The May fire that destroyed Titcomb Cabin on Gilman Island remains under investigation by the Hanover Police Department, according to Captain Michael Hinsley of the Hanover Fire Department. Ledyard Canoe Club, which primarily used Titcomb, is planning to rebuild the cabin by the end of the summer, Ledyard members told The Dartmouth.
The fire was originally deemed "suspicious" by a police press release, The Dartmouth previously reported.
A crew of Ledyard student members will be paid for their work during the summer rebuilding the cabin, which will be built on the same footprint as the original, Ellen Ludlow '10, the president of Ledyard, told The Dartmouth.
Titcomb will be rebuilt using money from an insurance policy, according to Brian Kunz, deputy director of the Outdoor Programs Office.
The rebuilding process will be a "collaborative effort," according to Greg Sokol '10, who discovered the cabin the morning after the fire and who has been heavily involved in rebuilding the cabin.
"Ledyard plays in boats it doesn't really build cabins all the time," Sokol said. "It'll be a big project that requires a lot of skills from the wider [Dartmouth Outing Club]."
Trees for the reconstruction are currently being cut down at a College-owned tree farm in Vermont, Kunz said. The trees are being taken to the Organic Farm, where they will dry during the winter.
When spring comes, students will strip the bark from the logs and notch and number them, Kunz said.
"Once we feel we're ready to go, which will probably be late June, the logs will be slid into the Connecticut river in a particular manner that won't damage the shoreline, and they'll be tied together and towed down to the island," Kunz said.
The original cabin, built by students in the fall of 1952, used logs from trees that were cleared when the Connecticut River was dammed around the same time, Kunz said.
Ledyard members are currently working on blueprint drawings and filing for building permits from the Town of Hanover, according to Kodiak Burke '11, a member of Ledyard involved in the blueprint process. The cabin will be 16 feet by 24 feet, he said.
Gilman Island is owned by the TransCanada Corporation, an electric and natural gas company, although the College has a long-term lease on the island and owned Titcomb Cabin itself, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The May 8 fire occurred the night before rental season was planned to start and destroyed the entire building, cracking the chimney and the foundation, according to Ludlow and Burke.
"A couple of students had gone out there in the morning to clean it up and to check on it and they showed up and it was a pile of rubble," Ludlow said. "I guess the fire department had been alerted to the fire the night it happened but word hadn't gotten to students."
In contrast with Hinsley's statement, Brian Kunz, deputy director of the Outdoor Programs Office, said he had heard that the investigation was closed and that a group of high school students had entered the cabin and accidentally started the fire.
Ledyard usually rented out the cabin to students and community members from May 15 to Oct. 15, when the water is warm enough for boaters to safely reach the island, Kunz said.
DOC First-Year Trip leaders normally spend the night before their trips on Gilman Island, and the DOC usually used the cabin during their visit. This year, the students constructed improvised tarp shelters, Kunz said.