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By Jessica Clark First Coast News
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- In the shadow of the St. Augustine Lighthouse, something sweet is happening.
Kathleen McCormick is trying to preserve history in a simple but scientific way.
She's a conservator with the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program and she's working on wooden artifacts.
One is a 16 foot long piece of a boat believed to be from the 1600s.
It was found in St. Johns County.
She's also working with pieces of barrels and buildings believed to be from Pedro Menendez' first encampment at the Fountain of Youth.
The preservation plan calls for 2000 pounds of sugar and soaking the pieces in a sugar-water bath in a big bath tub.
McCormick says after the pieces have taken all of the sugar they can, "We're going to cover the [tub] up and let the water evaporate over weeks and months. So what's left behind is the dried sugar crystals."
She says those crystals will be holding the cell walls of the wood apart so the wood won't collapse when it's complete. The outcome is a stronger piece of wood.
If the wood artifacts don't go through the sugar-water treatment, McCormick says they will usually end up brittle, extremely fragile and even spongy.
The program has received 200 of the 2,000 pounds of sugar that it needs.
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 Created: 10/25/2006 8:34:34 PM Updated: 10/25/2006 8:59:21 PM Suggest News Tips & Story Leads Submit Video & Pictures |
Jessica Clark
