Cumberland
Preservation
Trades Alliance Donate

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

Something has to hold the weight.

Cumberland Preservation Trades Alliance teaches the trades that keep old buildings standing: lime mortar and plaster, stone and brick, and the wooden windows everyone else replaces.

We are masons, plasterers, carpenters, and preservationists working where the Potomac and the Shenandoah meet. We train new people into the trades, keep the ones already in them connected, and argue for traditional work wherever the standards get written.

Join the Alliance Give monthly
A mason repointing a brick wall with a pointing trowel
Repointing by hand — lime mortar matched to the wall

Workshops

Learn on a real building, not a sample board.

Small crews, real walls, and instructors who have spent their working lives in the trades. You mix, trowel, and finish alongside them, and you leave knowing what the material wants.

  • 01

    Stone and brick masonry

    Repointing, repairing, and rebuilding. How to read a wall that is failing, and why the softest mortar in it is usually the one that has to come out.

  • 02

    Lime mortar and plaster

    Binders, aggregates, and color. Mixing by measure and by feel, and why cement mortar has no business in a soft old wall.

  • 03

    Plaster repair

    Three-coat work, stabilization, and patching. Matching sand, lime, and hair so the repair disappears into the wall around it.

  • 04

    Historic windows

    Sash repair, glazing, and weatherization. Taking apart a window that has been painted shut for decades and getting it to run again.

Two workshop participants spreading lime plaster onto a lath wall
Plaster workshop, on the wall

Window restoration and apprenticeships

A window is a machine you can still repair.

Original sash was built to come apart, be repaired, and go back in. We teach the whole sequence, in order, on windows that have been painted shut for decades.

  1. 01

    Take it down

    Sash removal, labeling, and the hardware that comes out with it.

  2. 02

    Rebuild the frame

    Rails, stiles, and muntins — scarfing new wood into the places that have rotted away.

  3. 03

    Rehang and balance

    Cords, weights, and getting a double-hung window to move with one finger again.

  4. 04

    Glaze and seal

    Putty, glass, paint, and weatherstripping that keeps the original sash in the wall.

A craftsperson scraping old paint from a window sash laid across sawhorses
Stripping a sash back to bare wood

Apprentice scholarships

Pay for the tools, not just the class.

Scholarships help apprentices cover workshop fees and the hand tools they need to stay in the trade.

Fund a scholarship

Members and advocacy

A trade is a network before it is a job.

Members are the people you call when a wall is out of plumb, a ceiling has let go, or a window has to come out in one piece. The Alliance keeps that bench connected, and speaks for traditional trades where the decisions get made.

Members talking in a workshop yard beside salvaged timber and stone
Members between sessions

Join

Two ways to keep the weight up.

Dues and recurring gifts are how the Alliance teaches, travels, and keeps arguing. Pick the one that fits you.

Membership

For tradespeople, preservationists, and neighbors who want the skills kept in the valley.

  • Registration for hands-on workshops
  • Member gatherings and the Alliance network
  • Historic window restoration training
  • A voice in our advocacy for traditional trades
Join the Alliance

Recurring giving

Monthly gifts do the unglamorous work that keeps a trade alive.

  • Apprentice scholarships
  • Workshop materials and instructor time
  • Advocacy for traditional trades
Give monthly

Support the Alliance

Put your name behind the trades.

Tell us how you would like to help, and we will send the next step: membership details, a recurring gift, or a scholarship for an apprentice.

No payment is taken on this page. We will reply by email with the next step.