Viking Longship Class Builds Historical Ticket Booth

When Viking Longship teacher, George Skane, found out that the Viking replica house ticket booth wouldn’t fit on

Miller Field, he volunteered his class to take on the project of designing and building a Viking styled ticket booth for the new athletic field.

The design, created by high school students in the Viking Longship class, was given to architect, Tom Chiudina, who created the final rendering, getting the ball rolling on the project that would require the work of several students. He provided design ideas to measuring and cutting the wood for the frame of the booth, students used traditional timber framing tools using electric saws.

The project, which was started during the 2017-2018 school year, required the work of several students, some of who graduated and moved on, and others from the middle school, who were recruited to work over the summer months.

“When we needed extra help working on the booth during the summer, I put out a request for six middle school students, and several jumped at the opportunity to help,” said Vasili Mallios, eighth-grade math teacher and veteran of the Viking Longship class.

While the majority of the work is on schedule to be completed, the trim carvings and shutters will be completed in the spring.

“We hope to have the ticket booth closed in, roofed and sided, and have the windows and doors placed before the winter,” said Skane, who has been teaching the class for 21 years. “I can’t thank the Miller Field Committee enough for giving the students in the Viking Longship class the opportunity to be involved in the building process. I am extremely proud of all of the students who worked on the ticket booth. They dedicated themselves to the art of building a timber frame house and did an exceptional job. This booth, which is mortise and tenon construction has been hand crafted using the same tools builders worked with hundreds of years ago. They have quite literally, built history. The citizens of Winthrop will not only have a ticket booth, they will have a historical Viking work of art.”