A Colonial Williamsburg painter works on the kitchen of Everard House, built in 1718 by the first keeper of Williamsburg's Magazine. (Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation) (Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

WILLIAMSBURG — At Colonial Williamsburg, the job is never finished.

From routine maintenance on the more than 600 structures overseen by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to large-scale, long-term projects like the Bray School, Powder Magazine and First Baptist Church, Colonial Williamsburg’s team of preservationists and conservationists have a lot on their plate.

During the past month, Colonial Williamsburg’s Architectural Preservation team endeavored to put the array of projects they’re working on into the spotlight as part of National Preservation Month.

“Colonial Williamsburg is really unique,” said Matt Webster, executive director of Architectural Preservation and Research at Colonial Williamsburg. “We can do things that other sites simply can’t do, because of both the expertise and the resources that are here.”

The commitment to accuracy at Colonial Williamsburg is massive, from using the same type of wood species for timber to making their own nails. It takes a huge team, from the analysts, the conservators, the architects, the engineers and more.

“[We’re] trying to get back to the same materials and the same techniques that they would have used in the 18th century,” Webster said. “That creates a broader understanding of the 18th century world. When you see a house start from a tree that arrives on the carpentry site and you see how that frame and the process and the effort that goes into that, it helps us understand these structures in a much better way.”

When the preservationists aren’t taking the antiquated approach to their work, they utilize modern technologies like their analytical labs to help get the job done.

With so many plates in the air at a time, the timeline for each project can vary.

One major ongoing endeavor is the Bray School, which Colonial Williamsburg, in partnership with the College of William & Mary, has been working on since last year. The plan is for the building to be on its new site next year, which is a “really, really fast” turnaround, Webster said.

“It all depends on how the building gives up its secrets,” he added. “It’s remarkable how much information it’s presenting and how quickly it is and how clear the answers are, where we had a lot of 18th century pieces that were being pulled out for renovations but then reused throughout the building. We know what type of wood, how thick they are, the molding profiles, what paint colors were used.”

It’s not always so straightforward, but that’s part of what makes the job fun — and what makes it so important.

“These are non-renewable resources,” Webster said. “Once we lose these, these buildings or these documents or objects, you can’t replace them. ... I go up and I look at a building, and a lot of people say, ‘Oh, it’s a brick building,’ but if you look closely, you see the tool marks of the workers who built that building and [in] the bricks, a lot of the time you’ll find fingerprints from the brick maker. How I look at it is that that’s individual’s mark on history. That’s how their story survives today.

“It’s incredibly important that all of those stories are protected, because without the steps that they made in the past, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616