Halifax County Couple to Appear on DIY Network
Halifax County, Va. — One Halifax County couple’s project landed them on the DIY Network’s Barnwood Builders Show.
James and Kelly Gordon started off as fans of the show. After watching an episode, they were curious about a technique they saw in one of the episodes, so they asked about it through e-mail. Next thing they knew, they were invited on the show.
It’s not every day rural Halifax County appears on national TV.
“No, usually cabin work is pretty lonely work,” said Reed Edwards.
Edwards is helping James and Kelly Gordon build a distillery on their property. The couple needed a tasting room and wanted to reuse wood from an old log cabin.
“These darker logs here were from the original cabin up on Mountain Road and some of these lighter logs here we had to resource from other places,” Edwards said, pointing to some of the wood. “That’s typically what you find when you go fooling with the old logs is usually the lower they are the more chance that they’re rotten and unusable.”
Most pieces used are at least 150 years old. But reusing old wood was the only option for the Gordons.
“I think it’s very important for people to remember where we came from,” said James Gordon. “It’s unfortunate that a lot of skills people used to have are kind of dying away. That’s something I’m certainly passionate about.”
The show, Barnwood Builders, follows a group of men who travel around the country to salvage old wood buildings using old-world craftsmanship. After five days of hard work and filming, the couple is anxious to see how the episode turned out.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a great opportunity for Halifax County,” Gordon said.
The episode will be on the DIY Network this Sunday, at 9 p.m.