As with many things this year, COVID impacted progress on the second phase of the Black Butte Cupola restoration project. The Cupola exterior was repaired in 2019, and the goal for 2020 was to repair and stage the interior of the Cupola for use as an interpretive site based on plans from the 1920s. The project components included: repairing and painting the interior, constructing furniture per the 1920 plans for the lookout, constructing a viewing deck and new stairs on the front of the Cupola, and designing, fabricating and installing interpretive signs. Over the winter months, a group of retired woodworkers constructed a bed and table based on plans from the 1920s. Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) members carried the furnishings up the Butte to the cupola in July and assembled the furniture.
The finish floor was replaced and the interior of the cupola was painted.
New steps were added to the front of the cupola.
Interpretive signs were designed, but between the lack of a volunteer program due to COVID and the closure of the Butte due to wildfires, the actual fabrication and installation of the signs along with the completion of preparation of the interior cupola staging will be delayed until next year. Current plans are to have the cupola ready for viewing by July 2021.
We’d like to extend a big thanks to a couple of our supporters: Jefferson County Cultural Trust for a generous grant that supported our work, the Old Guys/Gals Who Build Stuff for building the beautiful furnishings for the interior of the cupola, and the YCC team who carried it all to the top of the butte!
