By JOSHUA THOMAS

C-S-E Editor

ST. JOHNSVILLE — There is always work to be done at the Nellis Tavern, and Palatine Settlement Society Vice President Donna Reston outlined 2013's repair plans, which will commence once the weather allows.

"We still have an amazing amount of things to do at the tavern," said Reston, explaining that while grout work was completed on the tavern's base last summer — and with great success, as the new grout blends perfectly with the old — the whole inside still needs to be done.

Reston said, "that's going to be a tougher job," noting that temporary repairs to the inside grout were done years ago to keep water from coming in. The project "wasn't a proper masonry repair," said Reston, explaining that the tavern's inside base ended up looking "dreadful".

The PSS also hopes to install about five doors at the tavern. There is still one original door enclosing the loom room, which was badly damaged at one point by vandals and fixed by Willis "Skip" Barshied. There is also a door that is currently leaning against the hole to the building's original attic, and Reston said "we'd like to have a proper door there." 

The two doors on the small red building behind the tavern (outside the building's original front, facing the Mohawk River), also need repair. Those two doors, Reston assumes, were most likely transported from the tavern's hall area. 

That small red building, which, for years was being referred to as "the cheese house" before the discovery was made that the structure never was a cheese house, has been moved to accommodate handicapped parking and so large vehicles can access the tavern door. That building, of which Reston stated, "we have more discoveries to make there," still needs a foundation.

One big task, said Reston, will be the eventual construction of a service building. Since the tavern is now completely outfitted with furniture, the capacity at large events is strained. "There's not that much room for an extraordinarily amount of people," said Reston, pointing out that this past fall's Evening at the Tavern event, which drew over 50, was extremely packed.

Reston said that the new service building would contain a bathroom, and might possibly replicate one of the two barns previously located on the property.

She also said that there are five rooms that need their wall stenciling redone, as it's highly faded. "That's going to be very expensive," Reston stated of that project.