On a trip to Nevada, Utah, and Arizona in 1989
This political nightmare we’ve been going through for some months now may have led me to choosing the subject for my next book.
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do after Small Homes:
- 50 Years of Natural Building
- A book on my trips
- A book on barns
Some kind of context for the 10,000+ photos I’ve taken over the years.
The idea about a book on the U.S.A. popped into my head a few days ago. This would be my version of America. It would start with me riding the rails and hitchhiking from San Francisco to New York in 1965, along with a copy of Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous — seeking enlightenment, if you will, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life — as the cultural revolution of the ’60s–’70s unfolded. (Upon return a month later, I quit my job as an insurance broker and went to work as a builder.)
I would show the America that I love, the people in every state who were kind and friendly and helpful, Pop’s Diner in Page, Arizona; pressmen at Courier Printing in Kendallville, Indiana; squirrel hunters in Tennessee; the waitress in an Oklahoma diner serving me coconut cream pie with coffee at 2:30 AM; farmers, surfers, skateboarders, lawyers, and bankers (yes — there are some good ones); book lovers, musicians, builders; makers…
This just may be the next book: the glass-half-full take on America.
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Bill Coperthwaite was a master yurt-builder/designer who was featured in Home Work. He died in 2013. Here is a selection of several of his wooden yurts.
The photo above and the two photos immediately below were Bill’s home in the Maine woods. It is 54 feet in diameter and was designed so it could be built over a period of several years and still provide shelter during the process. It is a tri-centric, or three-ring yurt with 2700 sq. ft. of floor space. You can first build the 16 ft. inner core as a room to move into. In the second stage, you can build the large sheltering roof over a gravel pad, allowing the major cost, floor construction, to be delayed. In the meantime you have a spacious area under roof that can be used for a workshop, greenhouse, garage, or for play.
Read More …
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Situated just behind New Street Station, the Birmingham Back to Backs are nestled in the very heart of Birmingham and are a residue of the history of the city’s population over the past 150 years.
The Back to Backs were originally tiny houses literally built back to back to each other in different quarters. Within these quarters communities would form. They were built in the 1800s in order to provide homes for the ever increasing population of the Birmingham of the Industrial Revolution. The Back to Backs were still inhabited by residents until the 1960s and 1970s when most of the courts were demolished to make way for more modern accommodation. 10 years ago the National Trust acquired the city’s very last surviving court of Back to Back buildings and has been preserving them ever since, much to our advantage.
From www.redbrick.me/…
Photo from: www.britainexpress.com/…
Photos of Back-to-Backs: www.google.com/…
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I was shooting photos of the old one and Louie said, “Hey, the one across the street is identical.” Sure enough. Twins. On the ocean side of the highway in Fort Bragg.
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The Conestoga Hut uses minimal materials, is simple to build, and provides durable shelter well suited to the Pacific Northwest climate. The Conestoga Hut emphasizes keeping people dry and secure.
www.communitysupportedshelters.org
From Jim Macey
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