PORT TOWNSEND — After fewer than four years of construction, the Fred Lewis Scout Cabin is nearly finished.
“We’re getting right down to it,” said Ralph Ericksen, project coordinator, who has worked on the construction since the beginning.
“We just need a few more dollars to finish up.”
To show off what has been accomplished so far, the public is invited to an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the cabin, which is on a 3-acre plot at the LeRoy Carroll Park on the corner of Mill Road and Discovery Road, bordering state Highway 20 just south of town.
The Fred Lewis Scout Cabin Association members and Scouts will serve light refreshments.
Ericksen expects a dedication ceremony to take place in late July or August, with Scout programs taking place immediately afterwards.
The 2,000-square-foot building has a large meeting room, a kitchen, two restrooms and an office, along with a large basement to store supplies.
The main floor is a wide open space constructed with rustic wood.
The kitchen and restrooms are at one end of the large room.
There also is a small office and a loft that will be used for storage.
Left to do is the plumbing and fixtures, trim around the windows and doors, for which Ericksen is hoping a donor comes forward with either the doors or the money to buy them.
“We can do a lot of this ourselves, but building a door is tricky,” Ericksen said.
On the opposite side of the room is a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace with a Boy Scout neck pin embedded in the mortar.
Ericksen said that an initial bid for the fireplace was $35,000, which was out of range for the project, but that stonemason, Michael Topongna, agreed to do the job for about $15,000.
“This is an original Thomas Jefferson fireplace. It will heat up the whole room,” Ericksen said of the structure.
It isn’t the only heat source. The building also is equipped with a heat pump system.
Ericksen said the final cost for the construction will be about $300,000, an amount that would more than double if volunteer labor and community donations were not available.
The plan is that the cabin will be a center for Scouts, both local and visiting, and that it also will be rented for weddings or parties.
“The cabin is intended for local Scout troops: Boy, Cub and Sea,” said Dick Wiltse, scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 1479.
“But this is open to any group that wants to use it,” he added.
Local Scouts are also from Boy Scout Troop 1477, Cub Scout Troop 479 and Sea Scout Troop 1697. All are members of the Mount Olympus District of the Chief Seattle Council.
Said Ericksen: “We want to be able to rent this for receptions, and seminars, this is a great place for parties or weddings.
“If we can rent it enough times the place could support itself and we won’t have to keep coming back to the community with fundraisers.”
Ericksen is one of the community volunteers of the nonprofit Fred Lewis Scout Cabin Association, which formed in October 2007 to build a cabin on property donated by the Marvin Shields American Legion Post No. 26.
The Fred Lewis Scout Cabin Association is made up of representatives of the Elks, American Legion, Scouts and the community.
A diverse group of community members have supported the venture to replace the log cabin built in the 1930s on land donated by Port Townsend businessman Fred Lewis.
The original property was sold in 2003 by Chief Seattle Boy Scout Council, and the cabin was torn down.
The Chief Seattle Council since then made an initial contribution to the replacement project.
One of the early volunteers for the replacement project was Quilcene resident Pat Yarr, who was murdered in March 2009 just after helping to haul in about half of the logs that used in construction that began in September of that year.
The 40-foot logs Yarr helped to haul were acquired from Pope & Talbot Inc., at a discount. Donated plans were used to cut them to size and cut the notches necessary to fit them together.
Donations, according to Ericksen, have driven the project since the beginning, when the project had a core group of eight people.
“We’ve done most of this ourselves,” Ericksen said.
For more information, phone Norm Stevens at 360-379-6960 or 360-301-2371 or email seascoutfalcon@cablesspeed.com; Pat McMinds at 360-385-2478 or dougnpat@olypen.com; or see www.scoutcabinpt.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
