Photos: The rebuilding of the Aslak Lie log house at Folklore Village
The cabin was built in 1848-49 outside of Mount Horeb with a second floor added in 1854. The house was dismantled in 2003 and moved to Folklore Village where in 2014, volunteers, interns and apprentices began rebuilding the home.Â
Volunteers are hustling to finish the reconstruction of the Aslak Lie House at Folklore Village near Ridgeway before a ribbon cutting and celebration on June 21.Â
Hand-crafted windows made in period style frame a worker inside the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, Wis. Wednesday, June 11, 2025. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Volunteers working to restore the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, Wis. continue the years-long effort Wednesday, June 11, 2025. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Original timbers from the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era log cabin, frame Nels Diller, who is leading a reconstruction effort of the structure on the grounds of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, Wis. Wednesday, June 11, 2025. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Jerry Landmark and Peter Gorman install wood siding on the second floor exterior pf the Aslak Lie House, being reconstructed at Folklore Village near Ridgeway.Â
Will Kanel measures wood inside the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, Wis. Wednesday, June 11, 2025. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Volunteers working to restore the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, Wis. continue the years-long effort Wednesday, June 11, 2025. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Volunteer Susan Wulfsberg, of Madison, works outside a handcrafted, first-floor window designed to swing out. Windows on the second floor slide up and down.Â
Door hardware recreated by a blacksmith in period style adorns the front door of the Aslak Lie House. However, one of the doors with its original hand-forged hardware is also being used in the house, which was built between 1848 and 1854 in the Dane County hamlet of Klevenville.Â
Volunteers and interns continue the restoration of the Aslak Lie House in anticipation of a celebration at Folklore Village near Ridgeway on June 21. Â
Nels Diller, who has spearheaded an 11-year effort to rebuild the Aslak Lie House at Folklore Village, shows off a skottbenk, a long vice used to hold wood while it's being planed.Â
David Eagan, a volunteer helping restore the Aslak Lie House near Ridgeway, uses a handsaw to cut a piece of wood for an interior wall on the second floor of the home.Â
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village near Ridgeway, is joined on the second floor of the Aslak Lie house, by Nels Diller, right, who led the rebuilding effort over the past 11 years. The house was originally built northeast of Mount Horeb in 1848-49, with the second story added in 1854. The house was taken apart in 2003 and moved to Folklore Village, where, since 2014, volunteers have been putting the house back together primarily using hand tools.Â
Original hand-hewed timbers are meshed with replacement logs harvested from nearby Iowa County farms to help rebuild the Aslak Lie cabin. Lie had built two log homes in Norway out of pine, but when he came to Wisconsin in 1848 was forced to use white oak, a much harder and more difficult wood with which to build.
Cade Restle uses a hand tool to hone a log into the roof structure of Folklore Village’s Aslak Lie House in Ridgeway.
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, walks past the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of the cultural preservation site.
Hand tools employed in the reconstruction of the Aslak Lie House share a table at the site of the timber frame building’s reconstruction project near Folklore Village in Ridgeway.
Cade Restle, back left, and Will Kanel position a hand-hewed log into the roof structure of the Aslak Lie House. The interns have been working this summer in a barn about five miles south of Folklore Village to create the trusses, which will be numbered for easy reassembly onto the cabin.
Nels Diller works among the timbers of the Aslak Lie House, which is being restored and reconstructed as part of a future permanent element of Folklore Village near Ridgeway.
Will Kanel uses a hand saw to hone a log which will become part of the roof rafters for the reconstructed Aslak Lie House at Folklore Village in Ridgeway.
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village near Ridgeway, is seen through a window of the Aslak Lie House, an 1840s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of the cultural preservation site.
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village near Ridgeway, is seen through a window of the Aslak Lie House, an 1840s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of the cultural preservation site. The cabin was built near the hamlet of Klevenville, northeast of Mount Horeb, but taken apart in 2003. Work to rebuild the log house has been ongoing since 2014.
Hand tools employed in the reconstruction of the Aslak Lie House include a broad axe, hand plane, left, and a draw knife that has two handles.
Original hand-hewed timbers are meshed with replacement logs harvested from nearby Iowa County farms to help rebuild the Aslak Lie cabin. Lie had built two log homes in Norway out of pine, but when he came to Wisconsin in 1848 was forced to use white oak, a much harder and more difficult wood with which to build.
Cade Restle uses a hand tool to hone a log into the roof structure of Folklore Village’s Aslak Lie House in Ridgeway.
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village in Ridgeway, walks past the Aslak Lie House, an 1840’s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of the cultural preservation site.
Hand tools employed in the reconstruction of the Aslak Lie House share a table at the site of the timber frame building’s reconstruction project near Folklore Village in Ridgeway.
Cade Restle, back left, and Will Kanel position a hand-hewed log into the roof structure of the Aslak Lie House. The interns have been working this summer in a barn about five miles south of Folklore Village to create the trusses, which will be numbered for easy reassembly onto the cabin.
Nels Diller works among the timbers of the Aslak Lie House, which is being restored and reconstructed as part of a future permanent element of Folklore Village near Ridgeway.
Will Kanel uses a hand saw to hone a log which will become part of the roof rafters for the reconstructed Aslak Lie House at Folklore Village in Ridgeway.
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village near Ridgeway, is seen through a window of the Aslak Lie House, an 1840s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of the cultural preservation site.
Terri Van Orman, executive director of Folklore Village near Ridgeway, is seen through a window of the Aslak Lie House, an 1840s-era timber cabin being reconstructed on the grounds of the cultural preservation site. The cabin was built near the hamlet of Klevenville, northeast of Mount Horeb, but taken apart in 2003. Work to rebuild the log house has been ongoing since 2014.
Hand tools employed in the reconstruction of the Aslak Lie House include a broad axe, hand plane, left, and a draw knife that has two handles.
Cade Restle, 20, a Madison West graduate, uses a hand saw to hone a log that will become part of the roof rafters for the reconstructed Aslak Lie House at Folklore Village. It may be several years before the project is completed as workers are not using power tools.
After 11 years of volunteers and paid interns using hand tools to rebuild the 177-year-old home, its completion will be celebrated June 21 with an open house at Folklore Village. Â
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