The little saltbox house that sits tucked up under Torne Mountain is slowly spreading its message of local environmental renewal. Officially called the Ramapo Saltbox Enrivonmental Research Center, the house has been the longtime project of Chuck Stead, teacher, activist, storyteller, and keeper of the flame.

Stead, a native of Hillburn, NY can be found most Thursdays at the Saltbox, acting as host and teacher to interns from Ramapo College of New Jersey, where he teaches courses in environmental studies. Stead is also an environmental educator with Cornell University Cooperative Extension. During this past Winter Solstice, Stead and the Saltbox hosted a gathering for the Ramapo Saltbox Solstice that included a fire caldron was lit and victims of Sandy Hook were remembered.

Recently, Esther, a new intern at the Saltbox and student in Environmental Studies at Ramapo College, sat at a handmade shave horse with draw knife, making peg joinery for the Saltbox loft. Stead said the shave horse Esther used was carved out of a piece of locust wood and based on a 300 year old illustration. The shave horse as carpentry tool has been around for hundreds of year and is a simple foot-operated vice that allows a person to work hands free.

Stead is working with historic carpenter Jim Eling to finish the interior of the Saltbox, restoring it with as much original timber as possible to reflect what worker housing in the Ramapo area might have looked like he when people lived in Ramapo Hamlet, the old work camp for the Ramapo Iron Works, located through the woods from the Saltbox along the Ramapo River.

When finished, the upstairs loft will contain a specially designed lab table complete with student workstations, light fixtures and microscopes. And the Saltbox will continue to serve as laboratory, museum and gathering place. Stead’s plan is ambitious and already includes the staked out foundation for a huge work barn. Can anyone say, Saltbox Barn Dance?