Much of Ted Greer's free time is currently spent on the floor of Living History Park's new barn.
As the owner of Extreme Wood lumber mill, he is refinishing heart pine from the Clearwater Finishing Plant for the flooring of the 3,000-square-foot building.
The building's exterior will be complete for Colonial Times, but the interior will take more time and funding, said park Chairwoman Lynn Thompson.
The building's interior features a second story loft that opens to the walking trail near Lake Avenue.
Eight 16-foot long antique pews will provide seating inside the building.
Among the building's anticipated uses are a variety of classes, concerts, dances, receptions and workshops, Thompson said.
"I can see children's plays where you open the double doors, an outdoor theater production," she said, describing a setting in which a backdrop hangs from the loft inside while spectators are seated outside on the green.
"(The building) will benefit the community in multiple ways," she said.
The barn is not Greer's first project in the park.
He, along with friends and family, built the meeting house and Thompson Academy. In both builds they constructed the facility in addition to milling the wood.
Greer cut the lumber for the meeting house assembled each piece at his mill, numbered them and then, with several male friends and relatives, reassembled them on site.
"It was a lot of work," he said.
The Thompson Academy was built out of stacked 8-by-8s, fastened with square pegs.
"I'd never done any kind of building like that," he said of the academy. "We just read some books, looked at pictures and did it."
The saw-mill is Greer's second job. He also works at PCS Nitrogen as a process technician.
Greer said he's always enjoyed carpentry, and in the late 1990s remodeled his home. The beams he wanted for the vaulted ceilings were too expensive.
"I said I need to get a saw-mill," he said.
In 1998, he bought a Lucas mill with a swing blade, and started sawing logs for firewood. He then began sawing lumber to build furniture.
Greer said when he retires he plans to continue the lumber mill full time and take on more carpentry projects.
"We have the equipment in here to do just about anything," he said.
Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
