ELLSWORTH – Volunteers and a contractor learned much about repairing stone walls when a project at the Hodgden House turned out to be more involved than expected.

The house, built between 1868 to 1872 of native stone, was the first building to be purchased by the newly formed Ellsworth County Historical Society in the 1960s. It was used to display a collection of historic artifacts.

The original lathe and plaster walls had several locations that needed repair, after what was believed to be water damage that occurred before the roof was repaired. As it turned out, the stone inside the wall had eroded, and sand was pushing against the plaster and making it buckle.

The sand was removed from two walls in the kitchen, and specialty plaster was used on the rocks to prevent further erosion. Small gridded sheets of rebar were pressed into the plaster to create a holding mechanism. Since the cost of the grant-funded project more than doubled, work on other walls was postponed until further fundraising could be accomplished.