Crickside Timber Craft, a Loysville, Pennsylvania workshop specializing in hand-crafted timber structures, is marking National Historic Preservation Month this May by drawing public attention to the 200-year tradition of post and beam construction that underpins every project leaving its shop floor. The announcement connects a living craft practice to a nationally recognized moment of historic reflection, framing the workshop's methods not as a nostalgic exercise but as a practical approach to durable, long-lasting construction.

A Building Method Older Than the Workshop Itself

Post and beam construction as a structural discipline predates industrialized building by centuries, and Crickside Timber Craft has oriented its entire production philosophy around preserving that lineage. Central to this approach is mortise and tenon joinery - a technique in which a projecting tenon cut into one timber fits precisely into a corresponding mortise in another, securing the frame together without depending solely on metal fasteners.

What sets the Loysville workshop apart in its application of this method is a firm emphasis on shop test-fitting before any structure is shipped. Each assembly is raised and inspected within the shop, where tolerances can be measured and adjusted before timbers are disassembled, labeled, and transported to a build site. This process reduces the complications that typically arise during field assembly and reinforces the structural reliability that mortise and tenon joinery has historically been known for.

National Historic Preservation Month, observed each May by preservation organizations and craftspeople across the country, provides a framework for discussions about which building traditions merit continued investment. Crickside Timber Craft's decision to highlight its methods during this period reflects the workshop's position that preservation is not confined to restoring existing structures - it also means keeping alive the skills and techniques that made those structures worth preserving in the first place.

From Timber Frame Kits to Full-Scale Barns and Pavilions

The Loysville shop produces a range of structure types, each built on the same joinery foundation. Timber frame kits give buyers the ability to bring post and beam construction to their own properties using components that have already been fit-tested and are ready for on-site assembly. These kits are held to the same joinery standards applied to larger commissions, meaning the structural relationships between members are engineered and verified before any kit is packaged for delivery.

Timber frame pavilions represent one of the workshop's more visible outputs, appearing in residential, agricultural, and recreational settings where open, dependable shelter is required. Because the joinery carries the structural load rather than relying on concealed hardware, these pavilions are built to remain sound through generations of weather and regular use.

Timber frame barns occupy the larger end of the production scale and carry particular significance during Historic Preservation Month. The Pennsylvania barn tradition ranks among the most recognizable vernacular building forms in the mid-Atlantic region, and the structural logic behind historic bank barns and threshing barns draws directly from the post and beam construction principles that Crickside Timber Craft continues to practice. Building new timber frame barns with the same joinery methods means the functional and visual character of that tradition is carried forward rather than approximated through modern substitutes.

Loysville as a Working Center of the Craft

The geographic setting of the workshop is not incidental. Loysville, Pennsylvania sits within a region where timber frame construction shaped the built landscape for generations, from farmsteads and mill buildings to community structures that remain standing today. Working within that environment places Crickside Timber Craft in direct proximity to the heritage it draws from, with access to regional timber species and a surrounding culture that has long placed value on durable construction.

The workshop's commitment to shop-tested precision reflects a broader standard: that structures built using traditional mortise and tenon joinery should perform as well as their historical counterparts, not merely resemble them. Each timber is selected, cut, and joined with the expectation that the finished structure will outlast the conditions of its original construction - a standard consistent with what National Historic Preservation Month advocates across the built environment.

About Crickside Timber Craft

Crickside Timber Craft is a timber frame workshop based in Loysville, Pennsylvania, producing post and beam structures that include timber frame kits, timber frame pavilions, and timber frame barns. The workshop applies traditional mortise and tenon joinery methods, with all assemblies shop test-fit before delivery to ensure structural accuracy and ease of installation.

Learn more at Crickside Timber Craft

Contact Information:

Crickside Timber Craft

556 Iron Bridge Road
Loysville, PA 17047
United States

Amos Riehl
+1-717-789-4728
https://crickside.com