LIVERMORE – Jackie Dion vigorously ran a metal scraper over the old paint on the decking of the Norlands’ piazza on Friday.

She and other volunteers were removing the paint so the grand porch of the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center mansion could be repainted.

It was a work party to rebuild the Norlands, after the barn and farmer’s cottage were destroyed by fire sparked by a heat lamp in late April.

“I’ve known the Norlands for a long time,” Dion of Livermore said. “I watched the barn burn from my home. I sat on my living room couch with Irma Bowles and watched it burn.”

Dion volunteered at the Norlands 26 years ago and this was her first time back in that capacity.

“I just didn’t feel the need – as much as before,” she said. “They had volunteers and paid staff, but now I feel the need to help as a community effort. And the historic value of the Norlands is incredible. I just don’t want to see it go away.”

Center Executive Director and Board of Trustee President Kathleen Beauregard has been overseeing rebuilding with the idea to create opportunities for groups in the community to participate in the process.

A barn-raising is expected to be held next year, Beauregard said.

The architectural design plan to rebuild the barn and farmer’s cottage is expected in November or December, she said.

Once it is received, the Timber Framers Guild have offered to organize a barn-raising and will come work along side people in the community to do it.

“This October we want to get a fresh coat of paint up on the piazza and protect it. When the barn and farmhouse are rebuilt, we will put a fresh coat of paint on all of it,” Beauregard said.

The work parties continue on the piazza from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, Saturday, Oct. 4, and Sunday, Oct. 5.

The paint will be analyzed to determine the color in 1867.

“It is our goal to bring it back … We think it wasn’t this color scheme,” Beauregard said of the tan and goldish colors. It is hard to tell what it was because the pictures are black and white.

“It not only needs to be rebuilt, it needs to be maintained, so just holding these work parties are a way for the community to have a regular way to come and lend a hand to keep this place alive and keep it here,” she said.

The mansion has a new roof, some sills and beams replaced among other completed projects.

“All of the collection of Victorian clothing and textiles are packaged – about 700 pieces – and ready to be sent out to be treated for insect infestation,” Beauregard said. All they need is the donation of a 30-foot truck to transport them.

Another work party will be organized when they arrive back to complete the delicate process of cleaning the dead bugs from them.

A group of woman have formed an Antique Shoppers Committee and will go out looking for items to replace what was lost or damaged in the fire. Other volunteers are working on cleaning soot from antiques and making quilts and historical costumes.

While Beauregard was talking, volunteer Lucille Lavoie approached her with a 1916 Gold Medal Flour Cook Book published by the Washburn-Crosby Co. Lavoie’s friend Rae Lawrence of Lisbon Falls had sent her. The book will go to the Norlands, as the flour company was started by the Washburns. A coupon for a free book is still intact.

“The recipes are wonderful,” Lavoie said.