The Falmouth Field School in Historic Preservation is a four-week
(May 23 to June 20), three-credit program in applied historic preservation held on-site in Falmouth, Jamaica. Designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students from both UVA and other institutions, the field school engages many aspects of the practice of preservation in the culturally diverse and economically complex context of the Caribbean. Students will learn a variety of skills, ranging from the conservation of historic brick masonry and timber framing, to recording threatened buildings through detailed measured drawings, to including learn how to “read” the historic fabric of a building. Directed by Louis P. Nelson, of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, the field school will include lectures and field studies with Matthew Webster, Director of Architectural Restoration at Drayton Hall Plantation, and Edward Chappell, Director of Architectural Research at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and other scholars and practitioners. In Falmouth, the field school is supported by the local efforts of Falmouth Heritage Renewal, a non-profit preservation organization with over a decade of experience in historic preservation in Falmouth. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in optional field excursions on the two weekends to historic sites across the island, including New Seville, Good Hope Estate, Colbeck Castle, and Spanishtown (www.jnht.com).