnS also are nf T1r;Yoiti1ya WAN
ufacture and will be set up at Wake
field as fast as they are needed to take
care OF the accumulation of sun-dried
bricks.
There is an ancient fiction, which
persists with marvellous vitality, that
most of the Colonial homes, churches
and other pretentious buildings of Viz
ginia and Maryland and other original
States were constructed of bricks i'm
ported from England. 1t is true, ac-
cording to historians, that a few of the
early buildings were built of bricks
brought from England, but soon the
ColoniSts began using the excellent
brick clay on this side of the Atlantic
usually from a field near the home or
church under corstruction-and there
after no more bricks were imported from
England. On the contrary, many bricks
were exported from the colony of Vir-
glnla to other colonies, particularly to
New England, in the Colonial period.
Dimensions Conform.
The ancient craft of making brick
by hand has survived in Virginia and
otner Southern States. At the Wake
neld plant, now in operation, not only
are the bricks being made by hand but
they conform to the dimensions of the
original colonial bricks-8A inches long.
rs inches thick and 4 inches wide.
About 1000 bricks, all moulded by a
single pair of hands, is the daily out
alton of the plant there are only six
workers, all colored men, including the
molder. or master brick maker, who
STANDS Waist-high in a pit by the side
OF the mixer and forms the ''pones" be-
lore placing them into the forms.
The br1ck-making crew Is under the
onectlon OF white superintendent,
~. n. Hedgecock, from North Carolina.
Inc newest OF these employees has been
with Mr.. Hedgecock for is wears. They
are kept employed almost continuously
IN the restoration of colonial buildings,
before beginning operations at Wake
neld last week Mr.. Hedgecock and his
crew had been working at williamsburg,
colonial capital of Virginia, in the
Rockefeller restoration program there.
The most interesting member of the
CiSm 10 0aOe, an ancient cOl0reQ man,
gray-haired and deaf, who Is the
master brick-maker. He has followed
this trade for nearly 20 years and his
unfailing dizziness is shown by the 1000
bricks he turns out every day.
100000 Brick to Be Required.
The memorial monument, now on the
site of the Washington birth house, is
being moved about one fourth of a
mile to mark the entrance to the park
that will surround the restored Wake
field mansion. The home is to be
built according to plans drawn by Ed
ward w. Dom, jr., architect of this
city, In accordance with the lines of
the original building.
More than 100000 bricks will be re-
CURED TO rebuild the home, and many
more in addition for the kitchen and
other houses adjacent to the mansion
house, also for walls about the old
Washington family graveyard and the
old garden.
John D. Rockefeller, jr., who is re-
storing Williamsburg, donated the land
upon which the brlck-making plant Is
now in operation at Wakefield.
VATICAN VAcAT0Nc