[ISL] "A piece of P.E.I. history being saved from collapsing"

[rfmcdonald]

The Guardian's Eric McCarthy describes the welcome arrival of a grant to save a historic building on the Island from ruin.

A project to stabilize the Leard’s grist mill in Coleman is scheduled to commence this month.

The Prince Edward Island Potato Museum has awarded a contract to PD Construction of North Rustico to do the work.

Museum president, Bill MacKendrick, said the company will run I-beams beneath the second floor of the 128-year-old mill and then use air bags to raise the structure. The lower level will be rebuilt before the structure is put down onto 22 new concrete piers.

“It will be a complete stabilization,” said Carter Jeffery, an Island draftsman who rallied support to save the mill from collapse.

Just one more heavy rainfall, like the one that further compromised support piers two years ago, would have been enough to push the mill over the brink, he said.