Redding School District

Partnership Educators,

Doctor Harris stood in the doorway silent and starting.  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness the shapes and dimensions of those shapes were revealed to him.  There was something curious about this building in a village on the outskirts of London.  Whatever that curious thought was it had little to do with the age of the structure.  When the barn was new, three centuries earlier, one might still have thought something curious out what they saw.  Harris looked up at the beams supporting the barn roof. As he kept looking he realized that his head was tilting to one side as if he were envisioning the beams upside down. All at once it struck him.  The old barn near the trees was not a barn at all, at least not exclusively.  It was instead a ship.  An old sailing ship whose materials had been repurposed and reassembled to make a barn.  There was no question at all.  Clearly, the root beams were in the shape of a ship's keel.  

This story by Doctor Harris isn’t at all surprising because the best wood for construction was reserved, in those days, for the royal navy.  English farmers wishing to build their barns out of sturdy stuff would often buy sailing vessels about to be scrapped.  That is precisely what this farmer did to procure wood for his barn.  This barn had stood for almost three hundred years before Doctor Harris first laid eyes on it. 

From markings on the timbers, he sought to identify the original vessel from which the timbers had been procured.   On one of the beams, the letters were found HHR.   This revealed the name of the ships home port, Harwich England.  He then looked at the ports books seeking a ships name that would fit with other letters emblazoned on the timbers within the barn.  Then he found it.  A cargo ship that had carried freight from England and France for many years before being declared in ruins.  Yet it was a side trip, taken three years before she was scrapped that makes the vessel worth remembering.  

Many have doubted Doctor Harris and his research into the origins of this timber and this vessel.  But, there is today a split beam still in the old barn with the correct lettering that is just like the one described in the ships own log.  A beam that split during a storm at sea in 1620.  It is a story that links some of England’s past with our own reality.   The barn was built from the lumber of the Mayflower.

As we contemplate the story above about the whereabouts of the Mayflower or we think about the story of the first Thanksgiving, we are brought to our thoughts about what we are thankful for in our own lives.   I am always inspired this time of year as I remember the gracious gift of my wife, family and my opportunities that I have had to answer to calling of my work.  

To my work family, I wish a wonderfully restful time with friends and family.   I can't wait to hear some of the stories of your times and I know that many of you can't wait to return to hear the stories from the students in your classes.  Enjoy your time off and I truly am thankful for each and every one of you who have also answered the calling to service for the students and families that we have been given.

Rob