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November
2000 Vol. 1, Issue 7
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November
2000 Vol. 1, Issue 7
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Eagle Scout project Teenager repairs
ice house at
Brendan Donnelly joined the Boy Scouts when he was 11. This year, he expects to earn that organization’s highest rank-Eagle Scout. The final step in that effort involved planning and finishing a repair job at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in south St. Louis County. His project involved repairing and then painting the wood portion of the old ice house on the grounds of President Grant’s former home, White Haven. The ice house is an odd-shaped stone and wood building on the site’s grounds. Donnelly is now a junior at Parkway South High School. He spent weeks planning the project. Then, last summer, he organized a crew of 20 fellow Boy Scouts, friends and classmates to do the actual work. All his work had to meet the standards of the U.S. National Park Service. Pam Sanfilippo is historian at the Grant site. She said Donnelly’s work was important. “It put the finishing touches on the ice house so we had another historic building to show to the public,” she said. Donnelly said he learned a lot with the project. “I learned you have to put a lot of work into planning. And then you have to see how that plan plays out in the real world when you actually do the work,” he said. When considering his Eagle Scout project, Donnelly got help from his older sister, Caitlin. She was a volunteer at the Grant site and had a paying job last summer in the site’s library. She encouraged Brendan to ask site officials if they needed some major work done. The Park Service was in the process of rebuilding the old ice house. They suggested a project involved repairing and painting the outside wood walls. “I liked the outside, hands-on aspects of the ice house project,” he said. First, he worked with Chris Eckard. As chief of interpretation, Eckard makes sure all work there fits the site’s historic theme. Donnelly produced a very detailed written plan. It covered all aspects, including estimated material prices and labor needed. The first step involved washing the outside wood with soap and water. The wood had been painted previously with primer. But, Donnelly said, “It had been standing for some time and was dirty.” Then, gaps between the siding and the windows and roof had to be caulked. All patches had to be sanded. Donnelly then arranged for his volunteer crew to paint the outside wood twice with exterior latex paint. Finally, there was a cleanup of the area surrounding the ice house. The outside work was done over two weekends in August and September. Donnelly said he’s proud that his estimate of time needed to do the job was exactly the same as the actual time--120 man-hours. He said, “I’m pleased with how it turned out.” So was Mike Ward, the site’s chief of maintenance. Ward is responsible for all restoration at the Grant site. Donnelly said this project will be valuable to him in other ways besides fulfilling his Eagle Scout requirements. He said, “I learned a lot about how to think a project through. You have to think of every little thing. That’s going to benefit me when I get a real job.” Donnelly is planning to major in architectural engineering at the University of Kansas. He is the son of Roger and Chris
Donnelly of Manchester.
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