The recently rebuilt Harris Cabin on Moose Mountain will see its official inauguration Saturday, Oct. 13, in a ceremony that will allow students, alumni and other volunteers who restored the cabin time to marvel at the fruits of their labor.
Roughly seven miles away and about a 15-minute drive by car, the new Harris Cabin will be the closest cabin to Dartmouth's campus, making it useful for the large gatherings and "feeds" that Dartmouth Outing Club organizations often hold.
Named after the DOC's founder and first president, the Fred Harris cabin was originally built in 1949 using funds donated by Harris himself. The former cabin collapsed under heavy snowfall in 2001, leaving only the chimney standing upright. The new structure was built around the chimney, leaving the original stone DOC logo, located on the chimney, intact.
Chris Polashenski '07, who started the movement to rebuild Harris Cabin, began drafting plans for reconstruction in the fall of 2004. After volunteering to dismantle the remains of the old cabin early in 2005 and laying the foundation that summer, Polashenski and a crew of six others set out in the summer of 2006 to rebuild the cabin and finish the roof by the start of the fall term -- a deadline that the group was ultimately unable to meet.
"This estimate was grossly unrealistic," Polashenski said.
One problem the crew faced was the inability to acquire logs long enough to build a rectangular cabin, which led to the now-hexagonal shape of the structure.
"It was a very design-as-you-go project, which is very dangerous because it can end up looking horrible," Polashenski said. "Luckily, in the end, it actually looks very architecturally stunning."
Polashenski and his crew lived in a tent next to the cabin for the entire summer, often working from sunrise until it was too dark to see. Each member of the group received $235 per week for their work.
"The skills that you learn by doing it and the fun you have is part of your compensation package," Polashenski said.
This summer, Harris Cabin saw a new crew of DOC members, who spent time working on this as well as a number of other projects. Construction has continued into the fall, on a weekend volunteer basis.
"Last Saturday, we had 17 people up at the cabin volunteering, but we are looking to get about 35 students up this Saturday," Phil Bracikowski '08, president of the DOC, said. "Everyone who has come out before has been affiliated with the DOC other than the '11's, but I would love to see people come out even just to look and see the cabin and help when they can."
According to Brian Kunz, assistant director of the Dartmouth Outing Club, the builders used the "Swedish scribe method," an advanced and difficult way of cutting the logs so they fit snug, when constructing the cabin.
"When one sees the scope of this project, which rivals the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, they'll realize it's just incredible what students can do," Kunz said. "These are students taking classes. Most came in without any log-building skills and left with the skills to pass on to future DOC members."
Incidents involving fraternities holding raucous parties at the cabin, which led to drunk-driving accidents, as well as vandalism by Appalachian Trail hikers, led to the abandonment of the cabin by Cabin and Trail in 1992, which remained vacant until its 2001 collapse. Polashenski said that these types of occurrences will not happen at the new cabin.
"It will function like a lodge and gathering place, but will only be open to the Dartmouth community," Polashenski said. "In addition, there will be a caretaker or two at the cabin most of the time, which should prevent any of these things from happening again."
This fall, a physical education class will be held called "Cabin Building," in which students can help put the finishing touches on the cabin.
"It's been amazing to see the swell of people who come out to help and give their time and energy to this project," Bracikowski said. "It is really cool that these people care so much about the DOC and seeing this completed that they would try something new and out of their safety zone."
