After several days of spirited work and community effort, the new timber frame pavilion at the James E. Thompson, Sr. Community Center in Glasgow was fully raised last Wednesday, April 9.
The project, led by longtime organizers Grigg and Cindy Mullen, brought together around 120 people per day during the initial build at the Mullens’ property west of Lexington.
Volunteers were fed three meals daily and housed on site, with “a lot of folks doing hard work without picking up a tool,” in addition to the crew of cadets, timber framers and engineer students — from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario; Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute in Adrian, Mich.; and the American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, S.C. — doing the construction, according to Cindy Mullen.
By the time the crew arrived in Glasgow last Tuesday morning to raise the frame, numbers had begun to dwindle — 86 remained by that evening, and around 50 were on hand for the final push Wednesday morning.
While the structure’s design came from two VMI cadets in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) program, those students — both enrolled in the Army ROTC — were unable to participate in the build due to VMI’s field training requirements. That’s a growing challenge for the timber framing program, which once operated more closely with VMI when Grigg Mullen was still teaching there. Today, only junior and senior cadets can participate, limiting the pool.
Still, the program endures. With support from VMI instructor Donnie Martin, funding help from the CEE department, and a now welltrained local leadership team of about 10 volunteers, the Mullens continue to lead spring and fall timber framing projects across the region.
This latest pavilion marks their 51st project — and another step in the long community tradition anchored at the Thompson Center, a historic gathering place and former African-American school that remains central to life in Glasgow.
AN EVERGREEN BOUGH is placed at the peak of the completed timber frame in Glasgow. Often called a “whetting bush,” it honors a centuries-old tradition — symbolizing gratitude for the wood, the builders, and a safe raising. (photos courtesy of Dave Van Osten)
THE FINISHING TOUCHES are put on the timber frame as the sun heats up an otherwise chilly spring morning.
A TIMBER FRAMER puts her hard hat on Aylah Hartwill-Brown, the daughter of the president of the Concerned Citizens of Glasgow, Keshia Hartwill.
