The Reopening of Notre Dame: A Vermonter’s Skill and Contribution

Oh, those tantalizing newscasts about the upcoming (December 7) reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France . . . After the rebuilding following a fire that destroyed its storied roof and severely damaged the overall structure, Notre Dame is lighter, brighter, with a brand new modern altar and, according to some, almost unrecognizable. The world has a multitude of artists and workers to thank for this restoration, including Will Wallace-Gusakov of Lincoln, Vermont.

It was a year ago that I was reviewing the 2023 issue of The Vermont Almanac, the annual compilation of stories about living the rural life, when I found Will’s story. Here’s what I said about it then:

Notre Dame. Paris, France. The most surprising article in the book is “A Vermonter in Paris.” Will Wallace-Gusakov of Goosewing Timberworks in Lincoln, Vermont is helping to rebuild the roof frame of Notre Dame Cathedral after its disastrous fire of four years ago.

“After the fire, a narrative was being promulgated by those who wanted to modernize Notre Dame that it wasn’t possible to rebuild the timber frame as it had been because supposedly there weren’t enough big oak trees in French forests, and supposedly there were no longer carpenters with the skills to do it. Both of these ideas were patently false. So a group that I belong to called Charpentiers Sans Frontières (Carpenters Without Borders) which does hand–tool restoration work on historic buildings around the world started a public campaign to help educate the public and the decision-makers that, in fact, both the material and the know-how were available.”

The self-taught Wallace-Gusakov spent six months in Paris rebuilding parts of the roof, working with period-appropriate hand tools. He was featured in a segment on ABC’s Good Morning America. Click here to view. More recently, he was mentioned in a front-page article in the New York Times.

In catching up with Will this past weekend, he informed me that he and the other workers had been invited to tour Notre Dame along with President Macron last Friday, and that a special “workers’ Mass” is planned for December 15.

Asked about his thoughts and feelings about the reopening, he responded:

I do have feelings, seeing the cathedral reopening and the reactions of the public and the media. I feel both very proud and incredibly lucky to have taken part in this project, alongside so many hundreds of talented artisans who are so committed to their craft. I feel curious to visit the cathedral as a 'layperson' again, to see it all put back together. I feel very satisfied with the work that our team did (rebuilding the nave timber frame), and I feel very grateful to my French friends and colleagues, particularly Rémy and Loïc Desmonts, for inviting me to join their crew. I have many happy memories, and many solid and meaningful friendships with the people whom I was working with.

Click here to see what the newly-restored Notre Dame looks like now. Would that I were booking my flight to Paris this very minute.

(Photo via Wikicommons)

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.