I will use the blog to post stories about my efforts; trips I make; projects I am working on; and any funding campaigns I have going. Part of my regrouping is going to be expanding the number of people who know about my efforts, thus this blog. So here is a little information on:
Project Trollhiem
Experimental Archeology, Living History & Traditional Crafts
“The Past in the Present Tense”
“The Past in the Present Tense”
1) Develop a monthly multimedia digest that covering events at the site; has print articles and video interviews on experimental archeology; along with detailed reports on major living history events and archaeological finds. The initial Travel Blog will be the start of this project. Trollhiem LLC will also publish books, calendars and other items on various subjects related to its goals and on history to fund the creation of the facilities.
2) Create an on-line and a bricks-and-mortar store that is a reliable source for reference books, archaeological reports and hard-to-find project materials for everyone. The store will also sell items produced on site.
3) Create a series of how-to books and videos that teach historic crafts or show the processes of experimental archeology. The difference between this series of books or videos and most that teach traditional crafts will be that they will start from where to find the raw materials, how to make the tools needed for the project and then how to produce the items using all period methods and materials. Because the company's founder is most versed in metalsmithing, most of the first projects will be about Viking Age metalsmithing. Other subjects will be included as time goes on such as making armour and chain mail, pottery, farming, woodworking, cooking and house building; all incorporating as much from pre-1900's technology as possible.
4) The campground will be a place for people who have an interest in traditional crafts, historic re-creation, re-enactment, living history and experimental archeology to meet and learn from each other. Eventually the campground will have sufficient facilities to run large events, as well as smaller events. Structures for use by the campers such as a dining hall, open air theaters, primitive weapons ranges and sanitary facilities will be built as usage and available funds increase. Many of the structures will be built by students and instructors in the course of classes on period building techniques.
5) The school will run intensive short time frame classes (from one day to two weeks, class size six to twenty-four students) in traditional and historic crafts for people year around. Classes such as timber-framing and stone masonry will be used to build sleeping spaces, barns, workshops and classroom spaces thus expanding the site.
The classes will be run as a seminar where you arrive on a Friday night with classes starting Saturday. Students will stay in the same facility as the instructor, with food and modern lodging onsite. Students will leave at the completion of the course with the items created as well as the knowledge gained. The days will be spent working in the shop under the instruction of knowledgeable teachers. The evenings will be spent critiquing each others work with the instructor in an informal setting.
The school will also operate as an experimental archeology site where people can come to live and work in the various time frames for extended periods of time. In this way people can discover what it was like to live in another time. It will also offer archaeologists and students a way of discovering if their theories will work.
6) The site will operate as a living history museum and be opened to the public if the facilities and staff can be brought up to the needed levels. This goal is unlikely to be reached in less than seven years.
Description
The Location of Trollhiem LLC:
The property in question is located in Early County Georgia on County Road 310 near the intersection of Georgia Highway 273 (looking at Google Satellite Maps the property starts about where the tree line ends to the south and goes to the change in vegetation to the north, the west border is the County Road 310 and the east border is just inside the far tree line to the east). It is about forty acres. It will be possible to lease or buy another sixty to two hundred adjacent acres as needed.
Why is Trollhiem an LLC instead of a Not for Profit Corporation?
When Jim originally had the idea of a school and campground on the land he inherited from his parents he did pursue the idea of forming a non-profit corporation. He sought advice from a professor at a prestigious business school and was told “This isn’t the type of project we are interested in doing.” He then sought advice from friends who had started non-profit groups and was told that he could have control to see his vision of the school happen or he could make a salary from the non-profit, but not both. Since Jim needs both a salary and wants to keep control of the project he chose to create a LLC with his daughter, Sonja. It did not look like Jim would be able to get the project off the ground due to a lack of funds until he found out about “Crowd Funding” and a possible path opened for him.
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