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Rebarchek Farm

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1935 and later. Just east of the State Fairgrounds, on the south side of Rebarchek Rd.

Two of the few colonists still farming their original homesteads, the Rebarcheks claim to occupy the very first colony house completed. The continued use of the farmland has resulted in an accretion of farm buildings, all of which serve to illustrate the life of a colonist.

Construction began on Raymond Rebarchek's house in 1935, soon after he had chosen this tract through a drawing from a hat. Rebarchek, who was one of the crew building the house, was frustrated at the incompetence of his fellow workers; twice they took the partially built house down and started over. The third time, they used logs sawn flat on two sides, and then three sides, and the work proceeded more smoothly.

Although the Rebarchek house was apparently not one of the ARRC standard plans, it shares characteristics of size and form. The log house measures 33 feet by 25 feet and has one and a half stories with a low gable roof. In 1953 Rebarchek added a gable-roofed section on the front to provide a mud room entrance and a third bedroom on the second floor. At that time he also stuccoed the building. Shortly after construction he dug out a full basement.

The barn, 32 feet square, was constructed in 1936. Logs sawn flat on three sides were laid horizontally up to 8 feet high, then the walls and gambrel roof were wood framed. In 1950 Rebarchek added a concrete milking parlor and milk room in order to meet dairy standards. Although the original barn burned in 1980, it has been replaced with a colony barn moved from a nearby tract. The milking room burned more recently, but its walls are still standing.

Other outbuildings include the 12-foot-by-16-foot log well house-sauna, constructed by Rebarchek in 1935–1936; a vertical-log, shed-roofed chicken house, built in 1937; and a shed-roofed horizontal-log small barn, built in 1935.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Alison K. Hoagland
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Citation

Alison K. Hoagland, "Rebarchek Farm", [Palmer, Alaska], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AK-01-SC090.1.

Print Source

Buildings of Alaska, Alison K. Hoagland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 134-134.

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